EUEC Live Blogging – Early Mercury CEMS Sessions

I have just finished the early Hg CEMS sessions at the EUEC. Sid Nelson Jr. of Sorbent Technologies, Inc. gave an interesting presentation discussing recent Hg deposition and health effects studies.

The CAMR was based on a couple of fundamental assumptions, one that the deposition of Mercury was global, i.e. there are no hot spots and two that there are no adverse health effects at measured Hg levels in the US population. These two assumptions make it reasonable to implement the Hg regulations over the next 10 years as CAMR does. Recent studies suggest that neither of these may be true. I will attempt to obtain the papers that he discussed and post them. It is his assertion that the CAMR will not end up being the final rule and that there will be a push to accelerate the timetable fore reductions. The recent changes in congress will most likely lend themselves to that push.

Steve Norfleet of RMB Consulting gave a presentation discussing the various state rules. Illinois and Pennsylvania have proposed Hg regulations that are far more stringent than the CAMR and accelerate the attainment of targets. Sid suggests that these rules will be used as the model for future regulations at both the federal and state levels. It might be well worth the effort to browse through these rules and gauge the possible implications to your operation. It may give you a worst case scenario to consider when developing future plans.