Moving on Mercury
ICL works to protect you and your family from mercury.
The Idaho Board of Environmental Quality did the right thing Wednesday.
But how could the board have done otherwise?
On a 5-0 vote, the group of gubernatorial appointees agreed to write tougher mercury regulations. The new rule would require industry to use the best available technology to control mercury, a toxic metal that can damage the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs and immune system - and is of particular risk to unborn babies and young children.
I would have been surprised if this had gone down otherwise. Considering Gov. Butch Otter's strident public campaign against mercury storage at the Idaho National Laboratory, the state would look nothing less than hypocritical if it didn't take steps to address mercury pollution in its lakes.
Rules are subject to legislative approval, but they go into effect (and have the force of law) unless both houses vote to reject them.
Politics aside, credit to Monsanto and the Idaho Conservation League, which came together to push for a new mercury rule. A thumb's down to the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry, the powerful business lobby which is neutral on the Monsanto-ICL compromise, and to companies such as J.R. Simplot Co. and Amalgamated Sugar Co., which have raised questions about the need for a tougher rule. Not only are they on the wrong side of the tide of public opinion; they're on the wrong side of the issue.
