I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3391 

To provide for the establishment of a national mercury monitoring program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 4, 2011 

Ms. PINGREE of Maine (for herself, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. JACKSON

of Illinois, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Mr. WELCH) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To provide for the establishment of a national mercury 

monitoring program. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Comprehensive Na5 tional Mercury Monitoring Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Mercury is a potent neurotoxin of signifi9 cant ecological and public health concern. 

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1 (2) It is estimated that more than 410,000 chil2 dren born each year in the United States are ex3 posed to levels of mercury in the womb that are high 

4 enough to impair neurological development. 

5 (3) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre6 vention has found that 6 percent of women in the 

7 United States of childbearing age have blood mer8 cury levels in excess of values determined to be safe 

9 by the Environmental Protection Agency. 

10 (4) Exposure to mercury occurs largely by con11 sumption of contaminated fish. At the same time, 

12 fish and shellfish are an important source of dietary 

13 protein, and a healthy fishing resource is important 

14 to the economy of the United States. 

15 (5) Fish and shellfish contain high-quality pro16 tein and other essential nutrients, are low in satu17 rated fat, and contain omega-3 fatty acids. A well18 balanced diet that includes a variety of fish and 

19 shellfish can contribute to heart health and chil20 dren’s proper growth and development. A national 

21 mercury monitoring network will provide consistent 

22 scientific data on the status of this vital nutritional 

23 and commercial resource. 

24 (6) In many locations, the primary route for 

25 mercury input to aquatic ecosystems is atmospheric 

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1 emissions, transport, and deposition. Computer mod2 els and other assessment tools provide varying effec3 tiveness in predicting mercury concentrations in fish 

4 and existing broad-scale data sets are insufficient to 

5 test model predictions. 

6 (7) As the Federal Government and State gov7 ernments advance regulations to curb mercury emis8 sions, such regulations should be evaluated by a na9 tionwide monitoring network that can document 

10 whether such regulations are effective. 

11 SEC. 3. MONITORING PROGRAM. 

12 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator, in con14 sultation with the heads of applicable Federal agen15 cies, shall establish a long-term national-scale mer16 cury monitoring program to track— 

17 (A) long-term trends in atmospheric mer18 cury concentrations and deposition; and 

19 (B) in response to changing mercury emis20 sions over time, mercury levels in— 

21 (i) watersheds and surface waters; 

22 and 

23 (ii) fish and wildlife in terrestrial, 

24 freshwater, and coastal ecosystems. 

25 (2) MONITORING SITES.— 

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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

2 after the date of enactment of this Act and in 

3 coordination the Mercury Monitoring Advisory 

4 Committee, the Administrator, in consultation 

5 with the heads of the applicable Federal agen6 cies, shall select multiple monitoring sites for 

7 the mercury monitoring program established 

8 under this section representing different 

9 ecoregions of the United States. 

10 (B) LOCATIONS.—Locations of monitoring 

11 sites for the mercury monitoring program es12 tablished under this section shall include, na13 tional parks, national wildlife refuges, national 

14 estuarine reserves, and sensitive ecological areas 

15 in which substantive changes are expected from 

16 reductions in domestic mercury emissions. Such 

17 monitoring sites shall be co-located with sites 

18 from other long-term environmental monitoring 

19 programs, as practicable, including sites associ20 ated with the National Ecological Observatory 

21 Network, Long Term Ecological Research Net22 work, and the National Atmospheric Deposition 

23 Program. 

24 (3) MONITORING PROTOCOLS.—Not later than 

25 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act and 

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1 in coordination with the Mercury Monitoring Advi2 sory Committee, the Administrator shall establish 

3 and publish standardized measurement protocols for 

4 the mercury monitoring program established under 

5 this section, including data assurance and quality 

6 standards consistent with standards developed by 

7 the Federal Geographic Data Committee for use by 

8 Federal agencies and other data gathering entities. 

9 (4) DATA COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION.— 

10 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

11 of this Act and in coordination with the Mercury 

12 Monitoring Advisory Committee, the Administrator 

13 shall establish a centralized database for existing 

14 and newly collected environmental mercury data that 

15 can be freely accessed online once data assurance 

16 and quality standards established by the Adminis17 trator under paragraph (3) are met. 

18 (b) AIR AND WATERSHEDS.—The mercury moni19 toring program established under this section shall mon20 itor long-term changes in mercury levels in air and water21 sheds at sites selected under subsection (a)(2), including 

22 through— 

23 (1) the measurement and recording of wet, and 

24 estimation of dry, mercury deposition, mercury flux, 

25 and mercury export; 

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1 (2) the measurement and recording of the level 

2 of mercury reemitted from aquatic and terrestrial 

3 environments into the atmosphere; and 

4 (3) the measurement of sulfur species and an5 cillary measurements at a portion of the monitoring 

6 sites to fully understand the cycling of mercury 

7 through the ecosystem. 

8 (c) WATER AND SOIL CHEMISTRY.—The mercury 

9 monitoring program established under this section shall 

10 monitor long-term changes in mercury and methylmercury 

11 levels in water and soil at sites selected under subsection 

12 (a)(2), including through— 

13 (1) extraction and analysis of sediment cores; 

14 (2) measurement and recording of total mer15 cury and methylmercury concentration, and percent 

16 methylmercury in surface sediments; 

17 (3) measurement and recording of total mer18 cury and methylmercury concentration in surface 

19 water; and 

20 (4) measurement and recording of total mer21 cury and methylmercury concentrations throughout 

22 the water column and sediments. 

23 (d) AQUATIC AND TERRESTRIAL ORGANISMS.—The 

24 mercury monitoring program established under this sec25 tion shall monitor long-term changes in mercury and 

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1 methylmercury levels in the aquatic and terrestrial orga2 nisms at sites selected under subsection (a)(2), including 

3 through— 

4 (1) measurement and recording of total mer5 cury and methylmercury concentrations in 

6 zooplankton and other invertebrates; 

7 (2) measurement and recording of total mer8 cury and methylmercury concentrations in yearling 

9 fish; 

10 (3) measurement and recording of total mer11 cury and methylmercury concentrations in commer12 cially, recreationally, or conservation relevant fish; 

13 (4) measurement and recording of total mer14 cury concentrations in selected insect- and fish-eat15 ing birds; and 

16 (5) measurement and recording of total mer17 cury concentrations in selected insect- and fish-eat18 ing mammals. 

19 SEC. 4. ADVISORY COMMITTEE. 

20 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a sci21 entific advisory committee, to be known as the ‘‘Mercury 

22 Monitoring Advisory Committee’’, to advise the Adminis23 trator and the heads of the applicable Federal agencies 

24 on the establishment, site selection, measurement, record25 ing protocols, data integration, standardization protocols, 

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1 reporting, funding, and operation of the national mercury 

2 monitoring program established under this Act. 

3 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Mercury Monitoring Advi4 sory Committee shall consist of scientists who are not em5 ployees of the Federal Government, including— 

6 (1) 3 scientists appointed by the Administrator; 

7 (2) 2 scientists appointed by the Director of the 

8 United States Fish and Wildlife Service; 

9 (3) 2 scientists appointed by the Director of the 

10 United States Geological Survey; 

11 (4) 2 scientists appointed by the Director of the 

12 National Park Service; and 

13 (5) 2 scientists appointed by the Administrator 

14 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis15 tration. 

16 SEC. 5. REPORTS. 

17 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 

18 of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter, the Adminis19 trator shall transmit to Congress a report on the mercury 

20 monitoring program established under this Act, including 

21 trend data. Once every 4 years, such a report shall include 

22 an assessment of the reduction in mercury deposition rates 

23 that must be achieved in order to prevent adverse human 

24 and ecological effects. 

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1 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

3 this Act— 

4 (1) for fiscal year 2013, $37,000,000; 

5 (2) for fiscal year 2014, $29,000,000; and 

6 (3) for fiscal year 2015, $29,000,000. 

7 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 

9 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis10 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ11 mental Protection Agency. 

12 (2) APPLICABLE FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term 

13 ‘‘applicable Federal agency’’ may include the United 

14 States Fish and Wildlife Service, the United States 

15 Geological Survey, the National Park Service, the 

16 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 

17 and any other Federal agency, bureau, or depart18 ment the Administrator determines relevant. 

19 (3) ECOREGION.—The term ‘‘ecoregion’’ means 

20 a large, as determined by the Administrator, area of 

21 land and water that contains a geographically dis22 tinct assemblage of natural communities, including 

23 similar land forms, climate, ecological processes, and 

24 vegetation. 

25 (4) MERCURY EXPORT.—The term ‘‘mercury 

26 export’’ means mercury flux from a watershed to the 

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1 corresponding water body, or from one water body 

2 to another (such as a lake to a river), generally ex3 pressed as mass per unit time. 

4 (5) MERCURY FLUX.—The term ‘‘mercury flux’’ 

5 means the rate of transfer of mercury between eco6 system components (such as between water and air), 

7 or between portions of ecosystem components, ex8 pressed in terms of mass per unit time or mass per 

9 unit area per time. 

10 (6) MERCURY MONITORING ADVISORY COM11 MITTEE.—The term ‘‘Mercury Monitoring Advisory 

12 Committee’’ means the Mercury Monitoring Advisory 

13 Committee established under section 4. 

14 (7) SURFACE SEDIMENT.—The term ‘‘surface 

15 sediment’’ means sediment in the uppermost 2 centi16 meters of a lakebed or riverbed. 

Æ 

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