Officials with the U.S. EPA have announced new regulations that willban so-called ”mixing zones” from Great Lakes waters. The Great LakesRadio Consortium’s Dale Willman reports:
Transcript
Officials with the U.S. EPA have announced new regulations that will ban
so-called “mixing zones” from Great Lakes waters. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Dale Willman reports.
A mixing zone is the area of water around a discharge pipe. It was once
thought that chemicals could be released into these zones at a higher
concentration than normally permitted, because those chemicals would be
quickly diluted in the surrounding water. But scientists now say that isn’t
always what happens. The ban was announced by EPA Assistant Administrator
Chuck Fox.
“This ban will eliminate up to seven hundred thousand toxic pounds of chemicals
pumped into the Great Lakes each year. Mercury discharges alone will be reduced by 90
percent.”
Most of the Great Lakes states will not be affected by the rule, because
they already ban the zones. The three that don’t have such a ban… New York,
Ohio and Pennsylvania will be given 18 months to come into compliance.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Dale Willman.