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 44 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, a scientist at the Environmental Protection Agency estimates
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
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)to present at the
23rd session of the United Nations Environment Programme Governing Council a
plan for carrying out immediate and long-term actions to reduce global mercury
pollution and global exposure to mercury in order to advance the goal of
achieving a binding international agreement on mercury.