PMRL is a subsidiary company of Sherrit International, the largest producer of thermal coal in Canada (about 90% of total Canadian coal production volume). Additionally, 90% of Sherrit’s coal is sold to nearby power plants located at what are called the “mine-mouth”. Norit on the other hand, is the world’s largest manufacturer of activated carbon and has been in the industry for over 80 years.

It’s fairly obvious why it makes sense for a joint venture building an activated carbon production plant between these two companies, but why build an this type of plant now?

Read more of this story »

The National Institute of Mental Health, or NIMH, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, said in a statement on Wednesday that it has canceled a study aimed at assessing the effectiveness of a treatment called chelation.

Chelation is a type of therapy in which an …amino acid, called EDTA, is added to the blood. It was developed during World War I and has been used to treat poisoning by various heavy metals including, lead, mercury and arsenic.

The controversy surrounding the mercury-autism connection has been raging for over a decade which caused removal of the mercury-based preservative thimerosal from vaccines in 2001. Many across the country though, believe that this connection has not been thoroughly refuted

Read more of this story »

If it’s not one thing…it’s another. After all of the outcry about the autism and vaccine connection, we thought that replacing mercury as a preservative with thimerosal would make us safe. Now, it turns out there could be another potential hazard.

Several studies published in medical journals have linked amalgam fillings to increased levels of bodily mercury and we all know what that means! Mercury has been linked to a variety of serious health concerns.

Millions of Americans have cavity fillings made of amalgam, a blend of about 50 percent mercury, a neurotoxin, plus tin, silver and other metals. (Fillings called “silver” are actually amalgam.) Although they’ve been widely used for more than 150 years, some people say amalgam fillings can emit mercury, causing damage to the brain, kidneys or nervous system.

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People give you this whole rap about how easy saving the planet is. Change a light bulb and save the world. Yes and no. How about we consider it a start rather than an end destination?

Lighting accounts for about 20% of our electric bills. Traditional bulbs burn heat rather than light, so are extremely inefficient. Compact florescent light bulbs (CFLs) are 80% more efficient and can last up to 10 times longer than a traditional bulb. Last December, Congress voted to phase out the inefficient incandescent. By 2012, the 100-watt bulb will be history.

In the interim, environmentally-minded folks of all ilks are heralding the bulb. The virtual Stop Global Warming march reminds us swapping out three incandescent bulbs for CFLs will save us 300 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $60 a year. The Coalition On the Environment and Jewish Life suggests installing CFLs for Hanukkah as a way to redefine “energy-stretching light” and reflect environmental stewardship. Students in Pennsylvania sell light bulbs instead of candy to raise money for their schools. (Simran prefers candy.)

Read more of this story »

Raymond F. Palmer said the study showed — for the first time in scientific literature — a statistically significant association between autism risk and proximity to the mercury source

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Last month’s New York Times report on high mercury levels in tuna sushi was certainly cause for concern for serious sushi lovers. (See my previous post Plenty of Safe, Eco-Friendly Fish in the Sea.)

The report might have also made many parents uneasy about the ubiquitous tuna sandwich in their kids’ lunch boxes. Many of us rely on canned tuna for a wholesome, high-protein meal. Once considered a “nuisance food” or “pauper’s food,” today almost half of all American households serve canned tuna monthly. Only shrimp surpasses canned tuna as Americans’ favorite seafood. But does this beloved fish in a can deliver a helping of toxic mercury, too?

Read more of this story »

As a marine scientist who has been researching seafood sustainability and health issues for a long time, I’ve known for a while that bluefin tuna not only has high mercury levels but is severely depleted, too.

These magnificent fish are highly prized for their rich, buttery flesh. The global sushi market can’t get enough bluefin, and as a result, exorbitant prices and severe overfishing are driving bluefin tuna to the brink of extinction.

I love sushi as much as the next person, but given its dire population numbers and high mercury levels, maybe its time that we all lay off for a while.

Now making big headlines is a New York Times report that found that much of the bluefin sushi served in upscale New York City restaurants actually exceeds the Food and Drug Administration’s “action level” for mercury. (The threshold is 1 part per million.)

To reiterate: It’s no surprise that bluefin tuna has high levels of mercury – it’s one of the largest and most predatory fish species in the ocean. What is surprising is just how many New York City restaurants are serving the really high-mercury tuna.

Read more of this story »

The recent recalls of toys for lead contamination has become a major concern for parents. Additional research shows that it is not just lead we parents should be concerned about.

Healthy Legacy, an environmental group of Minnesota, worked in tangent with a few other organizations to test 1,200 children’s toys. The tests were used to detect not just lead, which was found in one third of the tested toys, but four other potential hazards as well; cadmium, arsenic, mercury and chlorine.

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December 28th, 2007 by Jim Gunshinan

Broke Your CFL? Don’t Panic!

The typical dose of mercury in a CFL is about the sizeof a pen tip 

(circled in red), and these doses have been getting smaller and smaller. 

(Photo provided by EPA.)

Australia has already begun to phase out the incandescent light bulb,

and the energy legislation recently signed by President Bush has

begun that process in the United States. Every time I turnaround,

it seems, someone is handing me a brand new

compact fluorescent light (CFL) to advance the cause of energy

efficiency and help save the planet. CFLs are becoming ubiquitous

in households all over California. We taught them in the pages of

Home Energy all the time. And that’s a goodthing, right?

Brandy Bridges, of Ellsworth, Maine may not think so. A cleaning

company quoted her a price of $2,000 to clean her house after

she broke a CFL.The benefits of CFLs are many–they use about75%

less energy than incandescents and last up to ten times longer.

Replacing a 75W incandescent with an 18W CFL will save you about $46

in electricity costs over the life of the bulb, and thatis at current

electricity prices, which no doubt will go up, making today’s CFLs an

even better deal. Energy Star CFLs (www.energystar.gov/cfls) won’t

flicker, give warmer light, and there area variety of them, from

the ubiquitous A-line bulb, to candelabras.

But, and it’s a big but, CFLs won’t give light without mercury.

The average CFL on the shelf at your local hardware store has about

4 mg of mercury in it. Mercury vapor is harmful to humans,and there

is enough mercury accumulated in some of the fish we eat

to make this Californian think twice about ordering salmon for dinner.

Thankfully, there are ways to clean up a broken CFL thatdon’t involve

an overly frightened and/or greedy cleaning company

(www.epa.gov/CFLcleanup), and recycling centers are available, if not

yet ubiquitous (that word again!) (www.lamprecycle.org).

Even if the worst happens and you break a CFL bulb, the EPA estimates

that at most only 6.8% of the 4 mg of mercury will be released, or about

0.27 mg, since most of it is in the glass, electrodes, and in the phosphor

coating on the inside of the glass. Incinerating a bulb willpotentially

release more mercury vapor, if there are no pollution controls on the incinerator.

But even if the CFL released all of it’s mercury–according to Richard Benware,

a graduate student at Cornell who researched CFLs last summer for EPA’s

Energy Star program–it would still be a better choice than an incandescent,

because over its lifetime, the 15W CFL will have preventedthe release of 5.67 mg

of mercury from an average power plant.

Of course, recycling is best, and that is still a problem. Alan Meier,

Home Energy’s senior executive editor, admits to turning

part of his garage into a “temporary hazardous waste holding facility” to

hold his family’s used CFLs, since the nearest CFL recycling center is

13 miles away from his home in Berkeley, through “one of the worst traffic

jams in the United States.” There is help in finding those recycling centers,

near and far (www.earth911.org).

But we need to put the same effort used in making CFLs ubiquitous into making

disposing of them in a clean safe manner just as ubiquitously easy.

You know what I mean.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has raised numerous objections to the permit, which was blocked on October 1. One concern is that the permit may not sufficiently limit chromium, cadmium, silver, cyanide and other chemicals to meet water quality standards for Indiana.

This is the second uproar in recent months about pollutants in Lake Michigan after BP was issued a permit for its $3 billion expansion of the Whitting, IN refinery. This expansion would allow the refinery to handle large quantities of Alberta Tar Sands crude, and comes with a high environmental price tag for Lake Michigan, such as a 54% increase in ammonia and 35% increase in sludge particles being released. This permit was the first to be issued in years that would increase the amount of pollution that a company is allowed to emit into Lake Michigan by finding a loophole in the Clean Water Act.

Chicagoans were particularly alarmed by these plans because their drinking water intake is located just a few miles from the Whiting refinery discharge. Many area residents responded by signing petitions, participating in demonstrations and a boycotting BP products. The message was heard loud and clear. The company later announced that it would not increase discharge into the lake, and would investigate pollution control technologies.

Despite this announcement, the permit remains on the books and could set a lower standard for future discharge permits. This series of events does, however, demonstrate the influence that private citizens and politicians can have over the actions of corporations when government standards seem to be satisfactory. Recent threats to the water quality of Lake Michigan serve as a reminder of the importance of the lake, which is the largest freshwater lake in the United States.

Chicago Tribune: Indiana Giving Lake Polluter a Break

Also on GO:

Eco-Effective Decisions: Stick to the Claims in Your Ad Campaign. Who’s Not? British Petroleum & the EPA.

These days, there’s something fishy about fish—and we’re not talking about the smell!

The deluge of information about mercury contamination (affects the brain and nervous system) has us concerned. We know it’s a wonderful source of protein, good fats, vitamins and minerals—so what’s the catch?

American Dietetic Association spokesperson Susan Moores, MS, RD reels us in:

Large, predatory fish tend to be at risk for greatest contamination—like shark, swordfish, tilefish, king mackerel, tuna (albacore has 3x the level of methylmercury as canned light tuna). Eating these fish once weekly is "safe" for most adults. Pregnant women (or those trying or nursing) should avoid them.

If these fish sound familiar, understand your exposure with the NRDC’s mercury calculator.

And when possible, opt for wild salmon (not farmed), tilapia, trout and sole—they’re light on mercury. Finding healthy fish boils down to good manufacturing practices, so ask the shop about its sources.

Download this pocket guide to smart seafood selections for guidance on the go.

Also on GO:

Daily Tip: Smart Seafood Choices

Fish is a source of healthy omega-3 fatty acids, but unfortunately because of the pollution in our waters, fish and other seafoods also contain toxins such as mercury and PCBs. Then there’s also the issue of overfishing, and the debate between wild-caught and farm-raised fish to consider. So how do you know what fish choose?

To help you sort out the "good" fish from the "bad" fish, Environmental Defense has created the Seafood Selector. Whether you’re in a restaurant or the seafood department of the grocery store, the Seafood Selector will guide you through your purchase.

The Seafood Selector is an easy to read chart (also available as a wallet sized print out) listing the best and worst seafood choices. For example, wild-caught salmon is better than farm raised salmon, and U.S. crawfish is good while imported shrimp isn’t. The selector is based on factors including what part of the world seafood comes from, how it is caught, the environmental regulations in different parts of the world, as well as the impact and health benefits of each individual selection. (More information on the selection process is available in the Seafood Selector FAQs). Use it as a guideline to help you make smarter seafood choices.

Want omega-3 fatty acids without the fish? GO’s Collen Patrick-Goudreau lists several plant-based sources for omega-3 fatty acids - no toxins involved.

More on fish from GO:

Choosing Healthy, Ocean-Friendly Seafood is a No-Brainer

One Fish, Two Fish, Let’s Just Not Fish: By-Catch in our Seafood Salad

Dolphins, and Turtles, and Seals - Oh My! The Effect of Fishing on the Animals We Care About

Food Toxins: Toxins in our Food Chain

The Nutrients We Need are Plant-Based

Environmental Defense: Farmed Caviar is a Less Expensive, eco-Friendly Alternative to Severely Depleted (and Banned) Beluga

A typical CFL contains about 5 milligrams of mercury – roughly equivalent to the tip of a ballpoint pen, according to GE. But new low-mercury CFLs from such companies as GE, Philips and Osram Sylvania contain 4 milligrams or less, and some, such as the 16-watt A-Shape bulb from Philips, contain as little as 1.2 milligrams of mercury.

Even better, manufacturers have committed to reducing even further the amount of mercury in CFLs. Osram Sylvania, for instance, says it will reduce mercury in all its CFLs to 2.5 milligrams by the end of 2008, and Lights of America expects all its bulbs to have no more than two milligrams of mercury by the end of 2007, according to Wal-Mart, which is working with manufacturers to reduce the amount of mercury in the CFLs it sells.

Homeowners concerned about mercury should be aware that all CFLs are safe if used properly, and no mercury is released when the bulb is in use. If a bulb breaks, there’s no immediate hazard, but don’t vacuum it up, as that could disperse the mercury. Instead, sweep up all the glass fragments or use damp paper towel to clean it up. Place the broken pieces and paper towel into a sealed plastic bag.

Finally, all CFLs should be properly recycled. Do not place them in your trash can or standard recyling, as they can break. Instead, check with your local municipality or waste management company to find out how to properly dispose of the bulbs. Some areas have local recycling programs for CFLs, and some retailers, such as IKEA, will recycle the bulbs for you. For other recycling options, check Earth 911 at www.earth911.org or call their toll-free hotline at 800-CLEANUP to find out more about recycling options your area. Additional information is available at www.lamprecycle.org.

In my first exploration of the issue of by-catch in commercial fishing, I looked at the devastating effects of fishing not simply for the "target" species, but on those animals who are unlucky enough to be caught in the lines, traps, hooks, and nets not meant for them. In this second part, I further explore this issue and take a look at how the dolphins, sea turtles, and seals - animals for whom we have affection - fare in our pursuit of gastronomic pleasure.

DOLPHINS
The public became aware of the problems of by-catch in the 1980s when campaigns were led against tuna companies for harming and killing dolphins when tuna were the targets. The relationship between dolphins and tuna is that yellowfin tuna follow and school beneath dolphins, so fishing fleets would look for dolphins on the surface, herd them and encircle them and set out the nets to catch the tuna – ensnaring the dolphins at the same time. An estimated 5 to 7 million dolphins have been killed by this fishing method over the past four decades, the largest marine mammal kill in history.

In 1986, the International Marine Mammal Project organized a campaign, including a consumer boycott of tuna, in order to urge U.S. tuna companies to end the practice of intentionally chasing and netting dolphins, and to adopt "Dolphin Safe" fishing practices to prevent the drowning of dolphins in tuna nets. Dolphins are mammals and don’t have gills, so they drown while stuck in the nets underwater. There are other standards that a company must adhere to in order to label their tuna “dolphin-safe,” but it’s worth noting that just because it says “dolphin-safe” or “dolphin-friendly,” it doesn’t mean that dolphins were not killed in the production of a particular tin of tuna. It means that the fleet which caught the tuna did not specifically target a pod of dolphins.

Though the numbers are down since new techniques are used to catch tuna (400,000 dolphins killed annually in the 1960s and 100,000 in the 1980s), several thousand dolphins are still killed each year to satisfy our appetites for tuna. Dolphins — social, playful, intelligent animals — are also killed as by-catch in nets targeting trout. According to a 2003 BBC story by Alex Kirby called “Nets Kill 800 Cetaceans a Day,” more than 800 dolphins, porpoises, and whales die every day as they get tangled in fishing nets – that’s 300,000 every year.

TURTLES
Turtles are also common victims. Sea turtles are killed by the thousands. It’s estimated that more than 20,000 sea turtles die each year after getting hooked on longlines. Six of the seven species of marine turtles are listed as "Endangered" or "Critically Endangered," and the outlook is increasingly grim. In the Pacific, leatherbacks are heading for extinction, fast, and in the Mediterranean, green turtle numbers have plummeted. Though pollution and disease contribute to this, the nets and long-lines of fishing fleets play a major role in their demise.

According to Duke University, which recently conducted a global assessment of the problem, more than 250,000 loggerhead and 60,000 leatherback turtles are snared each year by commercial longline fishing, and tens of thousands die. The authors estimated that longline fleets from 40 different countries set about 1.4 billion hooks in the studied year of 2000, the equivalent of about 3.8 million hooks each day. Again, longlines are fishing lines that can stretch for 40 miles and dangle thousands of individually baited hooks. They are set at optimal depths and times to catch tuna and swordfish, shark, and other fish, and according to the data studied, the turtles most often die – not by drowning, by some kind of injury related to hooking or entangling.

SEALS
Another byproduct of the fishing industry is the brutal death of baby seals. Because of the overfishing of cod by the Canadian fishing industry in eastern Canada –- in the Atlantic Ocean for Newfoundland’s northeast coast — the cod population declined to such a degree that the government stepped in the late 1980s and imposed severe restrictions on commercial fishing. But it was too late. Because of overfishing, the fishery collapsed, never recovered, and the ecosystem changed such that it was no longer able to support cod fish.

What does all this have to do with the seals? Scapegoating the seals for the collapse of the cod fisheries, fishermen demanded a kill. In 2003, the Canadian government bowed to pressure from the fishing industry, and ordered the massacre of hundreds of thousands of seals, declaring war on the seals in hopes that massive seal kills will bring back the cod and keep their disgruntled fishermen working.

In fact, cod is not a major food source of the harp and hood seal diet. Further, recent evidence suggests that killing seals contributes to bacterial infestation on the ocean floor which leads to hypoxia, a condition in which patches of ocean lose all the dissolved oxygen and are unable to sustain cod or fish or marine life of any kind. However, these facts seem to have been brushed aside by the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans in their efforts to justify and continue the slaughter.

During the 3-year period of 2003-2005, the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) allowed a kill quota of 975,000 baby and adult harp seals and 30,000 adult hood seals. When the "struck and lost" seals are included (these are the animals who’ve been hit but lost in the icy waters), the total killed exceeds one million, making this the largest marine mammal slaughter in the world.

To find as many avenues as possible to profit from the annual, government-subsidized slaughter, Canada exports sealskins (furskins/pelts and leather), seal oil, and seal meat. Unfortunately, the demand for seal pelts has sky-rocketed, especially in Europe. Though seal meat isn’t doing so well, the Canadian government is trying to find markets for the bodies of the skinned seals. The kill continues to this day. The quota for the 2007 massacre was 270,000. Visit www.protectseals.org for more information.

TSUNAMI
Finally, while we’re talking about by-products/effects (not just "by-catch"), there is another by-product of consuming aquatic animals that went under the radar screen when an earthquake and subsequent tsunami in southeast Asia destroyed lives and communities at the end of 2004. Over 200,000 human lives were lost and an uncounted number of non-human lives. Experts agree that the destruction of coral reefs and mangrove trees played a significant role in the destruction caused by the tsunami. In many countries across Asia, including Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, mangroves stood all along the coasts in shallow waters. They offered protection against things like tsunamis. Over the last 20-30 years, they were cleared for shrimp or prawn farms. The shrimps and prawns are sold to Europeans and other foreigners at a price that does not take into account the environmental cost. The destruction of the coasts was also due to the building of large resorts where they should never have been built.

Of course, there are efforts to rebuild the shrimp farms, and we’ll see if we learn anything from the disaster. I’m a little skeptical, considering the fact that worldwide, shrimp farming has grown at an annual average of over 18% since 1970, and is the single most valuable internationally traded seafood product worldwide, valued at an estimated $50-60 billion at the point of retail.

BEYOND BY-CATCH
The cost of our consumption of aquatic animals is extremely high - not just to the target species who were living perfectly peaceful lives before we come along and snatch them out of their homes, but also to the non-target species and entire ecosystems. And this is just one aspect of this issue. We have yet to talk about all the others, including factory-farm raising fish; the pollution in the ocean; the fishing of smaller fish to feed to the larger fish we raise to eat; the toxins, such as mercury, in the fish that we consume when we eat their bodies; the research that supports the fact that fish feel pain; the human health concerns of eating fish; or the ethical considerations of “catch and release sport fishing."

We have yet to explore the many problems with consuming salmon – for instance, the problems with farm-raised Atlantic salmon, which is probably one of the worst choices we could make: the fish are raise in cramped pens in the ocean, and their waste pollutes the surrounding water and spreads disease to wild fish. In the Pacific, escaped farm-raised salmon also compete with wild fish for food, and interfere with spawning. Furthermore, salmon are fed a diet of fish meal (tinted to give their flesh that characteristic "salmon pink" color) which further depletes the ocean food chain. Wild Washington or Oregon salmon is a poor choice, since overfishing and habitat destruction have endangered many species. And remember: the fish have to consume Omega-3 fatty acids from phytoplankton, from algae. If they don’t consume it, they don’t have it in their flesh. If they don’t get it, we don’t get it. So again, go right to the source for your nutrients.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
A recent issue of Fish and Fisheries magazine cited more than 500 research papers on fish intelligence, proving that fish are smart, that they can use tools, and that they have impressive long-term memories and sophisticated social structures. The introductory chapter said that fish are "steeped in social intelligence, pursuing Machiavellian strategies of manipulation, punishment and reconciliation … exhibiting stable cultural traditions and cooperating to inspect predators and catch food." A wonderful U.K. Guardian story explores these notions, quoting Dr. Culum Brown, a specialist in fish behaviour at Macquarie University in Sydney, and co-author of Fish Cognition and Behaviour. He says, "I spend half my life telling people fish aren’t stupid. Fish are more intelligent than they appear. The trouble is that most aquaculture treats fish as if they are little robots. They are not."

My hope is that we begin to question the criteria we use to determine the value of an animal’s life, who deserves to be spared pain, and who has a right to live free from harm, free from suffering, free from premature and unnecessary death.

My hope is that our hearts are large enough to include not only those with whom we can identify, with whom we can communicate but also those who don’t look us, those who don’t sound like us. May we be as fascinated by our differences as we are consoled by our similarities. We don’t need to travel to other planets to find interesting, exotic, different life forms. They exist right here, right now, on the earth and in the sea.

Before 1980, most household batteries contained mercury. By using alternative materials, such as silver oxide, most batteries are now mercury-free; however, watch style, small, "button" shaped batteries still contain mercury. These types of batteries are found in light up children's shoes. Although some websites claim that children's light up shoes have been mercury free since 1997, a 2006 report from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services states, "Mercury is found in items such as thermometers, switches, thermostats, light-shoes, jewelry, some batteries, and fluorescent lights." In fact, it is the mercury tilt switch that may have been eliminated and not the battery.

The Snohomish County PUD Do These Shoes Contain Mercury? provides a brief history of light up shoes:

Light-up shoes were originally made with mercury tilt switches. Mercury created a very reliable switch but so many shoes were ending up in the landfill that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned mercury as a switch…Today, some shoes have motion-activated lighting modules that feature a red brake light when the walker is in the process of coming to a complete stop. Some have removable and interchangeable light-emitting diode (LED) cartridges. Some designs have replaceable batteries.

IndustryWatch.org implies children's shoes still contain mercury:

The future of light-up shoes is on the rocks" in an article posted June 26, 2007 about mercury reduction legislation. Many states, like an Ohio ban that begins in April 2008, have outlawed mercury in consumer products such as footwear, toys, games, greeting cards, holiday ornaments, candles, etc. " Compliance deadlines have been extended in many states for consumer products whose only mercury is in the button-cell battery required to operate them, because the battery industry has imposed its own deadline of 2011 for eliminating the mercury those contain.

According to the director of the Mercury Policy Project Michael Bender, many states have eliminated products such as light-up shoes, whicch have disappeared from shelves as manufacturers work on mercury-free replacements.

Remember the Mad Hatter from Lewis Carroll's Alice and Wonderland? The term "mad as a hatter" refers to the mercury poisoning hat makers experienced up until a ban in the 1940s. Hat makers experienced nervous disorders, mental illness, odd behavior, quarter size holes in their brains, and death as a result of their mercury exposure. High levels of mercury still exists in rivers and soil around hat making facilities on the east coast. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that enters the food chain through contaminated water. In children, the effects of mercury exposure can cause developmental delays, learning disabilities, attention problems, kidney damage, and problems with their nervous and digestive systems. Mercury does occur naturally in rocks and minerals, such as cinnabar; however, burning coal, natural gas, and oil are major contributers to acid rain and mercury in our food chain, especially fish. Lewis Carroll's Mad Hatter first appeared in 1865, yet we have still not eliminated unnecessary mercury exposure from our environment.

In California, it is illegal to throw any household items containing mercury into a trash can, yet most parents do not realize their children's shoes might contain mercury. These shoes need to be disposed of properly at a hazardous waste facility. Even if your child's light up shoes do not contain mercury, the batteries inside the shoes deserve proper disposal. The best solution is to avoid these products all together, as do we really need to waste energy on light up shoes?

LightFair NYC this year was home to amazing light technology from energy efficiency featuring LED technology to the reduction of mercury content in the fluorescent bulbs. As an environmentalist, I was impressed by the advancement of technology in lighting energy efficiency but was scared at the same time that we as consumers may be short sighted in our quest for energy efficiency by ignoring the proper disposal of these bulbs.

The LED technology impressed me with its long life and lack of mercury content. In addition, Phillips and SLI lighting both featured low mercury content in their fluorescent bulbs. SLI lighting featured the most impressive environmental concern with all of their fluorescent bulbs containing low level of mercury and their bulb glass was free of lead.

During my discussion with Flemming Jensen, Vice President of Industrial/Commercial Sales at SLI Lighting about why the company was producing low mercury fluorescent bulbs and lead-free glass, he made me aware of our current disposal practices of fluorescent lighting. The world is pushing for more efficient lighting, but has not looked at the disposal of the compact fluorescent. Giants like Wal-Mart and Home Depot are offering lower-priced fluorescent bulbs to encourage consumers to save energy. It seems that no one has asked the question what about the disposal of these products after they no longer work.

In my area in New Jersey, I have to make an appointment and then drive about thirty minutes to dispose of my fluorescent bulbs at the County Municipal building, or wait twice a year to go to a designated location in my county to dispose of hazardous waste. Most consumers are not going to take the time to dispose of their bulbs correctly. It is too much of an inconvenience. They just throw them away. Fluorescent bulbs have mercury and lead in them, which is leaching into our soils and waterways from the landfills.

Although the world is taking notice that we need to stop global warming, there should be a simultaneous effort being made to require easily accessible places to dispose of the fluorescent lighting. The giants like Wal-Mart could easily exchange burnt-out fluorescent bulbs for new ones with a discount offered to encourage people to recycle.

Cities and counties could have more accessible place for people to drop off their bulbs like they drop off their newspapers and plastics. The only way for more easily accessible recycling to be achieved is for the consumers to demand it. In addition, we can demand that bulbs are made of low levels of mercury and lead free glass. We have the power in this world because we speak in the language of money. We have asked for more energy efficient technology; let’s now demand for our landfills to remain lead and mercury free.

Editor’s note: In my own browsing this weekend, I came across LampRecycle.com, which publishes a list of companies that will take back CFLs and other “spent mercury containing lamps.” LampRecycle.org is published by the National Electrical Manufacturer’s Association.

Imagine my surprise when I learned that mercury exposure is a common misconception when it comes to CFLs. Fortunately, these myths are easily debunked.

Myth: There is a large amount of mercury in CFL bulbs.

Fact: Yes, there is mercury in CFLs. Generally, this amount is about 4 milligrams of mercury per bulb. To put this in perspective, a mercury thermometer has 500 milligrams of mercury in it, and older thermostats can contain as much as 3000 milligrams.

Interestingly enough, the use of CFLs can actually prevent mercury from entering our air. Burning fossil fuels produces more mercury in the air we breathe than any other source. Since CFLs use less energy, hence, fossil fuels, less mercury is put in the air. The EPA calculates that a power plant will emit 10 milligrams of mercury to produce the electricity needed to power an incandescent bulb over the course of its lifetime, but only 2.4 milligrams of mercury to power a CFL for the same amount of time.

Myth: There are no proper disposal guidelines for CFLs that have burned out.

Fact: CFLs are not technically considered hazardous waste by the government, but it is recommended that you use proper precautions when disposing of burnouts or breaks. Earth911.org can give you specific directions for disposal in your area. In general, you should dispose of CFLs like you would batteries, paint, or oil.

Myth: If a CFL breaks in your home, it will cost thousands of dollars to properly clean up the mercury released.

Fact: This is a myth that actually has an interesting story behind it. It apparently started when Steve Milloy published a story on Fox News claiming that a woman named Brandy Bridges broke a CFL in her child's bedroom and was concerned about spilled mercury contaminating the carpet. When she called Home Depot, her local Poison Control, and finally the Department of Environmental Protection for the state of Maine, she claims they recommended a $2,000 carpet cleaning. Milloy used one line out of the original story about Bridges, published in Maine's Ellsworth American, and neglects to mention that the story goes on to say that there is a simple, inexpensive, and safe method for cleaning up a spill such as this, and the DEP has now said that it "isn't necessary to hire professionals at all" for a CFL break. Read a more thorough debunking here (via Treehugger).

In short, don't believe the hype. You can breathe easy when it comes to using CFLs in your home.

Last year, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell proposed legislation that would cut mercury pollution 90 percent by 2015 from the state’s 36 coal-fired power plants. This would make PA the largest coal-burning and coal-mining state to have regulations tougher than those of the federal government. The legislation was approved by an environmental oversight committee and a regulatory review committee. Everything seemed to be going smoothly…

But the state senate opposed the mercury law and instead voted 40-10 to adopt the weaker federal law. The House disagreed and killed the measure, and then things got really ugly.

Senate opponents tried to stop the rule through a regulatory objection process – a process that needs to be approved by Rendell and the House, which hasn’t happened. So the PA Attorney General certified the law as legal in December.

Done deal, right? Wrong.

Here enters the bitter ex most people had forgotten about: The Legislative Reference Bureau. This agency publishes a record of administrative actions, and by publishing them puts them into effect. But the agency refuses to publish the rule.

The agency maintains that it can’t publish the rule because the Senate adjourned November 28, before the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee’s 14-day review period had ended. So the Committee still has 10 more days to finish the review, which can’t begin before January 22.

The Rendell administration says the Legislative Reference Bureau needs to mind its own business and shouldn’t be objecting to the rule, and that the review period expired November 30th when the two-year General Assembly term came to an end anyway. A lawyer for the Rendell administration has officially requested that the agency publish the rule, and the agency is still working on a response to that request.

Stay tuned for more drama in the P-A.

AP: Tougher PA mercury rule blocked by dispute with Senate