Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
(AP) - More than 50 million pounds of toxic pollutants are being pumped each year into the nation's waterways from fossil fuel power plants, most of them coal, the Environmental Protection Agency says. They include:
_ Aluminum: 1.97 million pounds
_ Arsenic: 79,200 pounds
_ Lead: 64,000 pounds
_ Manganese: 14.5 million pounds
_ Mercury: 2,820 pounds
_ Nitrogen: 30 million pounds
_ Phosphorous: 682,000 pounds
_ Selenium: 225,000 pounds
_ Zinc: 4.99 million pounds
The chemicals are discharged at different levels, with various degrees of potential human and environmental harm dependent on dosages and dilution. The EPA said "discharges of these toxic pollutants are linked to cancer, neurological damage and ecological damage. Many of these toxic pollutants, once in the environment remain there for years."
(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
