Mercury policy in the Great Lakes states: past successes and future opportunities

Abstract

While mercury (Hg) releases to air and water within the Great Lakes states have declined significantly, concentrations of mercury in fish remain a cause for concern regarding human and ecosystem health in the Great Lakes Basin. This paper assesses the priority that Hg source reduction ought to have in relation to some other environmental concerns, and explores the relative costs of various Hg reduction policies. Long-range transport of atmospheric mercury creates a collective action problem for states, since most of the mercury emitted within any given state deposits outside that state's borders, and since most of the mercury deposited within a state originated outside that state. This paper discusses some of the mechanisms that policy makers in the Great Lakes states employed to get beyond the collective action problem, including: providing an example for others to follow; using cross-jurisdiction cooperation to leverage the benefits of leadership on Hg reduction and control; and, promoting voluntary actions. Recommendations for future opportunities include: focusing reduction efforts on sources with the highest total mass of emissions rather than solely focusing on reduction of local deposition and utilizing all tools available in the clean air and clean water acts.

Common Loon Reproductive Success in Canada: the West is Best but Not for Long

“…Gathering such large amounts of data without a program such as Bird Studies Canada's CLLS would not have been possible, which highlights the utility of using citizen science programs to monitor wildlife as indicators of environmental stress. The results support further action to abate emissions of mercury and the harmful components of acid precipitation throughout North America and globally (Morrison et al 2004, Smith and Trip 2005, Cain et al 2011). …”

Understanding factors influencing the detection of mercury policies in modelled Laurentian Great Lakes wet deposition

“…21,22 To what extent can these, or similar, policy-related emissions decreases be detected in changes in mercury inputs to specific vulnerable ecosystems? In the Laurentian Great Lakes region, where mercury remains a concern for human and wildlife health, [23][24][25] many community stakeholders in mercury management (including Indigenous communities and recreational anglers) are interested in whether these policies translate into decreases in atmospheric loadings of mercury to aquatic ecosystems, and ultimately, decreases in dietary human exposure from fish. 26,27 As recent source attribution modelling studies have highlighted the importance of both local/regional and global anthropogenic sources for deposition in the Great Lakes basin, 25,[28][29][30] this question is important not only for evaluating the effectiveness of historical and future policy efforts in North America at protecting human health in this region, but also for evaluating the potential impact of prospective policy actions elsewhere in the world in response to the Minamata Convention.…”

Mercury exposed: Advances in environmental analysis and ecotoxicology of a highly toxic metal

“…Mercury pollution has local, regional, and global dimensions. Substantial progress has been made in reducing point‐source pollution, intentional usage, and anthropogenic emissions of mercury at local, regional, and national scales in several industrialized countries . In the Laurentian Great Lakes region of North America, concentrations of mercury in game fish decreased during 1967–2009 —a period during which anthropogenic emissions in Asia steadily increased —illustrating the benefits of local, regional and national actions to reduce mercury usage and emissions.…”