Science Advisers Question EPA Pledge To Monitor Mercury 'Hot Spots'

EPA science advisers are challenging the agency's recent pledge to monitor for potential concentrations of mercury emissions as part of EPA's mercury air rule issued last month, arguing that the agency has no scientific means to track so-called "hot spots" of the contaminant. The finding is significant because critics have charged that the Bush administration's proposed cap-and-trade system for mercury emissions may cause residents of certain areas to be exposed to levels of mercury that surpass EPA safety limits. In...