III 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 64 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should prepare 

a comprehensive strategy for advancing and entering into international 

negotiations on a binding agreement that would swiftly reduce global 

mercury use and pollution to levels sufficient to protect public health 

and the environment. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 17, 2005 

Mr. JEFFORDS (for himself, Ms. SNOWE, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. LIEBERMAN, 

Mr. LEAHY, Mr. DAYTON, Mr. LAUTENBERG, and Ms. COLLINS) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States 

should prepare a comprehensive strategy for advancing 

and entering into international negotiations on a binding 

agreement that would swiftly reduce global mercury use 

and pollution to levels sufficient to protect public health 

and the environment.

Whereas mercury is a persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic 

heavy metal; 

Whereas mercury is found naturally in the environment but 

is also emitted into the air, land, and water in various 

forms in the United States and around the world during 

fossil fuel combustion, waste incineration, chlor-alkali 
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•SRES 64 IS

production, mining, and other industrial processes, as 

well as during the production, use, and disposal of various products; 

Whereas mercury air pollution has the ability to both deposit 

locally and travel thousands of miles in a global atmospheric pool of emissions before eventual deposition, crossing national boundaries and becoming a shared global 

burden; 

Whereas the United Nations Environment Programme reported that, on average, anthropogenic emissions of mercury since pre-industrial times have resulted in 50- to 

300-percent increases in deposition rates around the 

world; 

Whereas the United Nations Environment Programme reported that global consumption of mercury equaled 3,337 

tons in 1996, and that all mercury releases to the global 

environment total approximately 5,000 tons each year; 

Whereas mercury air pollution can deposit into lakes, 

streams, and the oceans where it is transformed into 

toxic methylmercury and bioaccumulates in fish and fisheating wildlife; 

Whereas the National Academy of Sciences confirmed that 

consumption of mercury-contaminated fish and seafood 

by pregnant women can cause serious 

neurodevelopmental harm in the fetus, including such 

detrimental effects as intelligence quotient deficits, abnormal muscle tone, decreases in motor function, attention, or visuospatial performance, mental retardation, seizure disorders, cerebral palsy, blindness, and deafness; 

Whereas the 1997 Mercury Study Report submitted by the 

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to 
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Congress found that every region of the United States is 

adversely affected by mercury deposition; 

Whereas the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and 44 States currently have 

advisories warning the public to limit consumption of certain fish that are high in mercury content; 

Whereas, of the 4,000,000 children born every year in the 

United States, a scientist at the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that approximately 630,000 are 

exposed to mercury levels in the womb above the safe 

health threshold, caused primarily by maternal consumption of mercury-tainted fish; 

Whereas these health and environmental effects of mercury 

contamination can impose significant social and economic 

costs in the form of increased medical care, special educational and occupational needs, reduced economic performance, and disruptions in recreational and commercial 

fishing and hunting, and can create disproportionate 

health, social, and economic impacts among subpopulations dependent on subsistence fishing; 

Whereas the Environmental Protection Agency has estimated 

that the United States is a net emitter of mercury in that 

the United States contributes 3 times as much mercury 

to the global atmospheric pool of air emissions as it receives through deposition; 

Whereas the United States Geological Survey has not reported mercury consumption figures for key sectors in 

the United States economy since 1996, thereby creating 

important information gaps relating to domestic mercury 

use and trade; 
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Whereas the quantity of domestic fugitive chlor-alkali sector 

emissions has been labeled an enigma by the Environmental Protection Agency; 

Whereas, in accordance with Public Law 101–549 (commonly 

known as the ‘‘Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990’’) (42 

U.S.C. 7401 et seq.), the Environmental Protection 

Agency determined in December 2000 that a maximum 

achievable control technology standard for mercury and 

other air toxic emissions for electric utility steam generating units in the United States is appropriate and necessary, and listed coal- and oil-fired electric utility steam 

generating units for regulation, thereby triggering a statutory requirement that maximum achievable controls be 

implemented at every existing coal- and oil-fired electric 

utility steam generating unit by not later than December 

2005; 

Whereas other major stationary sources have already implemented maximum achievable control technology standards for mercury and other air toxics, as required by the 

Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.); 

Whereas effective mercury and other heavy metal removal 

techniques have been demonstrated and are available on 

an industrial scale in the major stationary source categories; 

Whereas the lack of effective emission control standards in 

other countries can give foreign industries a competitive 

advantage over United States businesses; 

Whereas alternatives and substitutes have been demonstrated 

and are available to reduce or eliminate mercury use in 

most products and processes; 
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Whereas the European Commission reports that mercury 

mining, the closing of mercury cell chlor-alkali facilities, 

and the phasing out of other outmoded industrial processes in the United States and Europe are contributing 

significantly to imports of mercury in the developing 

world; 

Whereas the Department of Defense announced in April 

2004 that it will consolidate and store its stockpile of approximately 5,000 tons of mercury rather than allow the 

surplus to enter the global marketplace; 

Whereas from 1996 through 2004, the Environmental Council of the States adopted or renewed 9 resolutions highlighting the importance of substantially reducing mercury 

use and releases in the United States and around the 

world, and of managing excess supplies of mercury so 

that they do not enter the global marketplace; 

Whereas many States, including California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, 

Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New 

York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, 

Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, are already implementing their own laws, regulations, and other strategies 

for tracking or reducing various forms of mercury use 

and pollution, and the Governors of States in New England have set a goal of virtually eliminating mercury 

emissions in that region; 

Whereas the European Commission is developing a mercury 

strategy that is aimed at comprehensively addressing all 

aspects of the mercury cycle, including the use, trade, 

and release of mercury; 
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Whereas the United States is a party to the Protocol on 

Heavy Metals of the Convention on Long-Range 

Transboundary Air Pollution, done at Aarhus, Denmark 

on June 24, 1998, which entered into force in December 

2003 and commits the United States to a basic obligation 

to limit air emissions of mercury and other heavy metals 

from new and existing sources, within 2 and 8 years respectively, using the best available techniques; 

Whereas the current parties to the Convention and the Protocol represent only a portion of anthropogenic emissions 

of heavy metals annually that are subject to 

transboundary atmospheric transport and are likely to 

have significant adverse effects on human health or the 

environment; 

Whereas the 22nd session of the United Nations Environment Programme Governing Council concluded that there 

is sufficient evidence in the Programme’s Global Mercury 

Assessment of significant global adverse impacts to warrant international action to reduce the risks to human 

health and the environment from releases of mercury; 

Whereas the United Nations Environment Programme invited 

submission of governmental views on medium- and longterm actions on mercury and other heavy metals, which 

will be synthesized into a report for presentation at the 

23rd session of the Governing Council occurring February 21 to 25, 2005, with a view to developing a legally 

binding instrument, a non-legally binding instrument, or 

other measures or actions; and 

Whereas the United States has taken no position on any such 

instrument: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that— 
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1 (1) the United States should engage construc2 tively and proactively in international dialogue re3 garding mercury pollution, use, mining, and trade; 

4 and 

5 (2) the President should prepare a comprehen6 sive strategy— 

7 (A) to advance and enter into international 

8 negotiations on a binding agreement that 

9 would— 

10 (i) reduce global use, trade, and re11 leases of mercury to levels sufficient to 

12 protect public health and the environment, 

13 including steps to— 

14 (I) establish specific and strin15 gent targets and schedules for reduc16 tions in mercury use in the United 

17 States, and emissions below levels for 

18 calendar year 2000, beyond current 

19 domestic and global efforts; 

20 (II) end primary mercury mining 

21 in the near future and establish a sys22 tem to ensure excess mercury supplies 

23 do not enter the global marketplace; 

24 and 
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1 (III) require countries to develop 

2 regional and national action plans to 

3 address mercury sources and uses; 

4 (ii) include all countries that use, 

5 trade, or release significant quantities of 

6 mercury into the environment from anthro7 pogenic sources; 

8 (iii) require the application of the best 

9 available control technologies and strate10 gies to control releases from industrial sec11 tors in the very near future, including 

12 minimizing releases from coal-fired power 

13 plants and replacing obsolete mercury 

14 products and processes, including the mer15 cury cell chlor-alkali process; 

16 (iv) contain mechanisms for pro17 moting and funding the transfer and adop18 tion of less emitting technologies and mer19 cury-free processes, and for facilitating the 

20 safe cleanup of mercury contamination; 

21 (v) establish a standardized system to 

22 document and track the use, production, 

23 and trade of mercury and mercury-con24 taining products, including a licensing re25 quirement for mercury traders; and 
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1 (vi) incorporate explicit mechanisms 

2 for adding toxic air pollutants with similar 

3 characteristics in the future; 

4 (B) to delineate the preferred structure, 

5 format, participants, mechanisms, and re6 sources necessary for achieving and imple7 menting the agreement described in subpara8 graph (A); 

9 (C) to enter into bilateral and multilateral 

10 agreements to align global mercury production 

11 with reduced global demand and minimize glob12 al mercury releases, while negotiating the agree13 ment described in subparagraph (A); 

14 (D) to initiate and support a parallel inter15 national research effort that does not delay cur16 rent or planned mercury pollution or use reduc17 tion efforts— 

18 (i) to collect global data to support 

19 the development of a comprehensive inven20 tory of mercury use, mining, trade, and re21 leases; and 

22 (ii) to develop less emitting tech23 nologies and technologies to reduce the 

24 need for, and use of, mercury in commerce; 
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1 (E) to review monitoring capabilities and 

2 data collection efforts of the United States for 

3 domestic mercury use, trade, and releases to en4 sure there is sufficient information available for 

5 any implementing legislation that may be nec6 essary for compliance with existing protocols 

7 and future global mercury agreements; 

8 (F) to work through existing international 

9 organizations, such as the United Nations, the 

10 International Standards Organization, and the 

11 World Trade Organization, to encourage the de12 velopment of programs, standards, and trade 

13 agreements that will result in reduced use and 

14 trade of mercury, the elimination of primary 

15 mercury mining, and reductions in releases of 

16 mercury and other long-range transboundary 

17 air pollutants; and 

18 (G) to present at the 23rd session of the 

19 United Nations Environment Programme Gov20 erning Council a plan for carrying out imme21 diate and long-term actions to reduce global 

22 mercury pollution and global exposure to mer23 cury in order to advance the goal of achieving 

24 a binding international agreement on mercury.

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