The Honorable William J. Clinton
President of the United States
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

This letter is to urge that the Environmental Protection Agency mercury report be promptly submitted to Congress.

This report was mandated by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and was due in November 16, 1994. It was effectively completed in December, 1995, but instead of being forward to Congress was instead sent to the Science Advisory Board of the Environmental Protection Agency for review, even though it had already been subjected to extensive internal and external peer review. Roughly 1,700 pages in length, the report was informally approved by the SAB in February, 1997, but still has not been submitted.

Mercury poses a serious and growing public health and environmental threat. At least 34 states have issued human consumption advisories or consumption bans because of unacceptable levels of mercury in freshwater fish. Some high altitude lakes contain water that violates the drinking water standard for mercury. It and other heavy metals have been implicated in declines of red spruce in the Appalachians.

Some industries and their advocates have successfully opposed the submission to Congress of even a fraction of the seven volume report. Reportedly, they succeeded in winning to their side the Office of Management and Budget, the Food and Drug Administration and the Office of Science and Technology Policy, whose influence has forced the Environmental Protection Agency to withhold the report. Some individuals are said to be understandably concerned that public reaction to the report will cause a panicked reduction in the consumption of finned fish. Others are obviously motivated by fear that escalating concerns over mercury will trigger new and more rigorous regulation. What these interests seem to assign no value to, however, is the right of the public to the information contained in the report so that consumers, and especially parents, can make informed choices.

This report represents the best and most complete assemblage of state-of-the-art information on mercury that has been undertaken to date. The report estimates that roughly 85,000 women could be susceptible to the toxic effects of methylmercury. This is based on a dietary survey of eating habits, which shows that this number of women of child bearing age are consuming fish at levels that are potentially harmful. The dietary estimates are crude, but the best data available. Earlier drafts of the report estimated that there also were a large number of children exposed to potentially toxic levels of mercury as well, but that information was deleted, apparently due to pressure from FDA and other federal agencies.

Mercury exposure is imcompletely understood, but the data indicating toxic effects at very low levels seems quite solid. The report has undergone extensive internal and external peer review and, now, by the Science Advisory Board. Had the report been submitted to the Congress when it was effectively completed roughly 18 months ago, the information it contains would have been available to the public and decision-makers.

Because the report was not submitted, however, a range of decisions have been made without benefit of the information it contains. For example, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued a so-called "open access" rule that will very likely increase coal-burning and, therefore, emissions of mercury from electricity generation. Likewise, the state of Minnesota has proceeded with a utility rate-making proceeding that was designed to reflect the external costs of pollutants such as mercury. In addition, other states are proceeding with decisions on utility deregulation, rules for medical waste incinerators and disposal requirements for mercury-containing lights - all without benefit of this 1,700 page report.

No citizen or Senator can dispute the need for good science. But the evidence suggests that this report is being delayed precisely because it is good science. We urge you to instruct the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Food and Drug Administration to halt their efforts to hinder and delay the Environmental Protection Agency. We further ask you to instruct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to submit the report to Congress with no further delay.

Thank you in advance for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

PATRICK LEAHY
United States Senator

Cosigned by Senator Jim Jeffords