Document ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2002-0056-6191
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2005-03-15T05:00Z

SECTION
1
INTRODUCTION
1.0
Introduction
This
report
provides
an
analysis
of
the
benefits
and
costs
of
the
final
Clean
Air
Mercury
Rule
(
CAMR).
In
Section
2,
we
discuss
the
potential
health
effects
of
mercury.
Section
3
provides
a
detailed
discussion
of
mercury
in
the
environment,
include
including
how
mercury
deposited
to
water
bodies
transforms
into
methylmercury
in
fish
tissue.
This
section
also
provides
an
assessment
of
the
response
time
for
systems
after
a
change
in
mercury
deposition.
Because
fish
consumption
is
the
primary
pathway
for
exposure
to
methylmercury,
Section
4
provides
a
profile
of
fishing
activity
in
the
United
States.
Section
5
presents
information
on
concentrations
of
mercury
in
fish.
Because
this
regulation
requires
control
on
coal­
fired
power
plants,
Section
6
provides
a
profile
of
the
power
sector
in
the
United
States,
while
Section
7
describes
the
emissions,
control
requirements,
control
options
considered
for
CAMR,
and
the
regulatory
costs
of
the
final
CAMR.
In
addition,
Section
7
also
provides
an
assessment
of
impacts
on
small
businesses
and
government
entities.
Section
8
describes
the
resulting
change
in
mercury
deposition
from
air
quality
modeling
of
the
CAMR
regulatory
options.
Section
9
presents
a
derivation
of
a
dose­
response
function
that
relates
mercury
consumption
in
women
of
childbearing
with
changes
in
IQ
seen
in
children
that
were
exposed
prenatally.
IQ
is
used
as
a
surrogate
for
the
neurobehavioral
endpoints
that
EPA
relied
upon
for
setting
the
methylmercury
reference
dose
(
RfD).
to
the
unborn
fetus.
Chapter
10
presents
exposure
modeling
and
benefit
methodologies
applied
to
a
no­
threshold
model
(
i.
e.,
a
model
that
assumes
no
threshold
in
effects
at
low
doses
of
mercury
exposure).
Chapter
11
presents
the
final
benefit
analysis
numbers
of
CAMR
giving
consideration
to
established
health
benchmarks
(
i.
e.,
consideration
of
potential
thresholds
on
effects
at
low
doses
of
mercury
exposure).
Finally,
Chapter
12
presents
a
benefit
analysis
of
reductions
in
PM
as
a
result
of
controls
applied
for
mercury.
Table
1­
1
below
summarizes
the
benefits,
costs,
and
net
benefits
of
the
CAMR.

Delete
table