The removal of a Federal regulation last year means that coal powered electricity plants in Iowa would no longer have to measure the levels of mercury they emit. It needs to be noted here that these are the very plants responsible for the increasing levels of air pollution in the state.

The latest development has resulted in worried environmental groups, who have time and again felt that governmental regulators would have to bring in changes to place a new monitoring tool. Though, officials with the Iowa government have informed that regulations will not be in place by the month of August.

The new measures will be implemented only after legislation is designed and brought in front of the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission for approval.

Talking about the levels of mercury poisoning in the state, Director of the Sierra Club for Iowa, Neila Seaman has informed that it was still not clear about the levels of pollution being caused to water bodies in the state by the emissions. It was further hoped that the situation will be changed in the time to come.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, Cambridge, Massachusetts, even one teaspoon of the toxin can result in the poisoning of all the aquatic life in a small pond.