PROPOSED ECOS MERCURY RESOLUTIONS BACKGROUND PAPER

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1 PROPOSED ECOS MERCURY RESOLUTIONS BACKGROUND PAPER On October 19 and 20, 2000, ECOS sponsored a Mercury Workshop for state commissioners and their senior managers to educate and inform us about the mercury problem in the United States, the current policies designed to deal with mercury, existing and emerging technologies to reduce mercury to the environment and how states are currently dealing with mercury. The second day of the workshop consisted of a facilitated states-only discussion to determine where do we go from here? Ninety environmental agency commissioners, technical staff, federal and local officials, industry representatives and public interest groups met on October 19 while approximately 50 State agency-only staff and commissioners, representing 32 states attended the where do we go from here session the second day. This group of states recommended six action items for ECOS to consider. The six actions items are: A draft ECOS resolution to the President and Congress will be developed to request that the federal government take action to establish a comprehensive national vision to virtually eliminate mercury at the national/international level; as a part of the resolution to the President and Congress, requesting development of a comprehensive national vision regarding mercury and international action to eliminate mercury, ECOS will also request that the United States seek United Nations action to support global research on mercury as a pollutant and commodity. ECOS will send a letter to Departments of Defense and Energy in order to start a dialogue about the appropriate short and long-term storage for mercury. ECOS Air and Water Committees will convene and examine the issue of air deposition and its impact on TMDLs. ECOS will then develop and send a letter to EPA asking for a State- EPA workgroup to work on air-based deposition on TMDLs. An ad-hoc group will look at water quality standards and fish advisories to determine whether a further discussion with EPA is necessary. ECOS will encourage information sharing by joining the national list serve maintained by NEWMOA and participating in development of a NEWMOA online database. ECOS will pursue ways to have both commissioner and technical staff level meetings. The ECOS Air Committee will be asked to pose the approach to a multi-pollutant strategy and present it to the ECOS membership for consideration at the spring meeting. These recommendations called for the drafting of two resolutions and a letter to EPA on mercury issues. Based on responses to individual state s concerns with regard to mercury storage, that occurred after the ECOS meeting, it was decided that a resolution on short/long term storage of mercury would be a better approach than a letter.

2 Small workgroups were formed to draft three resolutions National Vision, Stockpile/Retirement, and Multipollutant Approaches. The workgroups consisted of states that attended the workshop with an effort to have a geographic distribution of the states. The three resolutions that are attached are a product of these workgroups. They are sent to you for your review prior to the meeting. The resolutions will be taken up by the following committees: National Vision Air Committee and Water Committee Stockpile/Retirement Waste Committee Multipollutant Approaches Air Committee Why is Mercury a concern for ECOS? Mercury bioaccumulates in the aquatic food chain and 41 states and the Food and Drug Administration have adopted at least 2073 public health advisories throughout the country due to mercury contamination. The population at the highest risk of mercury-related developmental problems is children of women who consumed large amounts of fish and seafood during pregnancy. The National Research Council s July 2000 report estimated that each year about 60,000 children may be born in this country with permanent, irreversible neurological problems due to mercury exposure. Important sources of mercury depend on your location: there is a much higher contribution of mercury from municipal waste incinerators than coal-fired utility boilers in Florida, and a higher contribution from utility boilers in the Great Lakes. Most progress in reducing mercury pollution will be made with a combination of local and regional reductions. If you have specific questions on the mercury conference and the resulting draft resolutions, you can contact Mary Jo Kopecky ( ,kopecm@dnr.state.wi.us), or Carol Leftwich ( , leftwich@sso.org). If you want to express you thoughts on the resolutions prior to the ECOS meeting, you should contact either the appropriate Committee Chairs, or members of the Executive Committee. Here are the three proposed resolutions: NEED FOR ARTICULATION OF A NATIONAL VISION FOR MERCURY WHEREAS, mercury bio-accumulates in the aquatic food chain and 41 States and the Food and Drug Administration have adopted at least 2073 public health advisories throughout the country due to mercury contamination of fish. WHEREAS, fish products are the main source of methylmercury, the toxic form of mercury, in the human diet.

3 WHEREAS, children of women who consume large amounts of fish during pregnancy are the population at highest risk of mercury-related developmental problems, which threatens to increase the number of children who have to struggle to keep up in school and who might require remedial classes or special education - leading to increased education and medical costs for these children. WHEREAS, the National Research Council s July 2000 report estimated that each year over 60,000 children may be born in the United States with permanent, irreversible neurological problems due to mercury exposure from the consumption of fish. WHEREAS, many countries of the world and their citizens do not recognize mercury as a toxic substance. WHEREAS, mercury pollution is a global issue because mercury is transported by air currents across political and geographic boundaries, mercury bio-accumulates in the environment, and mercury exported from the U.S. returns to this country by atmospheric transport, through contaminated fish, and in manufactured products. WHEREAS, the States and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are studying, monitoring and reducing the discharge of mercury to the environment, a more concerted effort is required to eliminate the threat to humans and wildlife in the United States and throughout the globe. WHEREAS, the recent USGS data on mercury use is incomplete due to the lack of adequate voluntary reporting by manufacturers and other commercial users. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT: ECOS calls on the President of the United States and Congress to articulate a goal of virtual elimination of mercury discharge into the environment at the national and international levels. ECOS requests that EPA work with States and tribes as partners to develop appropriate strategies and initiatives to achieve this goal. ECOS requests the federal government work cooperatively with the States to collect comprehensive data on mercury uses so that short and long-term trends can be tracked, essential uses of mercury uses in the United States are identified, including critical needs of the federal government, and identify those uses that can be eliminated. ECOS requests the federal government, in cases where mercury use is deemed essential and necessary, research options for reducing and/or eliminating that use, and ensure that mercury is properly managed at federal and federal-contractor facilities so that mercury discharges to the environment are prevented and collection/recycling activities are performed to the maximum extent possible. ECOS urges the federal government to develop recommendations to eliminate mercury stockpiles in excess of essential national needs through their safe retirement and place limitations on the import and export of mercury that does not meet that need or poses a national or international public or environmental health threat, and exercise leadership in appropriate international forums to work toward substantial global reductions in mercury production, uses and releases.

4 ECOS affirms EPA s five-year mercury research strategy, urges EPA to implement and strengthen the Mercury Action Plan, and urges EPA to continue work to reduce mercury-related risks. ECOS urges the President of the United States and Congress to expand Federal and State capacity for mercury-related environmental monitoring, pollution prevention programs, and health advisory efforts. Copies of this resolution be transmitted to the Administrator of EPA, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the President of the United States, and the United States Congress. MERCURY RETIREMENT AND STOCKPILING WHEREAS, there has been a two- to three-fold increase in mercury released into the environment over the past century, and atmospheric deposition resulting from human activities, including area sources, waste disposal, chlorine and caustic soda manufacturing wastes and fossil fuel burning contributes significantly to the global mercury loading in the environment. WHEREAS, the United States is meeting virtually all current domestic needs for mercury via recycling, and mercury use and demand are similarly declining in developed countries due to increased awareness of health and environmental impacts and increased regulation. WHEREAS, large sources of mercury in the United States are becoming available from the dismantling of chlorine and caustic soda manufacturing systems, and collection of discarded mercury-containing products, equipment and devices. WHEREAS, state and federal governments are taking many actions to reduce mercury in the environment, which has led to a phasing out of mercury use and an increasing supply of mercury on the market. WHEREAS, large volume mercury sales in excess of demand depress world prices, increase world supply of mercury, and result in increased mercury use in countries with lesser or nonexistent regulations concerning waste management, air emissions, and protection of worker safety and the environment. WHEREAS, the United States government owns in excess of 10 million pounds of mercury in Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Energy stockpiles, and U.S. government sales of stockpiled mercury were halted in 1994 so that environmental considerations could be assessed. WHEREAS, the DoD's Defense National Stockpile Center's is proposing to prepare an EIS describing alternatives for managing its inventory of excess mercury. WHEREAS, mercury is a national and international concern because mercury is transported by air currents across political boundaries, and mercury exported by the U.S. returns to this country by atmospheric transport, through contaminated fish and in manufactured products. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT: ECOS recognizes short-term storage of mercury as a State responsibility, while long-term storage of mercury is a Federal responsibility.

5 ECOS requests that the President of the United States issue a directive to federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency, States and others involved in the storage and management of mercury to work to recommend a plan to mange the long-term storage of mercury by January 1, ECOS requests that large consumers of mercury, particularly the chlor-alkai industry, and States where any repository of mercury may be sited, be included in the development of a recommended storage plan. Copies of this resolution be transmitted to the Administrator of EPA, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the President of the United States, and the United States Congress.