Saying proposed federal regulations on mercury will be too weak and slow, several environmental and other interest groups are petitioning Pennsylvania to impose strict limitations on the toxic emissions from coal-burning power plants.

Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, called PennFuture, filed the petition for rule-making with the state Department of Environmental Protection in Harrisburg yesterday, asking the state to reduce mercury emissions from utility companies to protect the health and environment of Pennsylvanians.

"One in six women of childbearing age has so much mercury in her body that her nursing infant or fetus is in danger of brain damage," said Charles McPhedran, senior attorney for PennFuture. "And our state's streams and fish are so contaminated with mercury that Pennsylvanians have been warned to restrict their consumption of fish to avoid being poisoned."

McPhedran said the technology to limit mercury emissions exists and the state can legally impose regulations that are tougher than those proposed by the Bush administration.

"The problem is ours to solve," he said. "We're calling on the DEP to take immediate action."

Other petitioners are PennEnvironment, Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, Pennsylvania NOW, Pennsylvania State Building & Construction Trades Council, Pennsylvania Trout, Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates, Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter, Women's Law Project and WomenVote PA.

The DEP has 30 days to review the petition. If deemed complete, it would be submitted to the department's Environmental Quality Board, chaired by DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty, which would decide to accept or reject it.

A final state ruling would not be implemented for another nine months.

McGinty has called the Bush administration's proposal to give power plants up to 15 years to curb unhealthy mercury pollution an "economic blow and a public health disaster." But Kurt Knaus, a spokesman for the DEP, said the state plans to wait for the federal rule-making in March before acting on tighter mercury curbs.

"Yes, we want more stringent regulations on mercury, but we feel the most appropriate way is an aggressive federal rule that also deals with the transport and local concentrations," Knaus said. "If the federal government chooses less stringent controls, then the state would look to other avenues to get greater mercury reductions."

He said the state is developing its own strategy for reducing pollutants, focusing on nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide in addition to mercury, and will also continue to move forward on a regional approach to pollution reduction.

"The PennFuture petition is another weapon for the state to ensure we will have stronger mercury reduction plans," Knaus said. "We absolutely support its goals."

Mercury is released into the air when coal is burned. It then falls to the ground and is washed into streams and lakes where it enters the food chain, accumulating in the tissues of plants and animals as methylmercury, the most toxic and harmful form of mercury.

Humans are exposed primarily by eating fish. Pregnant women, children and subsistence anglers are most at risk for health effects that include brain and nervous system damage in children and heart and immune system damage in adults.

Because of elevated mercury levels, a one-meal-a-week consumption advisory for all fish caught in Pennsylvania waters has been in effect since April 2001. The state ranks third, behind Texas and North Carolina, for the amount of mercury released by power plants.

Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey and Wisconsin have already taken over regulatory control because of the Bush administration's proposal to reclassify mercury under a less stringent section of the federal air pollution law and back off imposing mercury controls at all of the nation's 1,100 coal- and oil-fired power plants.

The administration has proposed using a "cap and trade" system that would allow utility companies to reduce mercury emissions from some power plants but not others. It would cost companies $5 billion to implement and its goals would be reductions of 14 million tons, or 30 percent, by 2010 and 70 percent by 2018.

The Bush plan falls short of the 90 percent reduction in mercury emissions by 2008 proposed by the Clinton administration and endorsed by Bush's first EPA administrator, Christine Todd Whitman.

The public comment period on the administration's proposal is over. Pennsylvania submitted comments that were highly critical.

John Hanger, PennFuture president and chief executive officer, said many of the state's coal-fired power plants are old and extremely profitable because of a loophole in the 1990 amendments to the federal Clean Air Act that exempted older facilities from mercury controls. Other industries, including municipal and medical incinerators, have reduced emissions by 90 percent.

"Those old utility plants were supposed to be closed or cleaned up under the original intent of the Clean Air Act," Hanger said. "This is the perfect time for responsible public officials to insist in the name of women, children and sportsmen that those plants reduce their mercury emissions."