Floor Statement on Mercury Emissions
July 17, 1998
Madam President, I have spoken previously on my concerns about the ongoing
threats from mercury pollution to the lands, rivers and lakes of Vermont
and the rest of the country. I sponsored a Senate Resolution that called on
the Administration to release its long overdue Mercury Study Report to
Congress, a report that was mandated by the Clean Air Act of 1990. Earlier
this year I introduced S. 1915, the 'Omnibus Mercury Emissions Reduction Act
of 1998' which, if enacted, would significantly reduce the risks that this
powerful neurotoxin poses to the neurological health and development of
pregnant women and their fetuses, women of child bearing age, and children.
Senators Snowe, Wellstone and Moynihan have joined me in co-sponsoring the
legislation.
The Mercury Study Report to Congress states that 150 tons of mercury are
released to the environment every year, year after year. The Study reports
that more than one-third of the mercury that is released in the United States
each year -- 52 tons -- comes from coal-fired power plants. Mercury is
contained in the coal. When coal is burned the mercury is vaporized and is
released to the environment.
Once released to the environment, mercury does not behave like many pollutants.
It does not biodegrade, it persists. Mercury does not become less toxic -- it
transforms chemically into even stronger and more toxic forms such as methyl
mercury. Methyl mercury accumulates in fish, and it accumulates in the human
beings that eat the fish. Once ingested, methyl mercury is rapidly absorbed
and distributed throughout the body. It easily penetrates the blood-brain and
placental barriers, and it stays in the body for very long periods of time.
One of the ways that it is finally excreted from the body is through breast
milk. A developing fetal brain and nervous system can be exposed to mercury
because the placenta and the blood-brain barriers offer no protection, and
once born, the exposure can continue through breast milk.
There is ample evidence that mercury levels in the environment are increasing.
One of the most telling indicators is the trend in mercury fishing advisories.
In 1993, 27 states had issued health advisories warning the public about
consuming mercury-tainted fish. In 1997, this had grown to 39 states. We are
going in the wrong direction. Before we know it we are going to have filled
the whole map with these warnings. It is time to reverse this trend.
While the EPA report does the best job so far in quantifying mercury emissions,
many believe that the report understates the actual amount of mercury being
released to the environment. Toward the end of obtaining better data on
mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, EPA has issued notice of its
intent to begin collecting information from these facilities on the mercury
that they emit. I think that this is an excellent step for EPA to be taking,
and I strongly urge the Office of Management and Budget to support this
information collection request. It is very much in keeping with the public's
'right to know' about the types and amounts of toxic pollutants that are being
released, and I strongly urge EPA to disseminate the information widely,
including making it available via the Internet.
Madam President, I would like to state my serious concern about mercury-related
report language in the House of Representatives VA/HUD/Independent Agencies
appropriations bill. Among other things, the report language would require
that another mercury report be developed. Each of the mercury-related tasks
stipulated in the report language would need to be completed before EPA would
be allowed to make any regulatory determinations on mercury.
This report language purely and simply delays efforts to control mercury
emissions at the expense of those who are most susceptible to the effects of
mercury pollution -- pregnant women and their fetuses, women of child bearing
age, and young children.
To put this delay into perspective, the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments required
EPA to study mercury emissions and to report to Congress. EPA completed the
report in 1994 and, largely due to highly effective pressure exerted by the
coal-fired power industry, the Agency sat on the report for 2 years. It was
finally released last December after much effort by this Senator and a number
of my colleagues. It is an excellent report, and the years that it spent on
the shelf gathering dust did not alter its message. In the meantime, hundreds
of tons of toxic mercury emissions continued to rain down unabated on our
lands, rivers, and lakes.
The mercury report does not need to be redone. I do not believe that anyone
who actually reads it objectively would conclude that we need to study mercury
all over again before Congress or the Executive Branch can make any decisions
about controlling mercury emissions. But that is precisely what the House
report language would require. If the past is any indicator of how long it
will take to accomplish what is contemplated by the report language, we will
be at least halfway through the first decade of the next century and buried
under more than a thousand more tons of mercury before the United States can
take even the most minuscule action to control this toxic pollutant. This
report language is an inappropriate use of the appropriations process. Such
matters of substance and impact on the health and welfare of the citizens of
the United States should be debated on the floor of the Senate and House of
Representatives.
As printed in the Congressional Record.
