[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 144 (Tuesday, August 28, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5992-S5993]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

       By Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Mr. Carper):
  S. 3394. A bill to establish a national mercury monitoring program, 
and for other purposes; to the Committee on Environment and Public 
Works
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, today along with Senator Carper, I am 
introducing the Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act. This 
bill would ensure that we have accurate information about the extent of 
mercury pollution in the United States.
  A comprehensive national mercury monitoring network is needed to 
protect human health, safeguard fisheries, and track the effect of 
emissions reductions. This tracking is particularly important in light 
of increasing mercury emissions from other countries, including a 
substantial amount of mercury emissions from China. Mercury can be 
transported around the globe, meaning emissions and releases can affect 
human health and environment even in remote locations.
  The issue of mercury emissions is growing in importance around the 
world. In 2013, the United States was the first Nation to join and sign 
the Minamata Convention on Mercury, a global agreement to reduce 
mercury pollution. The Minamata Convention has been signed by more than 
125 countries and raises the issue that mercury poses a global threat 
to human health. At present, scientists must rely on limited 
information to understand the critical linkages between mercury 
emissions and environmental response and human health. Successful 
design, implementation, and assessment of solutions to the mercury 
pollution problem require comprehensive long-term information. A system 
for collecting such information, such as we have for acid rain and 
other pollution, does not currently exist for mercury--a much more 
toxic pollutant.
  Mercury is a potent neurotoxin of significant ecological and public 
health concern, especially for children and pregnant women. It is 
estimated that approximately 200,000 children born in the U.S. per year 
are exposed to levels of mercury in the womb that are high enough to 
impair neurological development. Mercury exposure has gone down as U.S. 
mercury emissions have declined; however, levels remain far too high.
  By accurately quantifying regional and national changes in 
atmospheric deposition, ecosystem contamination, and bioaccumulation of 
mercury in fish and wildlife in response to changes in mercury 
emissions, a monitoring network would help policy makers, scientists, 
and the public to better understand the sources, consequences, and 
trends in mercury pollution in the United States. We must have more 
comprehensive information and we must have it soon; otherwise, we risk 
making misguided policy decisions.
  Specifically, the Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act 
would:
  Direct EPA, in conjunction with the Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. 
Geological Survey, National Park Service, the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Association, and other appropriate Federal agencies, to 
establish a national mercury monitoring program to measure and monitor 
mercury levels in the air and watersheds, water and soil chemistry, and 
in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial organisms across the nation;
  Establish a scientific advisory committee to advise on the 
establishment, site selection, measurement, recording protocols, and 
operations of the monitoring program;
  Establish a centralized database for existing and newly collected 
environmental mercury data that can be freely accessed on the Internet 
and is comprised of data that is compatible with similar international 
efforts;
  Require a report to Congress every two years on the program, 
including trends, and an assessment of the reduction in mercury 
deposition rates that need to be achieved in order to prevent adverse 
human and ecological effects every four-years; and
  Authorize $95 million over three years to carry out the Act.
  We must establish a comprehensive, robust national monitoring network

[[Page S5993]]

for mercury to provide the data needed to help make decisions to 
protect the people and environment of Maine and the United States.
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