The Bush administration recently issued standards that will weaken and delay efforts to reduce highly toxic mercury emissions from power plants, which can fall to the ground with rain and enter bodies of water. People are most commonly exposed to mercury -- which can cause severe neurological and developmental damage in humans, particularly in fetuses and young children -- by eating contaminated fish. In the past, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cautioned pregnant women against eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish because of elevated mercury levels. The agency is currently planning to issue a broad mercury advisory for at-risk populations -- including pregnant women, nursing mothers, women who may become pregnant, and young children -- concerning consumption of tuna, other fish and shellfish. Despite the increasing severity of mercury pollution, the Bush administration is taking a relaxed approach. The new plan calls for mercury emissions to be reduced by 70 percent by 2018, down to 15 tons annually. Under existing law, however, mercury pollution would be reduced by up to 90 percent by Dec. 2007, according to the Clean Air Trust. The new proposal represents a major shift in the way mercury is treated under the Clean Air Act (CAA). In Dec. 2000, as part of a settlement with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), EPA issued a determination that mercury and other hazardous air pollutants should be subject to regulation under Section 112 of the CAA. This meant new standards, which were to be set by Dec. 15 of this year, would be based on the control technology employed at the best performing 12 percent of existing emissions sources (known as maximum achievable control technology or MACT). The Bush EPA, however, now argues that the Clinton administration misread the law and that mercury need not be subject to such strict controls. Rather, the mercury reductions laid out in the Bush administration’s proposal would be achieved through a looser cap-and-trade program. Under this system, plants that can reduce pollution under a set cap are awarded “credits,” which can then be sold to other plants that want to exceed their pollution limits. This approach is inappropriate for dealing with a highly toxic substance like mercury, which has a localized impact, and could create lingering “hot spots” around power plants. In fact, in nine out of the top 10 states with mercury hot spots, more than 50 percent of mercury contamination comes from local sources, according to a recent report by the group Environmental Defense. The administration also recently announced standards on power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), which causes acid rain, and nitrogen oxide (NOx), which contributes to smog. Like the mercury proposal, this measure offers fewer benefits than simply implementing and enforcing current law. The SO2 and NOx standards have been greatly overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the mercury rollback -- just the opposite of what the administration intended. “The acid rain and smog initiative was supposed to overshadow that unconscionable mercury proposal,” John Walke of NRDC told Grist Magazine. “The EPA's plan was to roll out all the rules together to soften the mercury blow.” An agency source, however, leaked a copy of the mercury proposal to outside parties before the entire package was unveiled. The mercury and SO2 and NOx proposals mirror the President’s polluter-friendly Clear Skies Initiative, which is stalled in Congress.