Mercury rising

The Bush administration continues to smite science at every turn:

The Environmental Protection Agency's inspector general said Thursday that the Bush administration violated established scientific practices and regulatory requirements in drafting a controversial proposal to control mercury emissions from power plants.

The agency's internal watchdog determined that EPA officials failed to fully assess the health costs of mercury and understated how much emissions could reasonably be reduced.

The report was immediately cited by Bush administration critics as proof that the administration has risked the public's health for the benefit of coal-fired utilities — the largest producer of mercury emissions in the United States.

But EPA Assistant Administrator Jeffrey R. Holmstead said the report "rings hollow" because the agency has not yet finished its work on its rule to reduce these emissions. He said the report exaggerated the impact of U.S. power plant emissions on human health.

The report's strong conclusions are certain to set off a new, intense round of debate on the regulation of mercury, a toxic metal that pollutes water, contaminates fish and accumulates in human tissue.

In her report, Inspector General Nikki L. Tinsley said the EPA's political appointees instructed the agency's staff last year to use a predetermined target for reducing mercury, rather than doing the necessary studies to find the lowest possible emission levels that could be achieved in the shortest possible time.

Rather than relying on "an unbiased calculation" to make this determination, she said, the process "was compromised" by intervention from top officials.

Tinsley urged the agency to strengthen its pending rule "to better ensure that human health is protected." She also recommended that it conduct further analysis, including assessing the costs and benefits of emission reductions.