Last summer, we reported that researchers found that song birds
nesting on Dome Island had 15 to 20 times more mercury in their
blood than birds from other sections of New York State. The
scientists’ next task was to determine the source of the
mercury: midwestern power plants, abandoned industrial sites,
closed landfills or emissions from cement manufacturing plants.
Scott Lorey of the Adirondack Council told us at the time that
cement plants will deposit heavy concentrations of mercury
within a local radius, and we were surprised to find that little
had been done to compel cement plants to cut mercury emissions.
That’s why we were gratified to learn that nine states, New York
included, had reached a settlement with the federal
Environmental Protection Agency requiring new limits on the
amount of mercury and other toxic pollutants that cement plants
can discharge. The EPA’s new rules were drafted to address
mercury and other toxic emissions from Portland cement plants
nationwide, including those located in N