[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 453 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 453

   Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should 
   prepare a comprehensive strategy for advancing and entering into 
 international negotiations on a binding agreement that would swiftly 
reduce global mercury use and pollution to levels sufficient to protect 
                   public health and the environment.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 7, 2004

  Mr. Jeffords (for himself, Mr. Chafee, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Snowe, Mr. 
  Lieberman, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Dayton, and Mr. Lautenberg) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should 
   prepare a comprehensive strategy for advancing and entering into 
 international negotiations on a binding agreement that would swiftly 
reduce global mercury use and pollution to levels sufficient to protect 
                   public health and the environment.

Whereas mercury is a persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic heavy metal;
Whereas mercury is found naturally in the environment but is also emitted into 
        the air, land, and water in various forms in the United States and 
        around the world during fossil fuel combustion, waste incineration, 
        chlor-alkali production, mining, and other industrial processes, as well 
        as during the production, use, and disposal of various products;
Whereas mercury air pollution has the ability to both deposit locally and travel 
        thousands of miles in a global atmospheric pool of emissions before 
        eventual deposition, crossing national boundaries and becoming a shared 
        global burden;
Whereas the United Nations Environment Programme reported that, on average, 
        anthropogenic emissions of mercury since pre-industrial times have 
        resulted in 50- to 300-percent increases in deposition rates around the 
        world;
Whereas the United Nations Environment Programme reported that global 
        consumption of mercury equaled 3,337 tons in 1996, and that all mercury 
        releases to the global environment total approximately 5,000 tons each 
        year;
Whereas mercury air pollution can deposit into lakes, streams, and the oceans 
        where it is transformed into toxic methylmercury and bioaccumulates in 
        fish and fish-eating wildlife;
Whereas the National Academy of Sciences confirmed that consumption of mercury-
        contaminated fish and seafood by pregnant women can cause serious 
        neurodevelopmental harm in the fetus, including such detrimental effects 
        as intelligence quotient deficits, abnormal muscle tone, decreases in 
        motor function, attention, or visuospatial performance, mental 
        retardation, seizure disorders, cerebral palsy, blindness, and deafness;
Whereas the 1997 Mercury Study Report submitted by the Administrator of the 
        Environmental Protection Agency to Congress found that every region of 
        the United States is adversely affected by mercury deposition;
Whereas the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, 
        and 48 States currently have advisories warning the public to limit 
        consumption of certain fish that are high in mercury content;
Whereas, of the 4,000,000 children born every year in the United States, 
        scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency estimate that 
        approximately 630,000 are exposed to mercury levels in the womb above 
        the safe health threshold, caused primarily by maternal consumption of 
        mercury-tainted fish;
Whereas these health and environmental effects of mercury contamination can 
        impose significant social and economic costs in the form of increased 
        medical care, special educational and occupational needs, reduced 
        economic performance, and disruptions in recreational and commercial 
        fishing and hunting, and can create disproportionate health, social, and 
        economic impacts among subpopulations dependent on subsistence fishing;
Whereas the Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that the United States 
        is a net emitter of mercury in that the United States contributes 3 
        times as much mercury to the global atmospheric pool of air emissions as 
        it receives through deposition;
Whereas the United States Geological Survey has not reported mercury consumption 
        figures for key sectors in the United States economy since 1996, thereby 
        creating important information gaps relating to domestic mercury use and 
        trade;
Whereas the quantity of domestic fugitive chlor-alkali sector emissions has been 
        labeled an enigma by the Environmental Protection Agency;
Whereas, in accordance with Public Law 101-549 (commonly known as the ``Clean 
        Air Act Amendments of 1990'') (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.), the 
        Environmental Protection Agency determined in December 2000 that a 
        maximum achievable control technology standard for mercury and other air 
        toxic emissions for electric utility steam generating units in the 
        United States is appropriate and necessary, and listed coal- and oil-
        fired electric utility steam generating units for regulation, thereby 
        triggering a statutory requirement that maximum achievable controls be 
        implemented at every existing coal- and oil-fired electric utility steam 
        generating unit by not later than December 2005;
Whereas other major stationary sources have already implemented maximum 
        achievable control technology standards for mercury and other air 
        toxics, as required by the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.);
Whereas effective mercury and other heavy metal removal techniques have been 
        demonstrated and are available on an industrial scale in the major 
        stationary source categories;
Whereas the lack of effective emission control standards in other countries can 
        give foreign industries a competitive advantage over United States 
        businesses;
Whereas alternatives and substitutes have been demonstrated and are available to 
        reduce or eliminate mercury use in most products and processes;
Whereas the European Commission reports that mercury mining, the closing of 
        mercury cell chlor-alkali facilities, and the phasing out of other 
        outmoded industrial processes in the United States and Europe are 
        contributing significantly to imports of mercury in the developing 
        world;
Whereas the Department of Defense announced in April 2004 that it will 
        consolidate and store its stockpile of approximately 5,000 tons of 
        mercury rather than allow the surplus to enter the global marketplace;
Whereas from 1996 through 2004, the Environmental Council of the States adopted 
        or renewed 9 resolutions highlighting the importance of substantially 
        reducing mercury use and releases in the United States and around the 
        world, and of managing excess supplies of mercury so that they do not 
        enter the global marketplace;
Whereas many States, including California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, 
        Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New 
        Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, 
        Washington, and Wisconsin, are already implementing their own laws, 
        regulations, and other strategies for tracking or reducing various forms 
        of mercury use and pollution, and the Governors of States in New England 
        have set a goal of virtually eliminating mercury emissions in that 
        region;
Whereas the European Commission is developing a mercury strategy that is aimed 
        at comprehensively addressing all aspects of the mercury cycle, 
        including the use, trade, and release of mercury;
Whereas the United States is a party to the Protocol on Heavy Metals of the 
        Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, done at Aarhus, 
        Denmark on June 24, 1998, which entered into force in December 2003 and 
        commits the United States to a basic obligation to limit air emissions 
        of mercury and other heavy metals from new and existing sources, within 
        2 and 8 years respectively, using the best available techniques;
Whereas the current parties to the Convention and the Protocol represent only a 
        portion of anthropogenic emissions of heavy metals annually that are 
        subject to transboundary atmospheric transport and are likely to have 
        significant adverse effects on human health or the environment;
Whereas the 22nd session of the United Nations Environment Programme Governing 
        Council concluded that there is sufficient evidence in the Programme's 
        Global Mercury Assessment of significant global adverse impacts to 
        warrant international action to reduce the risks to human health and the 
        environment from releases of mercury;
Whereas the United Nations Environment Programme invited submission of 
        governmental views on medium- and long-term actions on mercury and other 
        heavy metals, which will be synthesized into a report for presentation 
        at the 23rd session of the Governing Council occurring February 21 to 
        25, 2005, with a view to developing a legally binding instrument, a non-
        legally binding instrument, or other measures or actions; and
Whereas the United States has taken no position on any such instrument: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the Sense of the Senate that--
            (1) the United States should engage constructively and 
        proactively in international dialogue regarding mercury 
        pollution, use, mining, and trade; and
            (2) the President should prepare a comprehensive strategy--
                    (A) to advance and enter into international 
                negotiations on a binding agreement that would--
                            (i) reduce global use, trade, and releases 
                        of mercury to levels sufficient to protect 
                        public health and the environment, including 
                        steps to--
                                    (I) establish specific and 
                                stringent targets and schedules for 
                                reductions in mercury use in the United 
                                States, and emissions below levels for 
                                calendar year 2000, beyond current 
                                domestic and global efforts;
                                    (II) end primary mercury mining in 
                                the near future and establish a system 
                                to ensure excess mercury supplies do 
                                not enter the global marketplace; and
                                    (III) require countries to develop 
                                regional and national action plans to 
                                address mercury sources and uses;
                            (ii) include all countries that use, trade, 
                        or release significant quantities of mercury 
                        into the environment from anthropogenic 
                        sources;
                            (iii) require the application of the best 
                        available control technologies and strategies 
                        to control releases from industrial sectors in 
                        the very near future, including minimizing 
                        releases from coal-fired power plants and 
                        replacing obsolete mercury products and 
                        processes, including the mercury cell chlor-
                        alkali process;
                            (iv) contain mechanisms for promoting and 
                        funding the transfer and adoption of less 
                        emitting technologies and mercury-free 
                        processes, and for facilitating the safe 
                        cleanup of mercury contamination;
                            (v) establish a standardized system to 
                        document and track the use, production, and 
                        trade of mercury and mercury-containing 
                        products, including a licensing requirement for 
                        mercury traders; and
                            (vi) incorporate explicit mechanisms for 
                        adding toxic air pollutants with similar 
                        characteristics in the future;
                    (B) to delineate the preferred structure, format, 
                participants, mechanisms, and resources necessary for 
                achieving and implementing the agreement described in 
                subparagraph (A);
                    (C) to enter into bilateral and multilateral 
                agreements to align global mercury production with 
                reduced global demand and minimize global mercury 
                releases, while negotiating the agreement described in 
                subparagraph (A);
                    (D) to initiate and support a parallel 
                international research effort that does not delay 
                current or planned mercury pollution or use reduction 
                efforts--
                            (i) to collect global data to support the 
                        development of a comprehensive inventory of 
                        mercury use, mining, trade, and releases; and
                            (ii) to develop less emitting technologies 
                        and technologies to reduce the need for, and 
                        use of, mercury in commerce;
                    (E) to review monitoring capabilities and data 
                collection efforts of the United States for domestic 
                mercury use, trade, and releases to ensure there is 
                sufficient information available for any implementing 
                legislation that may be necessary for compliance with 
                existing protocols and future global mercury 
                agreements;
                    (F) to work through existing international 
                organizations, such as the United Nations, the 
                International Standards Organization, and the World 
                Trade Organization, to encourage the development of 
                programs, standards, and trade agreements that will 
                result in reduced use and trade of mercury, the 
                elimination of primary mercury mining, and reductions 
                in releases of mercury and other long-range 
                transboundary air pollutants; and
                    (G) not later than February 11, 2005, to submit to 
                the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on 
                Environment and Public Works of the Senate a report on 
                that strategy, including a description of the ways in 
                which the strategy will be used and communicated at the 
                23rd Session of the United Nations Environment 
                Programme Governing Council.
                                 <all>