New Mexico Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy
Mercury Pollution from Conventional Generation
Coal-fired power plants emit substantial amounts of mercury, a poisonous heavy metal that exists naturally in coal. Exposure to mercury can result in health problems such as kidney disease and/or eye, respiratory tract, nervous system or brain damage.
In the US at Large: General information about mercury poisoning, including some state specific info, can be found at http://serconline.org/mercury/.
In New Mexico: Twenty four of New Mexico's water bodies have fish consumption restrictions due to the presence of some mercury: See http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/swqb/Mercury.html. The only river listed is the San Juan River, which picks up mercury from a coal seam, and possibly from coal fired power plants in the Four Corners Region as well. A white paper on Mercury by the New Mexico Environment Department can be found at http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/swqb/hg_white.html. This report discusses the fact that mercury is emitted by coal fired plants, but makes no attempt to determine the fraction of mercury in New Mexico's waterways coming from coal plants in New Mexico.
