II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 843 

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 12, 2007 

Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mr. LIEBERMAN, and Mrs. CLINTON) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Environment and Public Works 

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 that— 

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

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1 (2) exposure to mercury occurs largely by con2 sumption of contaminated fish, and children and 

3 women of childbearing age who consume large quan4 tities of fish are at high risk of suffering adverse ef5 fects; 

6 (3) it is estimated that more than 630,000 chil7 dren born each year in the United States are ex8 posed to elevated methyl mercury in the womb and 

9 are at risk of impaired neurological development; 

10 (4) 8 percent of women in the United States of 

11 childbearing age have blood mercury levels in excess 

12 of values determined to be safe by the Environ13 mental Protection Agency; 

14 (5) as of 2004, fish consumption advisories due 

15 to mercury contamination have been issued for 44 

16 States, including 21 statewide advisories for fresh17 water and 12 statewide advisories for coastal water; 

18 (6) those advisories represent more than 52,000 

19 square kilometers of lakes and 1,230,000 kilometers 

20 of rivers; 

21 (7) fish and shellfish are an important source 

22 of dietary protein, and a healthy fishing resource is 

23 important to the economy of the United States; 

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1 (8) the extent of fish consumption advisories 

2 underscores the extensive human and ecological 

3 health risk posed by mercury pollution; 

4 (9) the interaction of mercury with the environ5 ment and bioaccumulation in biota are not fully un6 derstood; 

7 (10) computer models and other assessment 

8 tools predict varying effectiveness in reducing mer9 cury concentrations in fish, and no broad-scale data 

10 sets exist to test model predictions; 

11 (11) in September 2003, the Society of Envi12 ronmental Toxicology and Chemistry convened a 

13 workshop of 32 mercury scientists to develop a sys14 tem to measure and document changes resulting 

15 from reductions in mercury emissions in the United 

16 States; 

17 (12) on January 1, 2005, an article entitled 

18 ‘‘Monitoring the Response to Changing Mercury 

19 Deposition’’— 

20 (A) was published in the periodical Envi21 ronmental Science and Technology; and 

22 (B) proposed a ‘‘holistic, multimedia, long23 term mercury monitoring program’’; 

24 (13) many regulations limiting mercury emis25 sions have taken effect or will soon be promulgated, 

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1 but scientists are not adequately measuring the envi2 ronmental benefits of reduced mercury emissions; 

3 (14) on May 18, 2005, the Administrator of the 

4 Environmental Protection Agency, using results gen5 erated by a computer model that were not peer re6 viewed or verified by actual measurements, finalized 

7 the Clean Air Mercury Rule (70 Fed. Reg. 28606 

8 (May 18, 2005)); 

9 (15) as governments advance proposals for the 

10 regulation of mercury and mercury emissions, the 

11 governments should document whether regulations 

12 already or soon to be in effect achieve the desired re13 sults; 

14 (16) on May 15, 2006, the Office of Inspector 

15 General of the Environmental Protection Agency 

16 issued a report entitled, ‘‘Monitoring Needed to As17 sess Impact of EPA’s Clean Air Mercury Rule 

18 (CAMR) on Potential Hotspots’’, and numbered 

19 2006–P–0025, that states, in part— 

20 (A) ‘‘Without field data from an improved 

21 monitoring network, EPA’s ability to advance 

22 mercury science will be limited and ‘utility-at23 tributable’ hotspots that pose health risks may 

24 occur and go undetected’’; and 

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1 (B) ‘‘We recommend that EPA develop 

2 and implement a mercury monitoring plan to 

3 (1) assess the impact of CAMR, if adopted, on 

4 mercury deposition and fish tissue; and (2) 

5 evaluate and refine mercury estimation tools 

6 and models’’; 

7 (17) on January 9, 2007, numerous individuals 

8 published a paper in the journal entitled ‘‘Bio9 Science’’ that identified the location of biological 

10 mercury hotspots in the northeastern region of the 

11 United States and the southeastern region of Can12 ada, including— 

13 (A) David Evers and Wing Goodale of the 

14 BioDiversity Research Institute in Gorham, 

15 Maine; 

16 (B) Charles Driscoll of Syracuse Univer17 sity; 

18 (C) Kathleen Fallon Lambert of the Hub19 bard Brook Research Foundation in Hanover, 

20 New Hampshire; 

21 (D) Neil Kamman of the Vermont Depart22 ment of Environmental Conservation; and 

23 (E) other concerned individuals; 

24 (18) on January 9, 2007, Charles Driscoll and 

25 other concerned individuals published a paper in the 

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1 journal entitled ‘‘BioScience’’ that established a link 

2 between— 

3 (A) mercury contamination in forest and 

4 freshwater ecosystems located in the north5 eastern region of the United States; and 

6 (B) mercury emissions generated by elec7 tric utilities, incinerators, and industrial proc8 esses; and 

9 (19) those papers published in the journal enti10 tled ‘‘BioScience’’— 

11 (A) demonstrated the importance of the 

12 use of mercury measurements in addition to 

13 modeling results; and 

14 (B) indicated the need for a comprehensive 

15 nationwide mercury monitoring program. 

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis19 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ20 mental Protection Agency. 

21 (2) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—The term ‘‘Advi22 sory Committee’’ means the Mercury Monitoring Ad23 visory Committee established by section 5(a). 

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

25 a large area of land and water that contains a geomstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 graphically distinct assemblage of natural commu2 nities, including similar land forms, climate, ecologi3 cal processes, and vegetation. 

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

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

6 corresponding water body, or from 1 water body to 

7 another (e.g. a lake to a river), generally expressed 

8 as mass per unit time. 

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

10 means the rate of transfer of mercury between eco11 system components (e.g. between water and air), or 

12 between portions of ecosystem components, ex13 pressed in terms of mass per unit time or mass per 

14 unit area per time. 

15 (6) SURFACE SEDIMENT.—The term ‘‘surface 

16 sediment’’ means sediment in the uppermost 2 centi17 meters of a lakebed or riverbed. 

18 SEC. 4. MONITORING PROGRAM. 

19 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator, in con21 sultation with the United States Fish and Wildlife 

22 Service, the United States Geological Survey, the 

23 Forest Service, the National Park Service, and the 

24 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 

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1 shall establish a national-scale mercury monitoring 

2 program. 

3 (2) MONITORING SITES.—In carrying out para4 graph (1), not later than 1 year after the date of en5 actment of this Act, the Administrator shall select 

6 multiple monitoring sites in ecoregions of the United 

7 States. 

8 (b) AIR AND WATERSHEDS.—The program under 

9 this section shall monitor long-term changes in mercury 

10 levels in the air and watersheds, including— 

11 (1) at such locations or portions of locations se12 lected under subsection (a)(2) as the Administrator 

13 determines to be appropriate, the measurement and 

14 recording of— 

15 (A) wet mercury deposition; 

16 (B) dry deposition of mercury; and 

17 (C) mercury flux and mercury export; and 

18 (2) at all locations selected under subsection 

19 (a)(2), the measurement and recording of the level 

20 of mercury reemitted from aquatic and terrestrial 

21 environments into the atmosphere. 

22 (c) WATER AND SOIL CHEMISTRY.—The program 

23 under this section shall monitor mercury levels in water 

24 and soil chemistry, including— 

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1 (1) at such locations or portions of locations se2 lected under subsection (a)(2) as the Administrator 

3 determines to be appropriate— 

4 (A) extraction and analysis of sediment 

5 cores; and 

6 (B) measurement and recording of total 

7 mercury concentrations and methyl mercury 

8 concentrations throughout the water column; 

9 and 

10 (2) at all locations selected under subsection 

11 (a)(2)— 

12 (A) measurement and recording of total 

13 mercury concentration, methyl mercury con14 centration, and percent methyl mercury in sur15 face sediments; and 

16 (B) measurement and recording of total 

17 mercury concentration and methyl mercury con18 centration in surface water. 

19 (d) AQUATIC PLANTS AND ANIMALS.—The program 

20 under this section shall monitor mercury levels in plants 

21 and animals, including— 

22 (1) at all locations selected under subsection 

23 (a)(2), measurement and recording of— 

24 (A) methyl mercury levels in yearling fish; 

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1 (B) mercury levels, and other scientific 

2 data relevant to assessment of the health of the 

3 fish population, in commercially or 

4 recreationally important fish; and 

5 (C) mercury levels in the appropriate tis6 sue in reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mam7 mals; and 

8 (2) at such locations or portions of locations se9 lected under subsection (a)(2) as the Administrator 

10 determines to be appropriate, measurement and re11 cording of mercury levels in phytoplankton, algae, 

12 zooplankton, and benthic invertebrates. 

13 SEC. 5. ADVISORY COMMITTEE. 

14 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a sci15 entific advisory committee, to be known as the ‘‘Mercury 

16 Monitoring Advisory Committee’’, to advise the Adminis17 trator with respect to the establishment and operation (in18 cluding the location of sampling sites) of the national mer19 cury monitoring program under this Act. 

20 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Advisory Committee shall 

21 consist of at least 13 scientists who are not employees of 

22 the Federal Government, including— 

23 (1) 3 scientists appointed by the Administrator; 

24 (2) 2 scientists appointed by the Director of the 

25 United States Fish and Wildlife Service; 

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1 (3) 2 scientists appointed by the Director of the 

2 National Park Service; 

3 (4) 2 scientists appointed by the Director of the 

4 Forest Service; 

5 (5) 2 scientists appointed by the Director of the 

6 United States Geological Survey; and 

7 (6) 2 scientists appointed by the Administrator 

8 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis9 tration. 

10 SEC. 6. REPORTS AND PUBLIC DISCLOSURE. 

11 (a) REPORTS.— 

12 (1) BIENNIAL REPORT.—Not later than 2 years 

13 after the date of enactment of this Act, and every 

14 2 years thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to 

15 Congress a report on the program under this Act. 

16 (2) QUADRENNIAL ASSESSMENT.—In the sec17 ond biennial report submitted under paragraph (1), 

18 and in the biennial report submitted every 4 years 

19 thereafter, the Administrator shall include an assess20 ment of the reduction in mercury deposition rates 

21 that would be required to be achieved in order to 

22 prevent adverse ecological effects. 

23 (b) AVAILABILITY OF DATA.—The Administrator 

24 shall make all data obtained pursuant to this Act available 

25 to the public. 

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1 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

3 this Act— 

4 (1) for fiscal year 2008— 

5 (A) to the Environmental Protection Agen6 cy $9,000,000; 

7 (B) to the United States Geological Survey 

8 $4,500,000; 

9 (C) to the United States Fish and Wildlife 

10 Service $4,500,000; and 

11 (D) to the National Oceanic and Atmos12 pheric Administration $1,000,000; 

13 (2) for fiscal year 2009— 

14 (A) to the Environmental Protection Agen15 cy $6,000,000; 

16 (B) to the United States Geological Survey 

17 $3,000,000; 

18 (C) to the United States Fish and Wildlife 

19 Service $3,000,000; and 

20 (D) to the National Oceanic and Atmos21 pheric Administration $1,000,000; 

22 (3) for fiscal year 2010— 

23 (A) to the Environmental Protection Agen24 cy $6,500,000; 

25 (B) to the United States Geological Survey 

26 $3,250,000; 

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1 (C) to the United States Fish and Wildlife 

2 Service $3,250,000; and 

3 (D) to the National Oceanic and Atmos4 pheric Administration $1,000,000; and 

5 (4) such sums as are necessary for each of fis6 cal years 2011 through 2013 to— 

7 (A) the Environmental Protection Agency; 

8 (B) the United States Geological Survey; 

9 (C) the United States Fish and Wildlife 

10 Service; and 

11 (D) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

12 Administration. 

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