California Biodiversity Council
Regional Meeting with the Regional Council of Rural Counties

September 20, 2000
DoubleTree Hotel
Rohnert Park, California

 

Topic IV: Methyl Mercury in Rural Northern California

Secretary Nichols introduced the session topic and its moderator, Elizabeth Martin, Supervisor for Nevada County.  In turn, Supervisor Martin introduced the members of the panel: Charlie Alpers, Research Chemist for USGS; Darryl Young, Director for the Department of Conservation; Tim Snellings, Director of the Nevada County Environmental Health Agency; and Art Baggett, Chairman of the State Water Resources Control Board.

 

Charlie Alpers began by describing the mercury contamination resulting from historic gold mining operations.  USGS has a partnership in the Bear River, Deer Creek and South Yuba River Watersheds to address mercury contamination.  Agencies joining USGS in this effort include the USDA Forest Service, BLM, EPA, SWRCB and the Nevada County RCD.  This has left a toxic legacy for us to deal with.  The most dangerous human exposure to mercury contamination is through the consumption of fish.  Mercury bio accumulates up the food chain.  Methyl mercury, CH3Hg+, is the form that mercury takes when in fish tissues.  People used to try and remove the mercury content by cooking the fish on the stove.  However, the inhalation mercury caused many deaths.  High-level sources of methyl mercury include overbank deposits, reservoir sediments, flood plain deposits, dredge tailings, and estuary sediments.  Over 75% of the nation wide methyl mercury advisories are for fish.  There was an estimated eight million pounds of mercury lost to the environment during historic mining efforts.  There is a proven correlation showing that the more mining that took place, the more mercury that accumulates in the biota.  Using this information, the partnership designed a project for the Bear River and South Fork Yuba River Watershed.  The scope of this project includes monitoring totals, monitoring the loads (kilograms per time), finding contamination hot spots, analyzing sport fish, and finding ten good sites for pilot remediation projects.  Since this study began in April 1999, there have been several significant findings.  First, there are two points during the year with elevated mercury concentrations.  Second, the highest concentrations exist in the upper parts of the food chain, mainly in predatory fish.  161 fish were collected from five sites; the majority of them were above the OEHHA screening value (0.3 parts per million, the minimum risk level).  Roughly 25% of the sample fish were above the FDA action level (1 part per million), the point at which it is a verifiable health hazard.  Overall, the methylation process is extremely complex and we don’t know enough to design a solution yet.  The question remains: will cleaning up the mining sources help this situation?

 

Tim Snellings is the President of the California Conference of Directors of Environmental Health and Director of the Nevada County Community Development Agency.  The Department of Environmental Health respond to emergency mercury incidents on a fairly regular basis.  Mr. Snellings deals not only within his own department but also with the Building Department and the Planning Department.  Additionally, there is an incredible amount of information spread around various local, state, and Federal agencies regarding the topic of mercury.  The goal of the Environmental Health Department is to better coordinate all of the efforts in the area.  To that end, his department is responsible for the Mercury Assessment Project (MAP).  The fundamental goal is to assess and identify the mercury hazards in Nevada County.  Additionally goals include the creation and distribution of educational materials to county residents and the coordination of the removal process.  The hopeful outcome is to make Nevada County a pilot case and then share the information and the template with other Gold Country counties. 

 

Darryl Young, Department of Conservation Director, shared his experiences with mercury contamination in the Sierra Nevada.  Director Young stated, “We know that it’s a problem, but we do not know how to begin effectively.  How can we inform the public about the situation and let them help us?”  The Department of Conservation tracks abandoned mine sites.  They are still finding an alarming number of previously unknown sites in rural areas.   Another task of the Department is to figure out how to clean up these sites.  There is new legislation on the Governor’s desk that would give the appropriate statutory authority to start cleaning up these potentially dangerous abandoned mines.  The Director would like to use Nevada County as an example.  This could help answer the question of how he can get a rational message to the public.  We need to make sure that we find a balance between people fleeing the Sierra Nevada because they fear for their lives and people completing disregarding the information that the government is finding.  “Through comfort and understanding come solutions.”

 

Art Baggett is the Chairman of the State Water Resources Conservation Board.  Chairman Baggett first got involved with mercury when someone approached him with the issue and asked him to coordinate with the Department of Conservation.  The biggest reason for the State Board’s involvement is impaired water bodies and TMDL levels.  Now, it is time to get tangible results.  We can promulgate regulations and talk a lot, but at some point you have to try and fix things and work with everyone else.  “You can talk all night, but sometimes you gotta play ball.”   Interestingly enough, if you have 10 pounds of Mercury, without a hazardous waste permit, you are considered a felon.  If you try to be a good citizen and bring your mercury into the government, you get fined!  This issue was brought to the attention of the Ed Lowry, Director of the Toxics Waste Department, who appropriately waived that condition in this situation.  The State Board put a pilot together and went to Nevada County for one weekend mercury collection, where they collected 243 pounds of mercury equaling 40 years of discharge and a very big problem.   Chairman Baggett outlined a few bullets of “where do we go from here?” First, we need rural counties to help find ways to expand the program and coordinate with all the relevant organizations.  Second, Congress could provide us with major assistance.  There is an amendment to the Clean Water Act called the Good Samaritan Act that’s been kicking around for years.  This would allow people to help reclaim and repair abandoned mines without taking the full liability of the mine.  Third, the Board will start working on an offset program to look at watersheds as a whole system.  If we can continue to work on this model program and the three elements outlined above, we can accomplish our goals in the Sierra Nevada.

 

Supervisor Martin summarized the discussed and thanked the RCRC for helping to coordinate the efforts related to this issue.  No one has hit the panic button yet and we are all working very responsibly with each other.  The Supervisor then opened the session to discussion.

 

Sierra County Supervisor, Arnie Gutman, asked if the sludge has been analyzed and if we are just scrambling an egg and creating a larger health hazard.

  • Charlie Alpers answered that there is no data on this yet, but that we will hopefully have it this winter. 

  • To further answer the question, Tim Snellings noted that this is why we are doing the assessment.  It will tell us if removal is a viable process or how much of a hazard is it really.  Perhaps it is just that we need to improve education and advisories.

  • Darryl Young commented that no one is suggesting that we remove all of the mercury.  We will only take what is most cost effective with the best results. 

 

Supervisor Martin thanked everyone involved for his or her participation.  She noted the amazing fact that no one has jumped to conclusions yet and that everyone is still trying to assess the situation and find the best solution.  We’re still in a process of information sharing and working together. 

 

Secretary Nichols commented that normally, USGS would release the report and everyone else would panic.  But instead, the issue was brought to the Biodiversity Council to formulate a plan to care of this problem.  It is still a work in progress, but we have started off on such a better track. 

 

The Secretary closed by reminding CBC of the Executive Committee Meeting taking place tomorrow morning, Thursday, September 21.  “Thank you all for attending and participating here today and I look forward to seeing you in Santa Barbara for the next CBC meeting on November 8 & 9, 2000.”