[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2913 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2913

   To establish a national mercury monitoring program, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 18, 2009

Ms. Collins (for herself and Mr. Carper) introduced the following bill; 
 which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and 
                              Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To establish a national mercury monitoring program, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Comprehensive National Mercury 
Monitoring Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that
            (1)(A) mercury is a potent neurotoxin of significant 
        ecological and public health concern;
            (B) exposure to mercury occurs largely by consumption of 
        contaminated fish;
            (C) children and women of childbearing age who consume 
        large quantities of fish are at high risk of adverse effects;
            (D) it is estimated that more than 630,000 children born 
        each year in the United States are exposed to levels of mercury 
        in the womb that are high enough to impair neurological 
        development; and
            (E) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have 
        found that 8 percent of women in the United States of 
        childbearing age have blood mercury levels in excess of values 
        determined to be safe by the Environmental Protection Agency;
            (2)(A) as of 2006, 3,080 fish consumption advisories due to 
        mercury contamination have been issued for 48 States, including 
        23 statewide advisories for freshwater and 12 statewide 
        advisories for coastal waters;
            (B) that is a 26 percent increase over the number of 
        advisories issued in 2004;
            (C) those advisories represent more than 22,000 square 
        miles of lakes and 882,000 miles of rivers;
            (D) however, fish and shellfish are an important source of 
        dietary protein, and a healthy fishing resource is important to 
        the economy of the United States; and
            (E) the extent of fish consumption advisories underscores 
        the extensive human and ecological health risk posed by mercury 
        pollution;
            (3)(A) in many locations, the primary route for mercury 
        input to aquatic ecosystems is atmospheric emissions, 
        transport, and deposition;
            (B) the cycling of mercury in the environment and resulting 
        accumulation in biota are not fully understood; and
            (C) computer models and other assessment tools provide 
        varying effectiveness in predicting mercury concentrations in 
        fish, and no broad-scale data sets exist to test model 
        predictions;
            (4)(A) on September 14 through 17, 2003, the Environmental 
        Protection Agency cosponsored a Society of Environmental 
        Toxicology and Chemistry workshop involving more than 30 
        international experts to formulate a system to quantify and 
        document mercury changes in the various environment fields 
        resulting from anticipated reductions in mercury emissions in 
        the United States; and
            (B) the resulting plan proposes a holistic, multimedia, 
        long-term mercury monitoring program that is documented in 2 
        sources--
                    (i) on January 1, 2005, the article entitled 
                ``Monitoring the Response to Changing Mercury 
                Deposition'' was published in the journal Environmental 
                Science and Technology; and
                    (ii) in 2008, the book entitled ``Ecosystem 
                Responses to Mercury Contamination: Indicators of 
                Change'' was published by CRC Press;
            (5) as of the date of enactment of this Act, many 
        regulations limiting mercury emissions from different sources 
        have gone into effect or will be implemented, but ongoing 
        monitoring programs are not adequately measuring the 
        environmental benefits and effectiveness of mercury emission 
        controls;
            (6) on May 15, 2006, the Office of Inspector General of the 
        Environmental Protection Agency issued a report entitled, 
        ``Monitoring Needed to Assess Impact of EPA's Clean Air Mercury 
        Rule (CAMR) on Potential Hotspots'', Report No. 2006-P-0025, 
        which states, in part--
                    (A) ``Without field data from an improved 
                monitoring network, EPA's ability to advance mercury 
                science will be limited and `utility-attributable 
                hotspots' that pose health risks may occur and go 
                undetected''; and
                    (B) ``We recommend that the EPA develop and 
                implement a mercury monitoring plan to assess the 
                impact of CAMR, if adopted, on mercury deposition and 
                fish tissue and evaluate and refine mercury estimation 
                tools and models'';
            (7)(A) on January 1, 2007, the articles entitled 
        ``Biological Mercury Hotspots in the Northeastern U.S. and 
        Southeastern Canada'' and ``Contamination in Remote Forest and 
        Aquatic Ecosystems in the Northeastern U.S.: Sources, 
        Transformations and Management Options'' were published in the 
        journal BioScience; and
            (B) the authors of the articles--
                    (i) identified 5 biological mercury hotspots and 9 
                areas of concern in the northeastern United States and 
                southeastern Canada associated primarily with 
                atmospheric mercury emissions and deposition;
                    (ii) located an area of particularly high mercury 
                deposition adjacent to a coal-fired utility in southern 
                New Hampshire; and
                    (iii) concluded that local impacts from mercury 
                emissions should be closely monitored in order to 
                assess the impact of Federal and State policies; and
            (8)(A) building on previous efforts in 2003, on May 5 
        through 7, 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency coconvened 
        a workshop with experts from the United States Geological 
        Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 
        the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park 
        Service, State and tribal agencies, the BioDiversity Research 
        Institute, the National Atmospheric Deposition Program, 
        industry, and other institutions;
            (B) more than 50 workshop scientists participated and 
        agreed on a goal and major design elements for a national 
        mercury monitoring program, including a national distribution 
        of approximately 20 intensive sites to understand the sources, 
        consequences, and trends in United States mercury pollution;
            (C) the consortium found that ``policy makers, scientists 
        and the public need a comprehensive and integrated mercury 
        monitoring network to accurately quantify regional and national 
        changes in atmospheric deposition, ecosystem contamination, and 
        bioaccumulation of mercury in fish and wildlife in response to 
        changes in mercury emissions.''; and
            (D) the workshop findings are published in a report of the 
        Environmental Protection Agency (430-K-09-001).

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
            (2) Advisory committee.--The term ``Advisory Committee'' 
        means the Mercury Monitoring Advisory Committee established 
        under section 5.
            (3) Ancillary measure.--The term ``ancillary measure'' 
        means a measure that is used to understand the impact and 
        interpret results of measurements under the program.
            (4) Ecoregion.--The term ``ecoregion'' means a large area 
        of land and water that contains a geographically distinct 
        assemblage of natural communities, including similar land 
        forms, climate, ecological processes, and vegetation.
            (5) Mercury export.--The term ``mercury export'' means 
        mercury flux from a watershed to the corresponding water body, 
        or from 1 water body to another water body (such as a lake to a 
        river), generally expressed as mass per unit of time.
            (6) Mercury flux.--The term ``mercury flux'' means the rate 
        of transfer of mercury between ecosystem components (such as 
        between water and air), or between portions of ecosystem 
        components, expressed in terms of mass per unit of time or mass 
        per unit of area per time.
            (7) Program.--The term ``program'' means the national 
        mercury monitoring program established under section 4.
            (8) Surface sediment.--The term ``surface sediment'' means 
        sediment in the uppermost 2 centimeters of a lakebed or 
        riverbed.

SEC. 4. MONITORING PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment.--
            (1) In general.--The Administrator, in consultation with 
        the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, 
        the Director of the United States Geological Survey, the 
        Director of the National Park Service, the Administrator of the 
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the heads 
        of other appropriate Federal agencies, shall establish a 
        national mercury monitoring program.
            (2) Purpose.--The purpose of the program is to track--
                    (A) long-term trends in atmospheric mercury 
                concentrations and deposition; and
                    (B) mercury levels in watersheds, surface waters, 
                and fish and wildlife in terrestrial, freshwater, and 
                coastal ecosystems in response to changing mercury 
                emissions over time.
            (3) Monitoring sites.--
                    (A) In general.--In carrying out paragraph (1), not 
                later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 
                Act and in coordination with the Advisory Committee, 
                the Administrator, after consultation with the heads of 
                Federal agencies described in paragraph (1) and 
                considering the requirement for reports under section 
                6, shall select multiple monitoring sites representing 
                multiple ecoregions of the United States.
                    (B) Locations.--Locations of monitoring sites shall 
                include national parks, wildlife refuges, National 
                Estuarine Research Reserve units, and other sensitive 
                ecological areas that include long-term protection and 
                in which substantive changes are expected from 
                reductions in domestic mercury emissions.
                    (C) Colocation.--If practicable, monitoring sites 
                shall be colocated with sites from other long-term 
                environmental monitoring programs.
            (4) Monitoring protocols.--Not later than 1 year after the 
        date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in 
        coordination with the Advisory Committee, shall establish and 
        publish standardized measurement protocols for the program 
        under this Act.
            (5) Data collection and distribution.--Not later than 1 
        year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
        Administrator, in coordination with the Advisory Committee, 
        shall establish a centralized database for existing and newly 
        collected environmental mercury data that can be freely 
        accessed once data assurance and quality standards established 
        by the Administrator are met.
    (b) Air and Watersheds.--
            (1) In general.--The program shall monitor long-term 
        changes in mercury levels and important ancillary measures in 
        the air at locations selected under subsection (a)(3).
            (2) Measurements.--The Administrator, in consultation with 
        the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, 
        the Director of the United States Geological Survey, the 
        Director of the National Park Service, the Administrator of the 
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the heads 
        of other appropriate Federal agencies, shall determine 
        appropriate measurements, including--
                    (A) the measurement and recording of wet and 
                estimation of dry mercury deposition, mercury flux, and 
                mercury export;
                    (B) the measurement and recording of the level of 
                mercury reemitted from aquatic and terrestrial 
                environments into the atmosphere; and
                    (C) the measurement of sulfur species and ancillary 
                measurements at a portion of locations selected under 
                subsection (a)(3) to fully understand the cycling of 
                mercury through the ecosystem.
    (c) Water and Soil Chemistry.--The program shall monitor long-term 
changes in mercury and methyl mercury levels and important ancillary 
measures in the water and soil or sediments at locations selected under 
subsection (a)(3) that the Administrator, in primary consultation with 
the Director of the United States Geological Survey, determines to be 
appropriate, including--
            (1) extraction and analysis of soil and sediment cores;
            (2) measurement and recording of total mercury and methyl 
        mercury concentration, and percent methyl mercury in surface 
        sediments;
            (3) measurement and recording of total mercury and methyl 
        mercury concentration in surface water; and
            (4) measurement and recording of total mercury and methyl 
        mercury concentrations throughout the water column and 
        sediments.
    (d) Aquatic and Terrestrial Organisms.--The program shall monitor 
long-term changes in mercury and methyl mercury levels and important 
ancillary measures in the aquatic and terrestrial organisms at 
locations selected under subsection (a)(3) that the Administrator, in 
primary consultation with the Director of the United States Fish and 
Wildlife Service and the Administrator of the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration, determines to be appropriate, including--
            (1) measurement and recording of total mercury and methyl 
        mercury concentrations in--
                    (A) zooplankton and other invertebrates;
                    (B) yearling fish; and
                    (C) commercially, recreationally, or conservation 
                relevant fish; and
            (2) measurement and recording of total mercury 
        concentrations in--
                    (A) selected insect- and fish-eating birds; and
                    (B) measurement and recording of total mercury 
                concentrations in selected insect- and fish-eating 
                mammals.

SEC. 5. ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

    (a) Establishment.--There shall be established a scientific 
advisory committee, to be known as the ``Mercury Monitoring Advisory 
Committee'', to advise the Administrator and Federal agencies described 
in section 4(a)(1), on the establishment, site selection, measurement 
and recording protocols, and operation of the program.
    (b) Membership.--The Advisory Committee shall consist of scientists 
who are not employees of the Federal Government, including--
            (1) 3 scientists appointed by the Administrator;
            (2) 2 scientists appointed by the Director of the United 
        States Fish and Wildlife Service;
            (3) 2 scientists appointed by the Director of the United 
        States Geological Survey;
            (4) 2 scientists appointed by the Director of the National 
        Park Service; and
            (5) 2 scientists appointed by the Administrator of the 
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

SEC. 6. REPORTS AND PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.

    (a) Reports.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of 
this Act and every 2 years thereafter, the Administrator shall submit 
to Congress a report on the program, including trend data.
    (b) Assessment.--At least once every 4 years, the report required 
under subsection (a) shall include an assessment of the reduction in 
mercury deposition rates that are required to be achieved in order to 
prevent adverse human and ecological effects.
    (c) Availability of Data.--The Administrator shall make all data 
obtained under this Act available to the public through a dedicated 
website and on written request.

SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act--
            (1) for fiscal year 2011 to--
                    (A) the Environmental Protection Agency 
                $15,000,000;
                    (B) the United States Fish and Wildlife Service 
                $9,000,000;
                    (C) the United States Geological Survey $5,000,000;
                    (D) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
                Administration $4,000,000; and
                    (E) the National Park Service $4,000,000;
            (2) for fiscal year 2012 to--
                    (A) the Environmental Protection Agency 
                $12,000,000;
                    (B) the United States Fish and Wildlife Service 
                $7,000,000;
                    (C) the United States Geological Survey $4,000,000;
                    (D) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
                Administration $3,000,000; and
                    (E) the National Park Service $3,000,000;
            (3) for fiscal year 2013 to--
                    (A) the Environmental Protection Agency 
                $12,000,000;
                    (B) the United States Fish and Wildlife Service 
                $7,000,000;
                    (C) the United States Geological Survey $4,000,000;
                    (D) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
                Administration $3,000,000; and
                    (E) the National Park Service $3,000,000; and
            (4) such sums as are necessary for each of fiscal years 
        2014 through 2016 to--
                    (A) the Environmental Protection Agency;
                    (B) the United States Fish and Wildlife Service;
                    (C) the United States Geological Survey;
                    (D) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
                Administration; and
                    (E) the National Park Service.
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