II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 906 

To prohibit the sale, distribution, transfer, and export of elemental mercury, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 15, 2007 

Mr. OBAMA (for himself and Ms. MURKOWSKI) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and 

Public Works 

A BILL 

To prohibit the sale, distribution, transfer, and export of 

elemental mercury, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Mercury Market Mini5 mization Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) mercury and mercury compounds are highly 

9 toxic to humans, ecosystems, and wildlife; 


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1 (2) as many as 10 percent of women in the 

2 United States of childbearing age have mercury in 

3 the blood at a level that could put a baby at risk; 

4 (3) as many as 630,000 children born annually 

5 in the United States are at risk of neurological prob6 lems related to mercury; 

7 (4) the most significant source of mercury expo8 sure to people in the United States is ingestion of 

9 mercury-contaminated fish; 

10 (5) the Environmental Protection Agency re11 ports that, as of 2004— 

12 (A) 44 States have fish advisories covering 

13 over 13,000,000 lake acres and over 750,000 

14 river miles; 

15 (B) in 21 States the freshwater advisories 

16 are statewide; and 

17 (C) in 12 States the coastal advisories are 

18 statewide; 

19 (6) the long-term solution to mercury pollution 

20 is to minimize global mercury use and releases to 

21 eventually achieve reduced contamination levels in 

22 the environment, rather than reducing fish consump23 tion since uncontaminated fish represents a critical 

24 and healthy source of nutrition worldwide; 


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1 (7) mercury pollution is a transboundary pollut2 ant, depositing locally, regionally, and globally, and 

3 affecting water bodies near industrial sources (in4 cluding the Great Lakes) and remote areas (includ5 ing the Arctic Circle); 

6 (8) the free trade of mercury and mercury com7 pounds on the world market, at relatively low prices 

8 and in ready supply, encourages the continued use 

9 of mercury outside of the United States, often in10 volving highly dispersive activities such as artisinal 

11 gold mining; 

12 (9) the intentional use of mercury is declining 

13 in the United States as a consequence of process 

14 changes to manufactured products (including bat15 teries, paints, switches, and measuring devices), but 

16 those uses remain substantial in the developing 

17 world where releases from the products are ex18 tremely likely due to the limited pollution control 

19 and waste management infrastructures in those 

20 countries; 

21 (10) the member countries of the European 

22 Union collectively are the largest source of mercury 

23 exports globally; 


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1 (11) the European Union is in the process of 

2 enacting legislation that will prohibit mercury ex3 ports by not later than 2011; 

4 (12) the United States is a net exporter of mer5 cury and, according to the United States Geologic 

6 Survey, exported 506 metric tons of mercury more 

7 than the United States imported during the period 

8 of 2000 through 2004; and 

9 (13) banning exports of mercury from the 

10 United States will have a notable affect on the mar11 ket availability of mercury and switching to afford12 able mercury alternatives in the developing world. 

13 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON SALE, DISTRIBUTION, OR TRANS14 FER OF MERCURY BY DEPARTMENT OF DE15 FENSE OR DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY. 

16 Section 6 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 

17 U.S.C. 2605) is amended by adding at the end the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘(f) MERCURY.— 

20 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION ON SALE, DISTRIBUTION, OR

21 TRANSFER OF MERCURY BY FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 

22 Except as provided in paragraph (2), effective begin23 ning on the date of enactment of this subsection, no 

24 Federal agency shall convey, sell, or distribute to 

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1 ment agency, or any private individual or entity any 

2 elemental mercury under the control or jurisdiction 

3 of the Federal agency. 

4 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

5 apply to a transfer between Federal agencies of ele6 mental mercury for the sole purpose of facilitating 

7 storage of mercury to carry out this Act.’’. 

8 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON EXPORT OF MERCURY. 

9 Section 12 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 

10 U.S.C. 2611) is amended— 

11 (1) in subsection (a) by striking ‘‘subsection 

12 (b)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (b) and (c)’’; and 

13 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITION ON EXPORT OF MERCURY.— 

15 ‘‘(1) ELEMENTAL MERCURY.—Effective Janu16 ary 1, 2010, the export of elemental mercury from 

17 the United States is prohibited. 

18 ‘‘(2) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON MERCURY COM19 POUNDS.— 

20 ‘‘(A) REPORT.— 

21 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 

22 year after the date of enactment of the 

23 Mercury Market Minimization Act of 2007, 

24 the Administrator shall publish and submit 

25 to Congress a report on mercuric chloride, 


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1 mercurous chloride or calomel, mercuric 

2 oxide, and other mercury compounds, if 

3 any, that may currently be used in signifi4 cant quantities in products or processes. 

5 ‘‘(ii) INCLUSIONS.—The report shall 

6 include an analysis of— 

7 ‘‘(I) the sources and amounts of 

8 each mercury compound produced an9 nually in, or imported into, the United 

10 States; 

11 ‘‘(II)(aa) the purposes for which 

12 each of the compounds are used do13 mestically; 

14 ‘‘(bb) the quantity of the com15 pounds currently consumed annually 

16 for each purpose; and 

17 ‘‘(cc) the estimated quantity of 

18 the compounds to be consumed for 

19 each purpose during calendar year 

20 2010 and thereafter; 

21 ‘‘(III) the sources and quantities 

22 of each mercury compound exported 

23 from the United States during each of 

24 the preceding 3 calendar years; 


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1 ‘‘(IV) the potential for the com2 pounds to be processed into elemental 

3 mercury after export from the United 

4 States; and 

5 ‘‘(V) other information that Con6 gress should consider in determining 

7 whether to extend the export prohibi8 tion to include 1 or more of those 

9 mercury compounds. 

10 ‘‘(B) PROCEDURE.— 

11 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro12 vided in clause (ii), for the purpose of pre13 paring the report under this paragraph, 

14 the Administrator may use the information 

15 gathering authorities of this title, including 

16 sections 10 and 11. 

17 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (b)(2) 

18 of section 11 shall not apply to activities 

19 under this subparagraph. 

20 ‘‘(3) EXCESS MERCURY STORAGE ADVISORY

21 COMMITTEE.— 

22 ‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is estab23 lished an advisory committee, to be known as 

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1 mittee’ (referred to in this paragraph as the 

2 ‘Committee’). 

3 ‘‘(B) MEMBERSHIP.— 

4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Committee 

5 shall be composed of 9 members, of 

6 whom— 

7 ‘‘(I) 2 members shall be jointly 

8 appointed by the Speaker of the 

9 House of Representatives and the Ma10 jority Leader of the Senate— 

11 ‘‘(aa) 1 of whom shall be 

12 designated to serve as Chair13 person of the Committee; and 

14 ‘‘(bb) 1 of whom shall be 

15 designated to serve as Vice16 Chairperson of the Committee; 

17 ‘‘(II) 1 member shall be the Ad18 ministrator; 

19 ‘‘(III) 1 member shall be the Sec20 retary of Defense; 

21 ‘‘(IV) 1 member shall be a rep22 resentative of State environmental 

23 agencies; 

24 ‘‘(V) 1 member shall be a rep25 resentative of State attorneys general; 


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1 ‘‘(VI) 1 member shall be a rep2 resentative of the chlorine industry; 

3 ‘‘(VII) 1 member shall be a rep4 resentative of the mercury waste 

5 treatment industry; and 

6 ‘‘(VIII) 1 member shall be a rep7 resentative of a nonprofit environ8 mental organization. 

9 ‘‘(ii) APPOINTMENTS.—Not later than 

10 45 days after the date of enactment of this 

11 subsection, the Administrator, in consulta12 tion with the appropriate congressional 

13 committees, shall appoint the members of 

14 the Committee described in subclauses (IV) 

15 through (VIII) of clause (i). 

16 ‘‘(C) INITIAL MEETING.—Not later than 

17 30 days after the date on which all members of 

18 the Committee have been appointed, the Com19 mittee shall hold the initial meeting of the Com20 mittee. 

21 ‘‘(D) MEETINGS.—The Committee shall 

22 meet at the call of the Chairperson. 

23 ‘‘(E) QUORUM.—A majority of the mem24 bers of the Committee shall constitute a 

25 quorum. 


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1 ‘‘(F) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year 

2 after the date of enactment of this subsection, 

3 the Committee shall submit to Congress a re4 port describing the findings and recommenda5 tions of the Committee, if any, relating to— 

6 ‘‘(i) the environmental, health, and 

7 safety requirements necessary to prevent— 

8 ‘‘(I) the release of elemental mer9 cury into the environment; and 

10 ‘‘(II) worker exposure from the 

11 storage of elemental mercury; 

12 ‘‘(ii) the estimated annual cost of 

13 storing elemental mercury on a per-pound 

14 or per-ton basis; 

15 ‘‘(iii) for the 40-year period beginning 

16 on the date of submission of the report, 

17 the optimal size, number, and other char18 acteristics of Federal facilities required to 

19 store elemental mercury under current and 

20 anticipated jurisdictions of each Federal 

21 agency; 

22 ‘‘(iv) the estimated quantity of— 

23 ‘‘(I) elemental mercury that will 

24 result from the decommissioning of 


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1 mercury cell chlor-alkali facilities in 

2 the United States; and 

3 ‘‘(II) any other supplies that may 

4 require storage to carry out this Act; 

5 ‘‘(v) for the 40-year period beginning 

6 on the date of submission of the report, 

7 the estimated quantity of elemental mer8 cury generated from the recycling of un9 wanted products and other wastes that will 

10 require storage to comply with the export 

11 prohibitions under this Act; 

12 ‘‘(vi) any legal, technical, economic, or 

13 other barrier that may prevent the private 

14 sector from storing elemental mercury pro15 duced by the private sector during the 40- 

16 year period beginning on the date of sub17 mission of the report, including a descrip18 tion of measures to address the barriers; 

19 ‘‘(vii) the advantages and disadvan20 tages of consolidating the storage of mer21 cury produced by public and private 

22 sources under the management of the pub23 lic or private sector; 


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1 ‘‘(viii) the optimal plan of the Com2 mittee for storing excess mercury produced 

3 by public and private sources; and 

4 ‘‘(ix) additional research, if any, re5 quired to determine a long-term disposal 

6 option for the storage of excess mercury. 

7 ‘‘(G) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS.— 

8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.— 

9 ‘‘(I) NON-FEDERAL EMPLOY10 EES.—A member of the Committee 

11 who is not an officer or employee of 

12 the Federal Government shall be com13 pensated at a rate equal to the daily 

14 equivalent of the annual rate of basic 

15 pay prescribed for level V of the Exec16 utive Schedule under section 5316 of 

17 title 5, United States Code, for each 

18 day (including travel time) during 

19 which the member is engaged in the 

20 performance of the duties of the Com21 mittee. 

22 ‘‘(II) FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.—A 

23 member of the Committee who is an 

24 officer or employee of the Federal 

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1 pensation in addition to the com2 pensation received for the services of 

3 the member as an officer or employee 

4 of the Federal Government. 

5 ‘‘(ii) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—A member 

6 of the Committee shall be allowed travel 

7 expenses, including per diem in lieu of sub8 sistence, at rates authorized for an em9 ployee of an agency under subchapter I of 

10 chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, 

11 while away from the home or regular place 

12 of business of the member in the perform13 ance of the duties of the Committee. 

14 ‘‘(H) STAFF AND FUNDING.—The Admin15 istrator shall provide to the Committee such 

16 funding and additional personnel as are nec17 essary to enable the Committee to perform the 

18 duties of the Committee. 

19 ‘‘(I) TERMINATION.—The Committee shall 

20 terminate 180 days after the date on which the 

21 Committee submits the report of the Committee 

22 under subparagraph (F). 


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1 ‘‘(4) INAPPLICABILITY OF UNREASONABLE RISK

2 REQUIREMENT.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to 

3 this subsection.’’. 

Æ 


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