GM Turns its Back on Safe Mercury Disposal

Emerging from bankruptcy, the new GM has made many a promise about becoming greener and more sustainable – but don’t ask them to do anything about the environmental impact of their ‘old’ cars. The company has announced that it will no longer participate in a partnership that collects toxic mercury switches from vehicles before they’re recycled.

With the popularity of the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program, this decision means that thousands of GM mercury switches could end up polluting the environment.

From The Huffington Post:

GM said its new company is not a member of the partnership because it no longer makes vehicles with mercury switches and is not responsible for the older vehicles. The old company, which is still under bankruptcy court supervision, said it is reviewing agreements involving the former company and declined to comment.

Roughly 36 million mercury switches were used in trunk convenience lights and antilock brakes in vehicles built in the 1980s and 1990s. More than half of them are in GM vehicles built before 2000.

The auto industry partnership, called the End of Life Vehicle Solutions Corp., or ELVS, was created in 2005 to prevent mercury emissions from being released into the environment when vehicles are crushed and shredded. It works closely with the National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program, which the Environmental Protection Agency helped form with automakers, the steel industry and environmentalists in 2006.

Unfortunately, the loss of GM’s annual dues is having a huge impact on ELVS’ budget. Without those funds, the program may be forced to scale back operations or even stop what they’re doing entirely.

If GM is really serious about being green, they’ve got to take responsibility for things like this.

Link [Huffington Post]
Photo credit: Flickr user dave_7

EPA Cracks Down on Mercury Pollution from Cement Kilns

The Feds have finally gotten serious about cracking down on mercury pollution produced by cement kilns. On April 21st, just in time for Earth Day, the EPA released new regulations that will cut airborne mercury pollution by 81%-93% – a huge victory for environmental law firm EarthJustice, which has been fighting for regulation for years.

From the EarthJustice press release:

Led by Lisa Jackson, the EPA Administrator newly appointed by President Obama, EPA is proposing first time standards for cement kilns of mercury, hydrochloric acid, and toxic organic pollutants such as benzene.  In addition, the agency is strengthening the outdated standards for particulate matter to better control kilns’ emissions of lead, arsenic, and other toxic metals.

Earthjustice prevailed in a string of lawsuits aimed at forcing EPA to set limits for airborne mercury pollution from cement kilns for nearly a decade. Such limits were due under the federal Clean Air Act in 1997.

“This is great news and is a promising sign that the new leadership at EPA and in the White House is serious about protecting public health and the environment,” said Earthjustice attorney Jim Pew. “By stopping pollution at its source, we can keep mercury from poisoning the fish we eat. Bit by bit, we can reclaim our nation’s waters and protect our children’s health and our environment from dangerous mercury pollution.”

Although cement kilns have avoided controlling their mercury pollution until now, they are one of the largest sources of mercury emissions nationwide and the worst mercury polluters in some states. But kilns can curb their mercury emissions by using cleaner raw materials, cleaner fuels, and readily available technology like scrubbers and activated carbon injection.

Even small doses of mercury are extremely dangerous. Just 1/70th of a teaspoon of mercury can contaminate a 20-acre lake and make the lake’s fish unsafe to eat.

Check out EarthJustice’s flyover of the Cupertino cement kiln in the hills outside San Francisco:

As Treehugger reports, this rule will also make it more difficult for coal-fired electrical utilities to compete on price with natural gas-fired electricity and/or renewable energy:

As Treehugger reports, this rule will also make it more difficult for coal-fired electrical utilities to compete on price with natural gas-fired electricity and/or renewable energy:

Coal-fired electrical generating plants currently send most of their mercury emissions skyward, as vapor carried along with hot gases flowing up the smokestacks. Because mercury is a metal vapor in hot stack gas, it is dissociated from particulate matter and therefore is not captured in conventional pollution control devices like a bag filter. Hence, relatively little mercury ends up in the fly ash produced by utilities. (Mercury does coalesce into aerosols and dust particles down wind from the discharge point.)

If coal-fired utilities are forced by coming regulation to add mercury pollution controls, they are likely to end up diverting a great deal of the captured mercury to the fly ash, increasing the mercury concentration of fly ash, which is commonly added to cement kiln feed. Cement kilns will not be able to serve as de-facto disposal facilities – which amounts to nothing more than shifting the mercury from one stack to another. Thus, utilities that once were giving away fly ash to cement kiln operators will now have to pay to dispose of it instead, increasing the cost of coal-fired electricity.

Check out an interactive web feature at the EarthJustice website that illustrates how cement manufacturing creates mercury pollution, as well as this interactive map showing the locations of cement kilns nationwide.

Link [Treehugger] + [EarthJustice]
Photo credit: Flickr user Tarboat

Ann Coulter’s Girlfriend Thinks of Dumbest Law Ever: Lightbulb Freedom of Choice Act

Pub Note: This isn’t an April Fools Prank. This is real. Really.

Beware!! The hippies are coming and they are killing and eating our unborn babies and taking away even our most basic rights as humans! The right…to choose…incandescent mood-lighting!

Treehugger reports that Minnesota Representative Michelle Bachman wants to fight for her right for lighting. Seriously, this crazy hooker wants to pass a law that would ensure her right to NOT use compact fluorescent bulbs. Although she denies global warming, she also argues that CF bulbs are “more polluting” than regular bulbs because of their minute mercury content. But that doesn’t matter right, because pollution and global warming are just things the pinkos invented for shits and giggles? Seriously, this ass-backwards bitch needs to sit down with Ann Coulter and have a who’s-a-bigger-crackhead competition. Does she seriously have nothing better to do with her time and influence?

A representative of the Natural Resources Defense Council replied that there is 200 times more mercury in each filling of Congresswoman wackypants’ teeth than in one CF bulb. Oooh, Snap!

They can take our lives, but they can never take OUR LLIIIGHTBULBS!

Link [Treehugger]