Liberal Policy Failure, Field Report #2

On Thursday night at the cafe in Ontonogon, MI the big news of the night was a "big mercury spill" at the high school.

A portion of Ontonagon High School is under strict quarantine after mercury was spilled in a classroom just before noon Thursday.

School officials say a student picked up an old, black rubber tube and a small amount of mercury, about the size of a DVD, spilled onto the floor. Three students were in the room when the spill occurred. All of the students were quarantined in the office. Their shoes and clothing were bagged.

The school has offered to pay for blood tests for all three students. A hazardous materials team from Green Bay has been called in to clean up the spill.

Mercury vapor is harmful and can lead to heavy metal poisoning in certain doses.

Quarantine? Hazmat? Naked kids? You know it's serious because they used the scary phrase "in certain doses."

You'd think a "big spill" would be something like a 55 gallon drum, or worse, wouldn't you? If a DVD sized puddle is enough to call the hazmat team from Green Bay (2-3 hours away), this mercury stuff must be a really big deal.

Since I was frightened by the severity of this hazard, I decided to go on a mercury hunt in my own home, just to be safe. With the new baby coming it pays to be careful, you know.

Can you believe, I actually found some of this deadly chemical in my own home?
And you'll never guess where.Actually, heavy metals can be pretty serious business. They make drinking water taste funny, too. So, let's skip the rant on the mercury, lead, and asbestos abatement racket and go directly to the part about the failure of liberal activism.

The picture above is of flourescent light bulbs, the kind you buy to save energy. One reason you're supposed to save energy is to reduce power plant emissions. Emissions from coal power plants are known to contain small amounts of mercury.

So, follow me on this circular logic. In order to reduce mercury emissions at point sources, we spread the deadly chemical out across the map by placing it directly in your home?

At the power plant, emission controls remove the mercury from the plant exhaust. These controls are regulated, monitored, tested, and continually improved. In your home, do you have a mercury abatement expert? No? Surprise, it's you.

Do you know how to properly dispose of a flourescent light bulb that contains mercury?

Have you checked the web site or called the number, or do you just toss the dead bulbs in the trash like everyone else?

Have you ever played "light sabers" with a four-foot flourescent tube?

You're not exactly qualified to handle this responsibility are you?

Perhaps it's time to switch back to plain-old incandescent lighting, or candles. I'll take a little global warming over heavy metals in the water supply any day.