[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 69 (Thursday, May 22, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5016-S5017]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 28--RELATIVE TO A STUDY OF MERCURY

  Mr. LEAHY (for himself, Mr. Wellstone, Mr. Levin, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. 
Moynihan, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Feingold, and Mr. Dodd) submitted the 
following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
Environment and Public Works:

                            S. Con. Res. 28

       Whereas there has been a two-to-threefold global increase 
     in mercury in the environment since the 1850's, increases of 
     3 times have been found in wilderness areas of the United 
     States, and much higher increases have been found in 
     developed areas of the United States;
       Whereas mercury is truly a State, national, and 
     international concern because mercury is atmospherically 
     transported indiscriminately across political boundaries;
       Whereas atmospheric deposition resulting from human 
     activities, including area sources, waste incineration and 
     disposal, and fossil fuel burning contributes to mercury 
     loading in the environment;
       Whereas mercury is a persistent bioaccumulative toxic 
     substance that presents particular problems in aquatic 
     systems;
       Whereas fish consumption advisories have been issued for at 
     least 1,500 water bodies in 37 States, including Vermont, 
     because of high levels of mercury contamination in fish, 
     resulting in losses to tourism and fishing industries and 
     related activities;
       Whereas, according to estimates by the Administrator of the 
     Environmental Protection Agency, each year in the United 
     States between 80,000 and 85,000 pregnant women are exposed 
     to mercury levels high enough to produce risk to their 
     children;
       Whereas the study of mercury required under section 
     112(n)(1)(B) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7412(n)(1)(B)), 
     required to be completed by November 15, 1994, represents the 
     best information in the world on the use, generation, and 
     disposal of mercury;
       Whereas the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
     Agency effectively completed the draft report in 1995, but 
     has continually delayed submittal of the study to Congress;
       Whereas there are known substitutes for most mercury-
     containing products and devices, except for high-efficiency 
     lighting;
       Whereas over 500,000,000 mercury-containing lamps are 
     annually produced in the United States, representing one of 
     the largest sources of mercury in municipal waste streams, 
     and typical waste management practices involve compaction, 
     which results in mercury releases, before and during 
     disposal;
       Whereas landfill air emissions test data for mercury is 
     lacking;
       Whereas the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
     Agency is establishing simultaneously maximum achievable 
     control technologies for mercury sources pursuant to the 
     Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.), proposing tightening 
     water quality criteria for mercury under the Federal Water 
     Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.), placing 
     priority on mercury-contaminated superfund sites, but is 
     proposing to exempt mercury-containing lamps from hazardous 
     waste regulations;
       Whereas the United States and Canada have jointly agreed in 
     the Agreement on Air Quality, Agreement on Great Lakes Water 
     Quality, 1978, and Agreement on Virtual Elimination of 
     Persistent Toxic Substances in the Great Lakes Basin to 
     control transboundary emissions and to cooperate on research 
     and development projects to eliminate toxic substances, 
     including mercury; and
       Whereas Federal and State governments have taken many 
     actions to reduce mercury in the environment: Now, therefore, 
     be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring),

     SECTION 1. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

       It is the sense of Congress that the Administrator of the 
     Environmental Protection Agency should--
       (1) immediately release to Congress the study of mercury 
     required under section 112(n)(1)(B) of the Clean Air Act (42 
     U.S.C. 7412(n)(1)(B));
       (2) initiate a pilot program for landfill air emission 
     tests for mercury in the Northeast and nationally; and
       (3) not exempt mercury-containing lamps from hazardous 
     waste regulations, but should instead adopt universal waste 
     rules that foster mercury recycling.

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I would like to draw the Senate's attention 
to something that is going on at the Environmental Protection Agency 
that is of great concern to many of our House and Senate colleagues, 
and to myself. For the past year, I have been working with the 
Environmental Protection Agency, the White House and now, the Science 
Advisory Board, to release a 1,700-page report on the sources, health 
risks, and control measure for mercury pollution in our country. This 
report is the best and most complete assemblage of state-of-the-art 
information to date on the sources and health effects of mercury 
pollution. It has undergone extensive internal and external peer 
review. American taxpayers have already paid more than $1 million in 
contract dollars and for more than 25,000 hours of staff time to 
develop this report. Had the report been submitted to the Congress when 
it was effectively completed roughly 17 months ago, the information it 
contains would have been available to the public and for use by State 
and Federal decisionmakers.
  Because of the widespread public and congressional concern over the 
health and environmental effects of mercury pollution, the 1990 Clean 
Air amendments required the EPA to conduct a study of mercury and 
submit that study to Congress by November 1994. Instead, the EPA 
submitted the report to the Science Advisory Board for review because 
new studies are expected to be published over the next 2 years. Well, 
as we all know, one thing you can be sure of in this world is that 
researchers will continue to research; there will always be new 
studies, and this is as it should be. We need sound science to make 
public policy decisions. But we also need up-to-date science, and that 
is what this report offers. As time passes, the information contained 
in the report becomes increasingly less useful for regulatory and 
judicial decisions.
  Mercury poses a serious and growing public health and environmental 
threat to our Nation. Thirty-seven States have issued human health 
consumption advisories because of unacceptable levels of mercury in 
freshwater fish. According to EPA estimates, as many as

[[Page S5017]]

85,000 pregnant women are exposed to mercury levels high enough to 
produce risks to their children. Yet many States cannot identify the 
sources and quantities of this pollutant or address the problems that 
arise both within and outside State borders.
  We Vermonters are deeply concerned about what is being transported by 
air currents across our borders. Acid rain taught us that our tough 
laws on the environment were not enough to protect us. We could be 
affected from other areas of the country whose environmental standards 
may not be as high as our own. Yet despite these standards, Vermont and 
other States have become a dumping ground. We saw some of our 
healthiest forests die off from pollution that came from outside our 
region. Unlike the many compounds causing acid rain, mercury does not 
break down. It circulates through the environment. It is not going to 
go away when we turn off the tap. It will settle in the lakes, streams, 
and soils of those States that were also the dumping ground for acid 
rain.
  The public has a right to this report and the States need it to make 
sensible decisions about reducing mercury in the environment. Instead, 
it has been sitting on the shelf for nearly 2 years now. By holding 
back the mercury report, the administration is denying to Federal and 
State regulatory bodies and to the public information that will be 
critical to the revision of health advisories, air pollution measures, 
and utility restructuring proposals. But releasing the report is only 
the first step in addressing mercury pollution. The concurrent 
resolution I am submitting today also addresses the need to reduce 
mercury releases into the environment.
  One major source of mercury is municipal waste due to the disposal of 
mercury-containing lamps. EPA has proposed a rule to either exempt 
mercury-containing lamps from hazardous waste regulations or to include 
them in the universal waste rule, but EPA has made little progress 
since 1995. Exempting mercury-containing lamps from the hazardous waste 
rule would allow more than 500 million lamps to be deposited in solid 
waste landfills or conveyed to waste incinerators, perpetuating the 
uncontrolled release of mercury into the environment. In Vermont, we 
are building a recycling industry to collect mercury-containing lamps. 
We are trying to keep mercury out of our waste stream. Without a 
Federal effort to encourage the same preventive steps in other States, 
this effort will be for naught. By including mercury-containing lamps 
in the universal waste rule, we would encourage recycling and the 
elimination of these products from the municipal solid waste stream.
  Another integral step in addressing mercury pollution is development 
of a better inventory of mercury emissions. One of the recommendations 
of the mercury report is to acquire test data on notable sources of 
mercury. My concurrent resolution calls upon EPA to begin landfill 
testing in pilot sites across the country. Several States have already 
expressed an interest in testing, and Florida has already begun testing 
at landfills. The only testing conducted at the Federal level was in 
New York City where two studies raised contradictory findings. In a 
1994 Minnesota study, more than 10 percent of the overall emissions of 
mercury were attributed to landfills. We need to verify these initial 
findings through a national pilot program. Unfortunately, the 1,700-
page mercury report does not include an examination of landfills.
  It is my hope that by releasing the mercury report, promulgating 
regulations on disposal of mercury-containing lamps and testing for 
mercury emissions, we will lay the groundwork for the long-overdue 
reduction of mercury from several sources. I am pleased to be joined by 
my colleagues, Senators Wellstone, Jeffords, Levin, Moynihan, Feingold, 
and Dodd, in submitted this Senate concurrent resolution. I hope that 
this resolution will draw to this issue the attention not only of the 
Senate, but also of the administration.

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