MERCURY PROBLEMS FOR CATSKILLS BALD EAGLES?

So reports the Times this morning:

The Catskills region receives some of the severest mercury contamination in the country, in large measure because of prevalent wind patterns that regularly carry harmful smokestack emissions from the Midwest. The Nature Conservancy, which has protected swaths of the Catskills, financed this study as well as previous works on mercury contamination in the region.

Mercury comes from several sources, but primarily from coal-burning power plants. Mercury occurs naturally in coal and is sent up smokestacks when coal is burned. Wind currents blow the mercury eastward, where it eventually falls into lakes, rivers and streams to form methylmercury, which can cause neurological disorders in animals and humans.

For much of the year, bald eagles live on brown trout, smallmouth bass and other fresh water fish that can be contaminated with methylmercury. Adult eagles feed the fish to their nestlings. Studies of common loons have shown how mercury can affect behavior. The loons become lethargic, which can affect their ability to gather food or sit on a nest long enough for eggs to hatch. Reproductive rates in loons contaminated with mercury can drop by as much as 40 percent...

Yet another argument for less coal and more nuclear power.

BULLET SNIFFED AT BUT STILL UNBITTEN

Gov. Paterson rolled out his budget-cut ideas today, trying to save two billion bucks without laying anybody off. Good luck with that. Let's see:

Medicaid/health care: Recommends $18 billion in Medicaid and other health care savings over the next two years by reducing reimbursement rates (8 percent in 2008-09, 2 percent in 2009-10) and eliminating "trend factor increases across all sectors." The insurance industry will contribute more in assessed fees. Also, the plan calls for cuts to the $100 million fund that offsets the costs of Timothy's Law, which requires parity for mental health treatment by health insurance companies, by $88 million in 2008-09 and $91 million in 2009-10.

And the Medicaid fraud investigators will continue to stagger along as best they can, meaning we'll get the occasional bust of the most obvious crooks but not the billions in savings that could be realized with simple competent oversight - but on the other hand, most of the legislature is unwilling even to take Paterson's baby steps.

Also making another appearance is the Bigger Better Bottle Bill:

He wants to expand the 5-cent deposit of beer and soda containers to include water and non-carbonated beverages to benefit the Environmental Protection Fund, which would suffer a countervaling $50 million cut.

I'm in favor of this mainly because it would make my sorting job a whole lot less confusing, especially since I'm trying to teach two small kids about recycling. I'd jack the deposit up to a dime and let redeemers keep some of the proceeds if they agree to set up their machines to take containers they didn't sell. It drives a guy nuts to roll into the Hannaford and realize those Stop & Shop bottles are going to have to wait until the next trip. Also, with winter coming it'll make for less stuff to schlep out to the road every Tuesday morning.