PORTLAND (AP) – Maine, which has taken steps to curb most homegrown mercury pollution, is lining up in support of proposed national standards that would regulate mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Gov. John Baldacci and Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins have urged the Environmental Protection Agency to stand firm on a December 2007 compliance date for the new standards.

The EPA has until Dec. 15 to issue the proposed standards.

Maine has reduced its mercury pollution by a series of steps that range from the shutdown of the Holtrachem chlor-alkali plant in Orrington to controls on incinerators and the removal of mercury thermometers, mercury switches in cars, and other mercury-containing products from the waste stream.

Mercury contamination can have serious neurological, developmental and behavioral effects in both people and wildlife. A federal study showed that 8 percent of women of childbearing age in the United States have levels of mercury in their blood high enough to cause damage to a developing fetus.

Maine is one of more than 40 states that have created fish-consumption advisories regarding how often people should eat fish caught from local waters.

AP-ES-12-01-03 0217EST