Mercury from fish consumption has been cited as the reason for high mercury levels measured in humans in Arkansas, the Northern U.S., Canada and the Faroe and Seychelle islands. Not even humans or animals most remote from industrial production have been spared.

In birds-especially fish-eating birds-mercury is suspected as a direct cause of death and reproductive problems. It is also suspected in the deaths and failure to reproduce of endangered Florida panthers which, according to the EPA report, have become poisoned by eating contaminated raccoons.

While scientists and the Energy Power Research Institute (EPRI), an electrical utility-funded research group that includes Texas utilities, are pouring millions of dollars into mercury research, little is known about the process of methylization of mercury in lakes. Even less is known about methylization of mercury in oceans.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) officials and TNRCC experts say they have little funding to conduct research into the problem. Nonetheless, they are participating in the Southern States Mercury Task Force, and are beginning to conduct modest research to determine historic deposition rates in Texas.

Factors affecting methylization of mercury in lakes include size of watersheds of lakes or rivers (sometimes referred to as "sinks"), water clarity, acidity (the higher acidity, the higher methylization), organic content of lakes and watersheds and chemical content of water, soils and rocks in watersheds.

Because of those factors and others, Texas officials expect more methylization of mercury in fish in East Texas lakes than fish in Central or West Texas lakes. But they cannot explain differences in methylmercury levels found in fish within East Texas. Furthermore, they cannot explain king mackerel accumulations at all.

According to Dr. William F. Fitzgerald, a world-recognized authority on mercury fluxes in the environment, about one-third of atmospheric mercury comes from mercury cycling in seas, the content of which includes man-caused sources; one-third from weathering of mercury-bearing rocks and soils; and one-third from human disturbance or anthropogenic sources. Mercury circulates around the Northern Hemisphere of the globe about once per year and interchanges with Southern Hemisphere air about once every two years.

Fitzgerald estimates atmospheric mercury deposition in the U.S. has increased about three times since 1900, in conjunction with the rise of industrialism in America. Other experts indicate deposition may have leveled off when air pollution controls began being used in the U.S. in the 1950s. Still, he said, "We have sufficient mercury entering the system to account for all mercury entering biota in lakes."

Swedish scientists noted a marked decrease in mercury deposition there after dirty, coal-fired power plants were shut down following the unification of Germany. Of anthropogenic sources, most controllable are emissions from coal-fired power plants, municipal and medical waste incinerators, industrial sources and landfill waste streams.

Still, it is questionable whether the estimated 30 to 60 percent of total human contribution to emissions can be controlled, or whether it will make any difference to try. There is a question whether the U.S. should take unilateral action to control mercury emissions from power plants or industries or wait until the rest of the world goes along through a treaty instrument such as a global warming treaty.

According to a recent National Resources Defense Council-power industry joint-study, U.S. electrical utilities emit about 21 percent of mercury emitted in the U.S. Industrial sources account for about 25 percent and other combustion sources about 52 percent. Company-supplied data to the EPA estimates Texas power plant emissions at about 6 tons of mercury, based on 1994 estimates.

The Proceedings of the 1995 Canadian Mercury Network Workshop, available at the Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network (EMAN) site on the Internet (http://www.cciw.ca/eman), states the U.S. emits about 46.97 tons of mercury into the environment. According to sources interviewed for this report, that number or others in that range account for as much as 13 percent of utility emissions from the U.S. entering the global atmospheric environment. EPRI and electrical industry representatives dispute the claim and estimate U.S. contribution at about 2 percent, with total North American contributions at 184.8 tons-about 3 percent-of the world total.

While this brings U.S. or Texas power industry contributions to world mercury levels into question, Houston Lighting & Power Co. (HL&P) environmental manager Ed Feith said HL&P is pouring money into EPRI to learn more about the issue and will abide with regulatory efforts of government. "We don't use the global political thing as an excuse," said Feith. "We try to be aware of all those effects (human, fish and wildlife health issues). While we don't have a general mercury strategy, we do have a general commitment to compliance."

TU Electric spokesman Dick Robertson in Dallas said TU Electric is aware of the mercury issue and also is funding EPRI studies of mercury deposition and control strategies. While not admitting to any particular mercury control strategy, and while asserting a belief that power plant emissions have not been proven harmful to the East Texas environment, Robinson said TU is switching from relatively mercury-dirty lignite fuel stocks to relatively cleaner Wyoming bituminous coal stocks. New emissions technologies are being installed at the company's Big Brown plant near Fairfield in Freestone County.

This and other so-called "cleaner-coal strategies" could play an important role in reducing mercury emissions in Texas. That could be important for Texas fisheries, because, says Dr. Gary Rochelle of The University of Texas at Austin, a significant amount of mercury falls within 200 to 300 miles of a power plant. The remainder enters the global cycle. Fitzgerald's studies indicate mercury emissions from power plants that don't end up in the global cycle fall within 31 to 75 miles of plants.

This concerns Peter Altman, a clean-energy advocate with the Sustainable Energy Economic Development (SEED) Coalition in Austin.

Altman, who participated in the battle for incorporation of clean-energy language which was not included in an utility industry energy deregulation proposal that was defeated during the last Texas legislative session, warned anglers they have much to lose if mercury emissions are not controlled.

"That bill (without the clean-energy language) would have been a screw job of monumental proportions for utility customers, for consumers and for fisherman," Altman said. "It would have made it harder for companies interested in offering alternative and renewable energy to consumers and would have encouraged continued reliance on dirty, coal-fired power plants."

Answers concerning the energy industry's contribution to the mercury problem are confounded by questions of how much mercury is cycling in the environment as well as how it is acting on human, fish and wildlife populations. It is even questionable whether mercury levels measured in Longview should be considered dirty or clean.

Said University of Connecticut researcher Carl Lamborg, "We don't know what the difference between 'clean' and 'contaminated' is yet. It may be that everything is contaminated. East Texas looks like average, but average could be bad enough."

Dr. Gary Gill of Texas A&M University in Galveston, a prominent mercury researcher, indicated that the latest deposition numbers are disturbing, but must be subjected to further analysis.

Commented TPWD water policy and resource protection division director Dr. Larry D. McKinney, "We are beginning to have more confidence that the mercury we are seeing in fish is coming from local, regional and global sources. In the past, that wasn't so clear. It's a clear alarm for those of us who manage fish and wildlife resources. Increasingly," he noted, "additional species are falling under fish consumption advisories. How long will it be before all sportfish we eat are covered by some kind of advisory?"

McKinney added that it is important for the federal government to issue the final Mercury Study Report to Congress so resource officials can begin to take steps to manage resources and find money to pay for those efforts. "Right now," he said, "fishermen are paying for what little we are doing, attempting to define the problem. And that's not right. We feel the federal government should become more involved in this. This is a national problem," McKinney stressed, "and we need some assistance with it. The frustrating thing for me is that I know there is a problem but don't have answers to give my commissioners so that they can take action on it."

Next time you get the yen to drop a note to your congressman or senator, keep that point in mind.