Environmental Watchdog

Some Berea College students are taking their concerns about the health risks of mercury to federal officials. They’re headed to Atlanta to take part in an Environmental Protection Agency hearing Thursday. Cassy Hobert of Frenchburg is going because she’s worried about her unborn baby.

“And so when I started doing the research for this, for mercury contamination, for mercury pollution as preparation to go to Atlanta, I found some really disturbing statistics, like as many as 1 in 6 women in the United States have mercury levels in their blood high enough to put an unborn child at risk,” said Hobert.

A recently-formed group that aims to move the Ohio River Bridges Project forward is seeking to join, then end a lawsuit between conservation group River Fields and the Federal Highway Administration. Kentuckians for Progress filed a request to join River Fields’ suit against the government today. River Fields asserts that the federal government has not properly justified the case for a two bridge project, and the group would like to block an east end bridge from being built.