When people think of environmental effects associated with energy, issues like greenhouse gases, acid rain, and protection of the Arctic wilderness most likely come to mind. Less well known is the fact that energy production and use also result in significant emissions of persistent and bioaccumulative toxics (PBTs). These chemicals have been linked to numerous adverse human health effects. Characterizing the risk and developing control options require an understanding of the fate and transport of these pollutants. Battelle is working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to improve understanding of these issues.

PBTs associated with energy come from many sources. Based on the U.S. Mercury Report to Congress, energy sources account for approximately 58 percent of U.S. mercury emissions. These emissions are primarily a result of coal-burning power plants but also result from boilers and hazardous waste combustors.

Energy-related sources also account for 7 percent of dioxin/furan air emissions. Dioxins and furans are emitted during the combustion of wood, coal, oil, hazardous and non-hazardous wastes, and vehicle fuel. Approximately 16 percent of emissions of the seven known carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) result from energy sources such as residential wood combustion.

Emissions of persistent toxics, and energy emissions in particular, are gaining increasing attention. President Bush’s National Energy Policy includes a plan for multi-pollutant legislation to cut utility emissions, focusing on three primary pollutants. Earlier this year, EPA Administrator Christine Whitman signed an international convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that bans or restricts the production, use, and/or release of 12 POPs. Whitman also affirmed a rule to reduce emissions from large trucks and buses, and the EPA has undertaken a PBT Strategy to address priority PBT chemicals.

PBT emissions from energy sources are problematic not from the standpoint of direct human exposure at the source of emission, but rather from a complex process of deposition and cycling in the environment and bioaccumulation through the food chain. For instance, when these PBTs are emitted into the air, they deposit onto lakes and rivers or agricultural lands and accumulate in fish tissue and animal fat, increasing in concentration through the food chain. Humans are exposed through consumption of contaminated fish and food products. These chemicals have been linked in humans and laboratory animals with cancer, immune system disruption, developmental and reproductive disorders, and neurological defects, especially when a developing fetus is exposed.

Development of control options for PBTs requires a better understanding of pollutant fate and transport. Battelle’s work with EPA to understand these issues includes quality assurance support for the collection of samples to estimate utilities’ mercury emissions, methods assessment and scope analysis for water and fish monitoring programs, design and collection of samples for the National Dioxin Ambient Monitoring Network, and support for the development of national action plans under the PBT Strategy.

For more information, contact John Menkedick at (614)424-3699, menked@battelle.org.