Letter sent to DF&G And to our Legislators
The best i could come up with.....
To Whom It May Concern:
Please support SB 657
CDF&G
“The law requires us to use fish as our criteria,” Stopher said. “The deleterious effects are our primary consideration ... (but) it has to have a substantial effect.”
And how can they prove that dredgers are causing these effects with all this other influence……?
Mercury, a metal, is widely found in nature in rock and soil, and is washed into surface waters during storms. Mercury evaporates from rock, soil, and water into the air, and then falls back to the earth in rain, often far from where it started.
Mercury can also be released into the environment from industrial sources, including the burning of fossil fuels and solid wastes, and disposal of mercury-containing products. dental amalgams (fillings) or accidental spills, such as from a broken thermometer.
There are many sources of mercury to the environment, both natural and man related. Natural sources include volcanoes, natural mercury deposits, and volatilization from the ocean. The primary human-related sources include: coal combustion, chlorine alkali processing, waste incineration, and metal processing. Best estimates to date suggest that human activities have about doubled or tripled the amount of mercury in the atmosphere, and the atmospheric burden is increasing by about 1.5 percent per year.
large scale combustion in utility and commercial/industrial boilers in the United States alone results in release of some 80.2 tons (73 tonnes) of elemental mercury to the atmosphere each year, out of total anthropogenic mercury emissions in the United States of 158 tons (144 tonnes)/year.[3] Natural sources of mercury to the atmosphere include volcanoes, forest fires and weathering of mercury-bearing rocks.[4]
mercury emissions in the United States are largely from combustion of materials that contain mercury, with coal-fired utility boilers and commercial/industrial boilers being the largest sources. Natural sources include volcanoes and degassing of elemental mercury from the oceans.
The process of methyl mercury production occurs naturally in lakes and rivers,
coal-burning power plants emit more mercury into the air each year than does any other human activity. In urban areas, wastewater discharge contributes a substantial portion of mercury to waterways.
These are among the key findings of a comprehensive study of mercury in the state’s watersheds during the past decade by the U.S. Geological Survey
Wastewater treatment plants!!!
“The amount of mercury in precipitation was the main factor affecting mercury levels in the state’s watersheds,” Risch said. “But wastewater discharge can be a significant source of mercury. When wastewater is delivered to a stream from hundreds of discharge pipes, it increases mercury levels in watersheds more than was previously recognized,” he said.
Mercury was detected in 96 percent of the wastewater discharge samples from public treatment facilities in this study. Mercury in wastewater samples typically exceeded criteria set to protect people and wildlife. Higher numbers of discharge pipes in a watershed were linked to higher levels of mercury in the streams.
As a consequence, water from the river had some of the highest mercury concentrations and carried some of the highest levels of mercury found statewide.
Any and all dams!!!
Hydroelectric dams can have a major impact on the quality of the water that is held behind them. One of the major concerns with water quality has to do with the build up of toxic mercury in the water. Mercury is naturally leached from the earth by water, however when a dam blocks the flow of water this mercury can build up in the water to higher then normal levels (May, 1994). If the flooded area behind a dam is full of organic matter, bacteria can turn the insoluable mercury that is present into soluable methyl-mercury (Raphals, 1992). Methyl-mercury can then accumulate in the biomass of fish, and has been shown to be the cause of many human health problems. In the area flooded by the James Bay hydro project in Quebec Canada methyl-mercury levels have gone up dramatically.
The river watershed had the highest rate of mercury dry deposition. Mercury concentrations measured in air samples led scientists to estimate more mercury was dry deposited to this watershed in an average year than was deposited by rain. This watershed contains the most forest land. Forest canopies act as a trap for mercury in the air.
Water draining from reservoirs in this study had significantly higher percentages of mercury converted to methylmercury than water from streams without dams. Dams can trap mercury transported by suspended particles in streams. Once the particulate mercury settles in the lake or reservoir behind the dam, natural processes change some of it to methylmercury, a toxin that accumulates in organisms throughout their life. Methylmercury levels are amplified up the food chain and reach high levels in some sport fish and in fish that serve as food for wildlife.
There are hundreds of these government reports on internet!!!
AND NOW THIS!!!
You see them in every grocery store and home center - those funny-looking curly compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) that are rapidly replacing the old round bulbs. And pretty soon, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 kicks in, requiring bulbs to be 25 to 30 percent more efficient by 2012 to 2014, and 70 percent more efficient by 2020, effectively phasing out traditional incandescent bulbs as a way to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The energy efficiency of CFLs may be significant, but unlike traditional light bulbs, there is a hidden danger sealed inside each little bulb that requires special handling and disposal.
Mercury – a potent, developmental neurotoxin that can damage the brain, liver, kidneys and central nervous system. Infants and young children are particularly vulnerable to mercury’s toxic effects. Even at low levels, mercury is capable of causing a number of health problems including impair motor functioning, cognitive ability and emotional problems. Higher or prolonged exposure can result in much more serious health problems.
CFLs are marketed as “safe” and don’t pose any health risks as long as the glass remains intact. The danger comes if the bulbs are cracked, broken or not disposed of properly. Although it sounds like a miniscule amount – 4 to 5 milligrams – there is enough mercury in just one fluorescent light bulb to contaminate 6,000 gallons of water.
So what does that mean if a CFL is cracked or breaks in our homes, releasing mercury vapors in an enclosed area?
Which begs the question, are these lights really safe and are the risks worth it?
Another equally important concern is what happens to the environment
– the air, soil and water – when tons of discarded bulbs, along with the mercury, are dumped into local landfills?
The threat posed by billions of broken CFLs lying in landfills has resulted in some communities requiring their citizens to discard used and broken CFLs in designated recycling centers or in a hazardous-waste collection facility.
"According to a news report from KGO-TV in San Francisco, local governments estimate that between five and 10 percent of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) are being properly recycled.
Even in a state like California, where it is illegal to throw fluorescent lights in the trash because of their mercury content, there is no statewide plan for recycling them."
Given the known deleterious effects caused by mercury, it would seem logical to assume there will be some unintended consequences resulting from the switch to compact fluorescent lights.
Only time will tell how significant those consequences will be.\\
I think you get what I am talking about.
All the information on previous pages came from government reports posted on the internet, except for the last news article.
And our government here in California has stopped us dredgers because we might be, may be, could be, possibly, churning up some mercury that is already in the rivers
I have been dredging the waters of Ca for 20 some yrs and have only come across a few pcs of gold with mercury on it. I do believe there is a lot more out there to be found.
What I can not believe is that our same government that has stopped us from dredging and has stopped us dredgers from recovering what mercury we come across at a recovery percentage,( in our goverments reports ) of 98 %.
Now about me….I am really just a common person just trying to get through this life without causing problems. I have never done this much research on any one thing before in my life, I am 54 yrs young.
I am not a scientiest, I am not a politiction, I am just me. But i do have enough common sence to know that something is not right with this picture.
I love the outdoors as much as anybody else. And would not do anything intentually to harm the outdoors or the enviornment.
Now our government can continue this stoppage of dredging in Ca waters but it is not going to solve this problem of mercury or methylmercury in the waters, wont even slow it down. This is a problem in all states and they don’t dredge in all states.
And now we are mandated to import,( god only knows how much mercury ) into this country and into our homes.
Does this make sense to you
Thank you in advance for your time.
P.S. This stoppage of dredgeing in Ca is only hurting the economy!
Im not spending my money on dredging. And either are the thousands of other dredgers.
Let us get back to work!!!
The best i could come up with.....
To Whom It May Concern:
Please support SB 657
CDF&G
“The law requires us to use fish as our criteria,” Stopher said. “The deleterious effects are our primary consideration ... (but) it has to have a substantial effect.”
And how can they prove that dredgers are causing these effects with all this other influence……?
Mercury, a metal, is widely found in nature in rock and soil, and is washed into surface waters during storms. Mercury evaporates from rock, soil, and water into the air, and then falls back to the earth in rain, often far from where it started.
Mercury can also be released into the environment from industrial sources, including the burning of fossil fuels and solid wastes, and disposal of mercury-containing products. dental amalgams (fillings) or accidental spills, such as from a broken thermometer.
There are many sources of mercury to the environment, both natural and man related. Natural sources include volcanoes, natural mercury deposits, and volatilization from the ocean. The primary human-related sources include: coal combustion, chlorine alkali processing, waste incineration, and metal processing. Best estimates to date suggest that human activities have about doubled or tripled the amount of mercury in the atmosphere, and the atmospheric burden is increasing by about 1.5 percent per year.
large scale combustion in utility and commercial/industrial boilers in the United States alone results in release of some 80.2 tons (73 tonnes) of elemental mercury to the atmosphere each year, out of total anthropogenic mercury emissions in the United States of 158 tons (144 tonnes)/year.[3] Natural sources of mercury to the atmosphere include volcanoes, forest fires and weathering of mercury-bearing rocks.[4]
mercury emissions in the United States are largely from combustion of materials that contain mercury, with coal-fired utility boilers and commercial/industrial boilers being the largest sources. Natural sources include volcanoes and degassing of elemental mercury from the oceans.
The process of methyl mercury production occurs naturally in lakes and rivers,
coal-burning power plants emit more mercury into the air each year than does any other human activity. In urban areas, wastewater discharge contributes a substantial portion of mercury to waterways.
These are among the key findings of a comprehensive study of mercury in the state’s watersheds during the past decade by the U.S. Geological Survey
Wastewater treatment plants!!!
“The amount of mercury in precipitation was the main factor affecting mercury levels in the state’s watersheds,” Risch said. “But wastewater discharge can be a significant source of mercury. When wastewater is delivered to a stream from hundreds of discharge pipes, it increases mercury levels in watersheds more than was previously recognized,” he said.
Mercury was detected in 96 percent of the wastewater discharge samples from public treatment facilities in this study. Mercury in wastewater samples typically exceeded criteria set to protect people and wildlife. Higher numbers of discharge pipes in a watershed were linked to higher levels of mercury in the streams.
As a consequence, water from the river had some of the highest mercury concentrations and carried some of the highest levels of mercury found statewide.
Any and all dams!!!
Hydroelectric dams can have a major impact on the quality of the water that is held behind them. One of the major concerns with water quality has to do with the build up of toxic mercury in the water. Mercury is naturally leached from the earth by water, however when a dam blocks the flow of water this mercury can build up in the water to higher then normal levels (May, 1994). If the flooded area behind a dam is full of organic matter, bacteria can turn the insoluable mercury that is present into soluable methyl-mercury (Raphals, 1992). Methyl-mercury can then accumulate in the biomass of fish, and has been shown to be the cause of many human health problems. In the area flooded by the James Bay hydro project in Quebec Canada methyl-mercury levels have gone up dramatically.
The river watershed had the highest rate of mercury dry deposition. Mercury concentrations measured in air samples led scientists to estimate more mercury was dry deposited to this watershed in an average year than was deposited by rain. This watershed contains the most forest land. Forest canopies act as a trap for mercury in the air.
Water draining from reservoirs in this study had significantly higher percentages of mercury converted to methylmercury than water from streams without dams. Dams can trap mercury transported by suspended particles in streams. Once the particulate mercury settles in the lake or reservoir behind the dam, natural processes change some of it to methylmercury, a toxin that accumulates in organisms throughout their life. Methylmercury levels are amplified up the food chain and reach high levels in some sport fish and in fish that serve as food for wildlife.
There are hundreds of these government reports on internet!!!
AND NOW THIS!!!
You see them in every grocery store and home center - those funny-looking curly compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) that are rapidly replacing the old round bulbs. And pretty soon, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 kicks in, requiring bulbs to be 25 to 30 percent more efficient by 2012 to 2014, and 70 percent more efficient by 2020, effectively phasing out traditional incandescent bulbs as a way to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The energy efficiency of CFLs may be significant, but unlike traditional light bulbs, there is a hidden danger sealed inside each little bulb that requires special handling and disposal.
Mercury – a potent, developmental neurotoxin that can damage the brain, liver, kidneys and central nervous system. Infants and young children are particularly vulnerable to mercury’s toxic effects. Even at low levels, mercury is capable of causing a number of health problems including impair motor functioning, cognitive ability and emotional problems. Higher or prolonged exposure can result in much more serious health problems.
CFLs are marketed as “safe” and don’t pose any health risks as long as the glass remains intact. The danger comes if the bulbs are cracked, broken or not disposed of properly. Although it sounds like a miniscule amount – 4 to 5 milligrams – there is enough mercury in just one fluorescent light bulb to contaminate 6,000 gallons of water.
So what does that mean if a CFL is cracked or breaks in our homes, releasing mercury vapors in an enclosed area?
Which begs the question, are these lights really safe and are the risks worth it?
Another equally important concern is what happens to the environment
– the air, soil and water – when tons of discarded bulbs, along with the mercury, are dumped into local landfills?
The threat posed by billions of broken CFLs lying in landfills has resulted in some communities requiring their citizens to discard used and broken CFLs in designated recycling centers or in a hazardous-waste collection facility.
"According to a news report from KGO-TV in San Francisco, local governments estimate that between five and 10 percent of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) are being properly recycled.
Even in a state like California, where it is illegal to throw fluorescent lights in the trash because of their mercury content, there is no statewide plan for recycling them."
Given the known deleterious effects caused by mercury, it would seem logical to assume there will be some unintended consequences resulting from the switch to compact fluorescent lights.
Only time will tell how significant those consequences will be.\\
I think you get what I am talking about.
All the information on previous pages came from government reports posted on the internet, except for the last news article.
And our government here in California has stopped us dredgers because we might be, may be, could be, possibly, churning up some mercury that is already in the rivers
I have been dredging the waters of Ca for 20 some yrs and have only come across a few pcs of gold with mercury on it. I do believe there is a lot more out there to be found.
What I can not believe is that our same government that has stopped us from dredging and has stopped us dredgers from recovering what mercury we come across at a recovery percentage,( in our goverments reports ) of 98 %.
Now about me….I am really just a common person just trying to get through this life without causing problems. I have never done this much research on any one thing before in my life, I am 54 yrs young.
I am not a scientiest, I am not a politiction, I am just me. But i do have enough common sence to know that something is not right with this picture.
I love the outdoors as much as anybody else. And would not do anything intentually to harm the outdoors or the enviornment.
Now our government can continue this stoppage of dredging in Ca waters but it is not going to solve this problem of mercury or methylmercury in the waters, wont even slow it down. This is a problem in all states and they don’t dredge in all states.
And now we are mandated to import,( god only knows how much mercury ) into this country and into our homes.
Does this make sense to you
Thank you in advance for your time.
P.S. This stoppage of dredgeing in Ca is only hurting the economy!
Im not spending my money on dredging. And either are the thousands of other dredgers.
Let us get back to work!!!
