Carol Browner, head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said they would be proposing new regulations requiring coal-fired power plants to cut their toxic emissions of mercury by 2003 with final rules in place by 2004.

"Mercury from power plants settles over waterways, polluting rivers and lakes, and contaminating fish," she said in a statement. "The greatest source of mercury emissions is power plants, and they have never been required to control these emissions before now."

• Environmental groups had for years urged the EPA to add mercury to a long list of power plant emissions already regulated to keep the air and water clean.

• The primary reason for the regulations is to protect the unborn children of women who eat large amounts of fish while pregnant, according to Browner.

• Toxic mercury emissions have been blamed for damaging the nervous system of unborn babies when their mothers eat large amounts of fish. The fish are contaminated through polluted waterways near coal-fired power plants.

A National Academy of Sciences report earlier this year said US coal-fired utilities emitted about 40 tons of mercury annually, and that vulnerable groups such as pregnant women could suffer great harm from contamination.

Industry experts have said there are few options to control mercury emissions and that regulations such as those proposed, could cost power plants billions of dollars.

However, Browner is a Democratic appointee of President Clinton who is expected to leave the EPA next month when Republican President-elect George W. Bush takes power and Christine Whitman, the New Jersey governor takes over, said the should reduce US mercury emissions by nearly 50% from 1990 levels.

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Coal fired utility plants are releasing 40 TONS or 80,000 pounds of mercury a year into the air. So, those of you who live near one of these beasts need to be more concerned about air filters at work and home than taking care of the amalgams in your mouth. It also explains why most all fish are contaminated with mercury. Where do you think this mercury winds up? Much of it goes into the water system and even pristine lakes in the mountains, far removed from society, are contaminated with mercury as a result of the winds, which blow this mercury around. Even without the water becoming contaminated, people may still become exposed to the mercury emmisions. They may breathe some of the particles in before they fall to the ground. And what happens to the mercury particles that fall, not in the lakes and waterways, but on the ground? Some of these will be tracked around on the bottoms of people's shoes, even winding up in the home, since most people don't follow the important rule of removing ones shoes when entering the home. Once, in the home children can get them on their hands, which inevitably wind up in their mouths. Also, what about the mercury emissions that wind up landing in a nice green pasture, where cows are grazing? The cows then eat the particles along with the grass and the mercury enters their systems. This means higher mercury levels in the milk and meat from these animals. Related Article: National Academy of Sciences Backs Stricter Mercury Standards