The statewide environmental group Citizens Campaign for the Environment has been lobbying to stop mercury pollution and working to make wind power a widely used source of energy in an effort to improve the environment.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation proposed a program to reduce the amount of mercury emissions by 90 percent by 2015.

Maureen Dolan Murphy, CCE downstate regional coordinator, said that while she feels New York is really on the cutting edge with this proposal, "we think New York can do better and do it by 2010."

Murphy said their organization has been tracking this issue for many years on both the national and local levels.

According to CCE, they want to have the reduction happen as fast as possible in hopes to sooner improve the health of women and children and prevent the contamination of the food supply.

Mercury pollution comes from coal-fired power plants. The smaller fish become contaminated first, and the contamination spreads up the food chain. According to the FDA and EPA, the seafood with the least amount of mercury contamination are clams, ocean perch, canned salmon, shrimp and whiting.

In more than 130 bodies of water in New York, mercury contamination levels are greater than the federal standards, the New York Department of Health reported.

Coal-firing power plants can reduce their mercury emissions by adding pollution scrubbers to the plant's smokestacks.

"Just by putting scrubbers on top you can reduce mercury by a lot," said Murphy.

The CCE encourages local citizens to get involved by writing letters to the DEC.

Because the CCE feels that coal energy is the dirtiest form of energy that can be used, they have proposed wind energy as an alternative.

They call it the Wind Works Long Island and say they have seen an abundance of public support for this renewable energy.

"People are beginning to make the connection between pollution, conflict in the Middle East and energy production," said Murphy.

They propose creating a wind park that would contain 40 wind turbines located 3.6 to 5.5 miles off the south shore of Long Island. These would "generate 140 megawatts of pollution-free power, enough to power 44,000 homes on Long Island," claimed Wind Works for Long Island.

Wind Works is a coalition of many local and national environmental groups and was created in 2002 to decide if wind power was an option for Long Island.

They claim that the wind park can reduce oil consumption in the area by 13.5 million barrels in 20 years.

Wind Works has been trying to get information out about their proposal by tabling events, holding public forums, and passing out literature door-to-door. They also encourage people to check out their website at www.windworks4LI.org.

While the CCE is working on this project and the reduction of mercury pollution, Murphy explained, "We can't do everything. We really do focus on campaigns where we can make a difference, make a change for the better and improve the environment."

The CCE is a statewide, grassroots, nonprofit, non-partisan environmental group that has over 80,000 members with offices in Farmingdale, White Plains, Syracuse and Buffalo. It began in 1985 as a small group of people wanting to make a difference, and has grown since.

The CCE's website, www.citizenscampaign.org, provides more information on all their projects, upcoming events and information on how to get involved.