DEP: Few Fish Eaters Mean Little Mercury Risk
Residents say they'd eat more if knew it was safe
Morgantown Dominion Post
20 May 2009
Associated Press
CHARLESTON — West Virginia allows more mercury in fish than the federal
government recommends, but environmental regulators say that's OK..
Since West Virginians eat less fish than the national average, they're
at less risk of developing health problems caused by mercury, says the
Department of Environmental Protection. In large doses, mercury can
damage the brain and other vital organs.
The more fish people consume, the stricter mercury limits must be, Mike
Arcuri, with DEP's water quality standards program, said Monday at a
public meeting. But if people eat less, he said, concentrations of
mercury in fish tissue can be a little higher.
The federal Clean Water Act recommends mercury not exceed 0.3
micrograms per gram of fish tissue. West Virginia allows 0.5 micrograms
per gram.
Some residents say they might eat more fish if they were confident it
was safe.
"We tell everyone in our area, and most people in our area would not
eat a fish caught out of the Coal River. Or probably any other river,
for that fact," said Janice Nease of Coal River Mountain Watch, a group
devoted to fighting mountaintop removal mining in southern West
Virginia.
Fellow activist Lorelei Scarbro said power plant air emissions are not
the only source of mercury pollution in waterways — she also blames
mining.
Studies have found mercury and other heavy metals in coal slurry, the
wastewater produced when coal is washed. Across the coalfields, people
believe that slurry has contaminated surface waters and groundwater,
through both the leaching of impoundments and the deliberate injection
into worked-out, abandoned mines.
"Coal is supposed to stay in the earth. Once you disturb it, there's
all kinds of ugly things that come out of it and we end up consuming,"
Scarbro said.
Consumption advisories issued by the DEP and Department of Health and
Human Resources already recommend that people limit the amount of
certain fish they eat. Black bass over 12 inches long, for example, can
safely he eaten twice a month, along with walleye and saugeye.
But location makes a difference: Walleye caught in Summersville Lake
should only be eaten six times a year because of mercury, while catfish
from the same lake should be eaten only once a month. And black bass
from Sutton Lake should be eaten only once a month.