BEFORE THE ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
IN THE MATTER OF:
PROPOSED NEW 35 ILL.ADM.CODE PART 225
CONTROL OF EMISSIONS FROM
LARGE COMBUSTION SOURCES
)
)
)
)
)
PCB R06-25
Rulemaking - Air
NOTICE OF FILING
To:
Dorothy Gunn, Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
James R. Thompson Center
Suite 11-500
100 West Randolph
Chicago, Illinois 60601
Persons included on the
ATTACHED SERVICE LIST
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that we have today filed with the Office of the Clerk of the
Pollution Control Board the
Dynegy and Midwest Generation’s Questions for Michael
Murray, Ph.D
.
/s/
Kathleen C. Bassi
Kathleen C. Bassi
Dated: August 4, 2006
Sheldon A. Zabel
Kathleen C. Bassi
Stephen J. Bonebrake
Joshua R. More
Glenna Gilbert
SCHIFF HARDIN, LLP
6600 Sears Tower
233 South Wacker Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60606
312-258-5500
ELECTRONIC FILING, RECEIVED, CLERK'S OFFICE, AUGUST 4, 2006
BEFORE THE ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
IN THE MATTER OF:
PROPOSED NEW 35 ILL.ADM.CODE PART 225
CONTROL OF EMISSIONS FROM
LARGE COMBUSTION SOURCES
)
)
)
)
)
PCB R06-25
DYNEGY AND MIDWEST GENERATION’S
QUESTIONS FOR MICHAEL W. MURPHY, Ph.D.
NOW COME Participants DYNEGY MIDWEST GENERATION, INC., and MIDWEST
GENERATION, LLC, and proffer the following questions for Michael W. Murphy, Ph.D., a
witness at the second hearing in the above-captioned matter.
Questions
1.
Did you have a role in the September 2003 workshop organized by the Society of
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC)?
a.
If so, what was your role?
b.
What is the relationship between a mercury monitoring network and identifying
indicators of mercury contamination in wildlife?
2.
Generally in your testimony, when you say “mercury,” do you mean “methylmercury”?
Or do you mean “methylmercury” only when you specifically use that word?
3.
Is the form of mercury taken up by non-piscivorous birds, such as by ring-necked
pheasants, methylmercury?
a.
If not, why not?
b.
What form is it?
c.
If so, what is the source of that methylmercury?
ELECTRONIC FILING, RECEIVED, CLERK'S OFFICE, AUGUST 4, 2006
2/6
d.
If the form of the mercury is not methylmercury, are there any risks to humans
who consume such birds?
4.
In your testimony, you state that “mercury contamination” is an “additional stress” that
could be “delaying recovery” of certain bird populations in southern Florida that are
“significantly impacted by other factors.” What are the other factors that “stress” and
“significantly impact” these bird populations in southern Florida?
5.
On the fourth page of your testimony, you refer to mercury-containing seed dressings
causing bird mortality.
a.
What type of mercury was this?
b.
What were the mercury levels found in the birds that died?
c.
Later in the same paragraph, you refer to “ecologically relevant levels.” Please
define that term, numerically if possible, and compare it to the levels found in
connection with the seed dressings incident.
6.
On the fifth page of your testimony discussing loons:
a.
You refer to elevated mercury in “eggs and prey fish.” Is that loon eggs?
b.
You refer to a decline in egg laying “in areas with elevated methylmercury
concentrations in eggs and prey fish.” Was the author noting a coincidence or
alleging a causation?
c.
If the latter, did the author test for other contaminants?
d.
If so, did he/she find any?
e.
If so, did he/she exclude those as possible causative or contributive factors?
7.
Is the form of mercury “stressing” birds in southern Florida always methylmercury;
i.e.
,
do other forms of mercury cause adverse effects?
ELECTRONIC FILING, RECEIVED, CLERK'S OFFICE, AUGUST 4, 2006
3/6
8.
Are belted kingfishers a species of blue herons?
See
fifth page of your testimony, second
paragraph, fifth sentence. Your testimony suggests that belted kingfishers are a species
of blue herons.
a.
If not, what did the researchers find regarding blue herons?
9.
Your testimony suggests that some animals are exposed to mercury by eating insects.
a.
How do insects take up mercury?
b.
What form of mercury is absorbed by insects such that it can be absorbed by other
animals that consume insects?
10.
Why would there be greater take-up of mercury in insectivorous passerines’ wintering
areas than in their breeding areas?
a.
Do such birds generally breed in the spring and/or summer?
b.
One would assume that insectivorous birds would winter in warmer areas where
insects continue to be active during the winter months. Is that correct?
c.
Where would such wintering areas be?
11.
In your testimony regarding the studies of elevated mercury levels in mink, you refer to
“elevated mercury levels (e.g. 5 ppm in the diet)” in one study and then to “another study
[that] reported extensive death of brain cells at high levels of methylmercury.”
a.
What type of mercury does the first reference in this sentence to “elevated
mercury levels” mean?
b.
Is there an ecologically relevant level for mercury in the diet?
c.
If so, how does it compare to the 5 ppm?
d.
In the other studies using “lower doses,” what were those doses?
ELECTRONIC FILING, RECEIVED, CLERK'S OFFICE, AUGUST 4, 2006
4/6
e.
Are you aware of any fish tissue sampling that has shown methylmercury levels
as high as 5 ppm in Illinois fish?
f.
What were the “high levels” of methylmercury in the second study you refer to?
g.
Are you aware of any fish tissue sampling that has shown methylmercury levels
in Illinois fish as high as the level reported in the second study you refer to that
considered “high levels” of methylmercury?
12.
You refer to recent studies reporting “an association between methylmercury in wild
mink and other neurochemical receptors in the brain.”
a.
What do you mean by “an association”?
b.
Was this coincidence or causation?
c.
Did these studies find biochemical changes in the mink and otters?
d.
You say these changes “can be associated” with “clinical effects.” Were clinical
effects observed in the mink and otter?
e.
Were other factors, such as other chemicals, excluded from causation?
f.
If so, how?
13.
Your testimony states that “[w]hile a number of studies have shown a decline in
deposition in the past several decades (at least in some sediment cores), contemporary
deposition rates are still thought to be well above pre-industrial values, indicating the
importance of human activities.” Are you aware of any studies, including studies of the
tissue of fish in museums, that show that fish tissue levels are not increasing over time
even if deposition levels are?
14.
Do you agree that some level of methylmercury was present in fish tissue prior to the
Industrial Revolution?
ELECTRONIC FILING, RECEIVED, CLERK'S OFFICE, AUGUST 4, 2006
5/6
15.
Do you contend that some level of injury occurred to fish and animals as a result of that
pre-industrial level of methylmercury in fish tissue?
16.
With respect to your testimony regarding the potential harm to fish from mercury
exposure:
a.
What is the form of the mercury to which the fish studied were exposed?
b.
At the sites where there were “[v]ery high mercury exposures (e.g. at sites
contaminated by direct discharges,)” what other contaminants were in the
discharges?
c.
What was the source type of the discharges (
e.g.
, industrial, municipal wastewater
treatment plant, agricultural, run-off collection,
etc.
)?
d.
What is a more “typical environmental exposure” for fish?
e.
Do these “typical” levels vary from state-to-state?
f.
How did you determine these “typical” levels?
g.
What is an “environmentally relevant concentration” of methylmercury?
Respectfully submitted,
DYNEGY MIDWEST GENERATION, INC. and
MIDWEST GENERATION, LLC,
by:
Kathleen C. Bassi
One of Their Attorneys
Dated: August 4, 2006
ELECTRONIC FILING, RECEIVED, CLERK'S OFFICE, AUGUST 4, 2006
6/6
Sheldon A. Zabel
Kathleen C. Bassi
Stephen J. Bonebrake
Joshua R. More
Glenna L. Gilbert
SCHIFF HARDIN, LLP
6600 Sears Tower
233 South Wacker Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60606
312-258-5500
Fax: 312-258-5600
CH2\ 1479765.2
ELECTRONIC FILING, RECEIVED, CLERK'S OFFICE, AUGUST 4, 2006
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I, the undersigned, certify that on this 4
th
day of August, 2006, I have served
electronically the attached
Dynegy and Midwest Generation’s Questions for Michael
Murray, Ph.D.
, upon the following persons:
Dorothy Gunn, Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
James R. Thompson Center
Suite 11-500
100 West Randolph
Chicago, Illinois 60601
and electronically and by first-class mail with postage thereon fully prepaid and affixed to the
persons listed on the
ATTACHED SERVICE LIST
.
/s/
Kathleen C. Bassi
Kathleen C. Bassi
Sheldon A. Zabel
Kathleen C. Bassi
Stephen J. Bonebrake
Joshua R. More
Glenna Gilbert
SCHIFF HARDIN, LLP
6600 Sears Tower
233 South Wacker Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60606
312-258-5500
ELECTRONIC FILING, RECEIVED, CLERK'S OFFICE, AUGUST 4, 2006
SERVICE LIST
(R06-25)
Marie Tipsord
Hearing Office
Illinois Pollution Control Board
James R. Thompson Center
100 W. Randolph
Suite 11-500
Chicago, Illinois 60601
tipsorm@ipcb.state.il.us
Gina Roccaforte, Assistant Counsel
Charles Matoesian, Assistant Counsel
John J. Kim, Managing Attorney
Air Regulatory Unit
Division of Legal Counsel
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
1021 North Grand Avenue, East
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, Illinois 62794-9276
john.kim@epa.state.il.us
charles.matoesian@epa.state.il.us
gina.roccaforte@epa.state.il.us
William A. Murray
Special Assistant Corporation Counsel
Office of Public Utilities
800 East Monroe
Springfield, Illinois 62757
bmurray@cwlp.com
N. LaDonna Driver
Katherine D. Hodge
Hodge Dwyer Zeman
3150 Roland Avenue, P.O. Box 5776
Springfield, Illinois 62705-5776
nldriver@hdzlaw.com
Christopher W. Newcomb
Karaganis, White & Mage., Ltd.
414 North Orleans Street, Suite 810
Chicago, Illinois 60610
cnewcomb@k-w.com
Bill S. Forcade
Katherine M. Rahill
Jenner & Block
One IBM Plaza, 40
th
Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60611
bforcade@jenner.com
krahill@jenner.com
Faith E. Bugel
Howard A. Learner
Meleah Geertsma
Environmental Law and Policy Center
35 East Wacker Drive, Suite 1300
Chicago, Illinois 60601
fbugel@elpc.org
Keith I. Harley
Chicago Legal Clinic
205 West Monroe Street, 4
th
Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60606
kharley@kentlaw.edu
ELECTRONIC FILING, RECEIVED, CLERK'S OFFICE, AUGUST 4, 2006
SERVICE LIST
(R06-25)
David Rieser
James T. Harrington
Jeremy R. Hojnicki
McGuireWoods LLP
77 West Wacker, Suite 4100
Chicago, Illinois 60601
drieser@mcguirewoods.com
jharrington@mcguirewoods.com
S. David Farris
Manager, Environmental, Health and Safety
Office of Public Utilities, City of Springfield
201 East Lake Shore Drive
Springfield, Illinois 62757
dfarris@cwlp.com
Bruce Nilles
Sierra Club
122 West Washington Avenue, Suite 830
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
bruce.nilles@sierraclub.org
James W. Ingram
Senior Corporate Counsel
Dynegy Midwest Generation, Inc.
1000 Louisiana, Suite 5800
Houston, Texas 77002
Jim.Ingram@dynegy.com
Mary Frontczak
Dianna Tickner
Prairie State Generating Company, LLC
701 Market Street, Suite 781
St. Louis, Missouri 63101
DTickner@PeabodyEnergy.com
CH2\ 1401949.10
ELECTRONIC FILING, RECEIVED, CLERK'S OFFICE, AUGUST 4, 2006