[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 18 (Thursday, February 17, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1683-S1684]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE RESOLUTION 64--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

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

                               S. Res. 64

       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;

[[Page S1684]]

       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) 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.

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