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Union Calendar No. 222 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2190 

[Report No. 111–381] 

To amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to phase out the use of mercury 

in the manufacture of chlorine and caustic soda, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 30, 2009 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY (for herself, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. CARNAHAN, Mr. ELLISON, 

Ms. DELAURO, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. FARR, Mr. HARE, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. 

LEE of California, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. 

PALLONE, Mr. SESTAK, Ms. WOOLSEY, Ms. WATSON, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 

BLUMENAUER, and Mr. PRICE of North Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

DECEMBER 16, 2009 

Additional sponsors: Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. 

KUCINICH, Mr. COHEN, Mr. ROTHMAN of New Jersey, Mr. JOHNSON of 

Georgia, Ms. TSONGAS, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. HALL of New York, Ms. 

SPEIER, Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. FILNER, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. 

ESHOO, Mr. MILLER of North Carolina, Mr. HOLT, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, 

Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. HONDA, Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia, 

Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of 

California, Mr. WALZ, Mr. HODES, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. MASSA, Ms. 

SLAUGHTER, Mr. INSLEE, Ms. BERKLEY, 

DECEMBER 16, 2009 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 30, 2009] 


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A BILL 

To amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to phase out 

the use of mercury in the manufacture of chlorine and 

caustic soda, and for other purposes. 


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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 Pollution Re5 duction Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) mercury and mercury compounds are highly 

9 toxic to humans, ecosystems, and wildlife; 

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

11 United States of childbearing age have mercury in 

12 their bloodstreams at a level that could pose risks to 

13 their unborn babies, and hundreds of thousands of 

14 children born annually in the United States are at 

15 risk of neurological problems relating to mercury ex16 posure in utero; 

17 (3) the most significant source of mercury expo18 sure to people in the United States is ingestion of 

19 mercury-contaminated fish; 

20 (4) the long-term solution to mercury pollution 

21 is to minimize global mercury use and releases of 

22 mercury to eventually achieve reduced contamination 

23 levels in the environment, rather than reducing fish 

24 consumption, since uncontaminated fish represents a 


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1 critical and healthy source of nutrition for people 

2 worldwide; 

3 (5) mercury pollution is a transboundary pollut4 ant that— 

5 (A) is deposited locally, regionally, and 

6 globally; and 

7 (B) affects bodies of water near industrial 

8 areas, such as the Great Lakes, as well as bodies 

9 of water in remote areas, such as the Arctic Cir10 cle; 

11 (6) of the approximately 30 plants in the United 

12 States that produce chlorine, only 7 use the obsolete 

13 ‘‘mercury cell’’ chlor-alkali process, and 4 have not 

14 yet committed to phasing out mercury use; 

15 (7)(A) less than 5 percent of the total quantity 

16 of chlorine and caustic soda produced in the United 

17 States comes from the chlor-alkali plants described in 

18 paragraph (6) that use the mercury cell chlor-alkali 

19 process; 

20 (B) cost-effective alternatives are available and 

21 in use in the remaining 95 percent of chlorine and 

22 caustic soda production; and 

23 (C) other countries, including Japan, have al24 ready banned the mercury cell chlor-alkali process; 

25 (8) the chlor-alkali industry acknowledges that— 


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1 (A) mercury can contaminate products 

2 manufactured at mercury cell facilities; and 

3 (B) the use of some of those products results 

4 in the direct and indirect release of mercury; 

5 (9) despite those quantities of mercury known to 

6 have been used or to be in use, neither the chlor-alkali 

7 industry nor the Environmental Protection Agency is 

8 able— 

9 (A) to adequately account for the disposi10 tion of the mercury used at those facilities; or 

11 (B) to accurately estimate current mercury 

12 emissions; and 

13 (10) it is critically important that the United 

14 States work aggressively toward the minimization of 

15 supply, demand, and releases of mercury, both domes16 tically and internationally. 

17 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

18 Congress declares that the United States should develop 

19 policies and programs that will— 

20 (1) reduce mercury use and emissions within the 

21 United States; 

22 (2) reduce mercury releases from the reservoir of 

23 mercury currently in use or circulation within the 

24 United States; and 


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1 (3) reduce exposures to mercury, particularly ex2 posures of women of childbearing age and young chil3 dren. 

4 SEC. 4. USE OF MERCURY IN CHLORINE AND CAUSTIC SODA 

5 MANUFACTURING. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Toxic Substances Con7 trol Act (15 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.) is amended by inserting 

8 after section 6 the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 6A. USE OF MERCURY IN CHLORINE AND CAUSTIC 

10 SODA MANUFACTURING. 

11 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF CHLOR-ALKALI FACILITY.—In 

12 this section, the term ‘chlor-alkali facility’ means a facility 

13 used for the manufacture of chlorine or caustic soda using 

14 a mercury cell process. 

15 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise provided 

17 in this subsection, it shall be unlawful to manufacture 

18 chlorine or caustic soda using mercury cells at any 

19 facility in the United States. 

20 ‘‘(2) NOTICE.—The owner or operator of any ex21 isting chlor-alkali facility shall notify the Adminis22 trator no later than June 30, 2012, whether it will— 

23 ‘‘(A) replace its chlor-alkali facility with a 

24 new manufacturing facility that does not use 

25 mercury; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) cease operations. 

2 ‘‘(3) CLOSURE.—A chlor-alkali facility for which 

3 a closure notice is filed under paragraph (2)(B) shall 

4 cease manufacturing chlorine or caustic soda using 

5 mercury cells no later than June 30, 2013. 

6 ‘‘(4) REPLACEMENT.—A chlor-alkali facility for 

7 which a replacement notice is filed under paragraph 

8 (2)(A) may continue to manufacture chlorine or caus9 tic soda using mercury cells until all of the permit10 ting, financing, engineering, and construction of a 

11 non-mercury replacement facility is complete, or June 

12 30, 2015, whichever is earlier. 

13 ‘‘(c) EXPORT BAN.—Effective on the date of the enact14 ment of this section, the export of any elemental mercury 

15 or the sale of elemental mercury for purposes of export, in16 cluding compounds and mixtures containing elemental 

17 mercury, by the owner or operator of a chlor-alkali facility 

18 is prohibited. 

19 ‘‘(d) SAVINGS PROVISION.—Nothing in this section af20 fects the ability of the owner or operator of any chlor-alkali 

21 facility to store elemental mercury in accordance with sec22 tion 5(g)(2) of the Mercury Export Ban Act of 2008 (42 

23 U.S.C. 6939f).’’. 

24 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—(1) The table of con25 tents of the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 U.S.C. 2601 


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1 note) is amended by inserting after the item relating to sec2 tion 6 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 6A. Use of mercury in chlorine and caustic soda manufacturing.’’. 

3 (2) Paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 15 of such Act 

4 are each amended by striking ‘‘or 6’’ and inserting ‘‘, 6 

5 or 6A’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 222 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2190 

[Report No. 111–381] 

A BILL 

To amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to 

poses. of chlorine and caustic soda, and for other purphase out the use of mercury in the manufacture 

DECEMBER 16, 2009 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


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