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109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2391 

To provide for the reduction of mercury in the environment. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 17, 2005 

Ms. BALDWIN (for herself, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. STARK, 

Ms. LEE, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. OWENS, Ms. JACKSONLEE of Texas, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. 

HASTINGS of Florida, and Mr. WEXLER) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To provide for the reduction of mercury in the environment. 

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 ‘‘Safe Communities and 

5 Safe Schools Mercury Reduction Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Mercury is a naturally occurring element 

9 and bioaccumulative toxin that is easily absorbed 
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1 through skin and respiratory and gastrointestinal 

2 tissues. 

3 (2) Although mercury is naturally occurring, 

4 studies have shown that its concentration has in5 creased dramatically over the past 150 to 200 years 

6 due to mining and industrial activities. 

7 (3) Common sources of mercury released into 

8 the environment include breakage of mercury-con9 taining products like fluorescent bulbs and thermom10 eters, the manufacturing of mercury-containing 

11 products, and incineration of mercury-containing 

12 products. 

13 (4) According to recent studies, mercury depos14 its are a significant public health threat in many 

15 States throughout the United States. 

16 (5) Fetuses, infants, and young children are at 

17 the greatest risk from chronic low level mercury ex18 posure. 

19 (6) A study by the Centers for Disease Control 

20 and Prevention found that approximately 8 percent 

21 of women of childbearing age in the United States 

22 had mercury levels exceeding the level considered 

23 safe by the Environmental Protection Agency for 

24 protecting the fetus. This translates into approxi25 mately 60,000 babies born each year in the United 
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1 States at risk of developmental harm due to mercury 

2 exposure in the womb. 

3 (7) A study published in the Journal of Obstet4 rics and Gynecology found that elevated mercury ex5 posures associated with seafood could be linked to 

6 an increased risk of infertility in both men and 

7 women. 

8 (8) Mercury pollution is widespread. As of early 

9 2003, 43 States had issued mercury fish consump10 tion advisories for one or more freshwater or marine 

11 fish. 

12 (9) Mercury is the most common pollutant trig13 gering fish consumption advisories in the United 

14 States. The number of mercury advisories has in15 creased 138 percent from 1994 to 2002. In 2002, 

16 mercury advisories covered 12,000,000 lake acres 

17 and 470,000 river miles. 

18 (10) According to the Mercury Study Report, 

19 prepared by the Environmental Protection Agency 

20 and submitted to Congress in 1997, mercury fever 

21 thermometers contribute approximately 17 tons of 

22 mercury to solid waste each year. 

23 (11) Numerous mercury spills have been docu24 mented in schools, often causing thousands of dol25 lars to clean up. A mercury spill in Washington, 
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1 D.C., in September of 2003 cost over $1,000,000 to 

2 clean up and resulted in a temporary school closure 

3 of several weeks. 

4 (12) Mercury-containing thermostats generally 

5 contain 3 grams of mercury, which is enough mer6 cury to poison a 60 acre lake for one year. 

7 (13) Automobile scrapping is the fourth largest 

8 source of mercury pollution nationwide, behind waste 

9 incineration, coal-fired power plants, and commercial 

10 and industrial boilers. It is estimated that about 

11 20,000 pounds of automotive mercury are released 

12 each year in the United States. 

13 SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM. 

14 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of the En15 vironmental Protection Agency (in this Act referred to as 

16 the ‘‘Administrator’’) shall establish a program for making 

17 renewable grants to governmental and nonprofit agencies 

18 and organizations, and to for-profit entities, for projects 

19 to— 

20 (1) reduce harmful free-flowing elemental mer21 cury and mercury-added products from the environ22 ment; 

23 (2) safely dispose of or recycle harmful mer24 cury; 
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1 (3) educate communities and citizens about the 

2 harmful effects of mercury; 

3 (4) develop and carry out a plan, in accordance 

4 with guidance provided by the Administrator under 

5 section 5, on how to eliminate free flowing mercury 

6 and instruments containing mercury from the prem7 ises of K–12 public and private schools; 

8 (5) carry out a mercury thermometer exchange 

9 program; or 

10 (6) facilitate the recovery and safe disposal and 

11 management of mercury-added components from 

12 automobiles. 

13 (b) PROCEDURES AND SELECTION CRITERIA.—The 

14 Administrator shall establish procedures for the selection 

15 of grant recipients under this section, including require16 ments that appropriate records and information be made 

17 available to the Administrator as necessary to ensure that 

18 grant funds are used for the purposes for which they are 

19 provided. Criteria for selection shall include— 

20 (1) strengths and weaknesses of the project; 

21 (2) adequacy of overall project design; 

22 (3) competency of proposed staff; 

23 (4) suitability of applicant’s available resources; 

24 (5) appropriateness of the proposed project du25 ration and budget; and 
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1 (6) probability that the project will accomplish 

2 stated objectives. 

3 (c) RECYCLING PROGRAMS.—Funds provided 

4 through a grant provided under this section may be used 

5 for a recycling program only if more than 50 percent of 

6 the total material recycled under the program is mercury. 

7 (d) AUTOMOBILE COMPONENTS.—The Administrator 

8 shall encourage States to develop programs that facilitate 

9 the recovery and safe disposal and management of mer10 cury-added component parts from automobiles. These pro11 grams should target the removal of mercury-added compo12 nents when they are being replaced or removed from 

13 scrapped vehicles. 

14 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

15 are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator for 

16 carrying out this section $75,000,000 for each of the fiscal 

17 years 2006 through 2009. 

18 SEC. 4. SALE OF THERMOMETERS; THERMOSTAT REPLACE19 MENT AND RECYCLING. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle C of the Solid Waste Dis21 posal Act (42 U.S.C. 6921 et seq.) is amended by adding 

22 at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘SEC. 3024. MERCURY. 

24 ‘‘(a) SALE OF THERMOMETERS.—Effective beginning 

25 180 days after the date of enactment of this section— 
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1 ‘‘(1) a person shall not sell or supply a mercury 

2 fever thermometer to a consumer, except by pre3 scription; and 

4 ‘‘(2) with each mercury fever thermometer sold 

5 or supplied by prescription, the manufacturer of the 

6 thermometer shall provide clear instructions on— 

7 ‘‘(A) careful handling of the thermometer 

8 to avoid breakage; and 

9 ‘‘(B) proper cleanup of the thermometer 

10 and its contents in the event of breakage. 

11 ‘‘(b) THERMOSTAT REPLACEMENT.—Effective begin12 ning 2 years after the date of enactment of this section— 

13 ‘‘(1) a contractor who replaces a building ther14 mostat in a residential or commercial building shall 

15 dispose of the replaced thermostat through a recy16 cling program established or participated in under 

17 paragraph (2); and 

18 ‘‘(2) each manufacturer of building thermostats 

19 for installation in a residential or commercial build20 ing shall— 

21 ‘‘(A) establish or participate in a program 

22 for the safe and environmentally responsible re23 cycling of thermostats replaced by the manufac24 turer’s thermostats; and 
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1 ‘‘(B) establish or participate in a program 

2 to clearly educate individuals who sell or install 

3 the manufacturer’s thermostats about the pro4 gram established under subparagraph (A).’’. 

5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 1001 of the 

6 Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. prec. 6901) is 

7 amended by adding at the end of the items relating to 

8 subtitle C the following: 

‘‘Sec.3024.Mercury.’’. 

9 SEC. 5. SCHOOL PREMISES GUIDANCE. 

10 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

11 of this Act, the Administrator shall publish guidance to 

12 assist State and local governments to remove elemental 

13 free-flowing mercury and mercury-added instruments 

14 from the premises of public and private schools. Thermo15 stats, computers, and motorized vehicles shall not be con16 sidered instruments for the purposes of this section. 

17 SEC. 6. ANNUAL REPORT. 

18 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

19 of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Administrator, 

20 after obtaining necessary information from appropriate 

21 State agencies, shall transmit to the Congress a report on 

22 the progress made under this Act. Such report shall in23 clude— 

24 (1) an executive summary; 
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1 (2) a brief description of the background of this 

2 Act; 

3 (3) a State-by-State progress summary of mer4 cury reduction efforts relating to this Act, including 

5 a quantitative analysis of the amount of mercury 

6 eliminated, recycled, or disposed of in each State, 

7 and an identification of the method or program re8 sponsible; 

9 (4) a description of grants and amounts award10 ed under section 3, and of the criteria used for 

11 awarding those grants; 

12 (5) a summary of a few selected mercury reduc13 tion programs that received grants, with a descrip14 tion of the success or problems each program had; 

15 (6) a detailed financial reporting of total ad16 ministration costs of carrying out this Act; 

17 (7) a joint summary, by the Administrator and 

18 appropriate State officials, that describes the coordi19 nation and communication progress and problems 

20 between the Federal and State Governments in car21 rying out this Act; and 

22 (8) recommendations for greater efficiency or 

23 improvement of administration of this Act. 
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1 SEC. 7. MERCURY AMALGAM REDUCTION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 

3 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 

4 issue guidelines that specify requirements for dentists to 

5 capture 90 percent or more of mercury-laden amalgam 

6 when administering amalgam to, or recovering amalgam 

7 from, their patients. 

8 (b) CONSIDERATIONS.—The guidelines described in 

9 subsection (a) shall take into account— 

10 (1) Federal, State, and local mercury-laden 

11 amalgam programs in existence; 

12 (2) current use of mercury-laden amalgam by 

13 dentists; 

14 (3) current waste management practices used 

15 by dental offices and their mercury-laden amalgam 

16 capture rates; 

17 (4) the number of technologies that capture 

18 mercury-laden amalgam, and their availability, cap19 ture rates, and affordability; 

20 (5) the economic costs to dental offices in meet21 ing the 90 percent capture requirements; 

22 (6) structural designs of office buildings that 

23 may restrict technologies that can be used to capture 

24 mercury-laden amalgam; 
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1 (7) implementing a process in which dental of2 fices can request an exemption waiver from meeting 

3 these requirements; 

4 (8) geographic areas where the bioaccumulation 

5 of mercury-laden amalgam is more likely; and 

6 (9) lack of recycling or waste management pro7 grams or infrastructure that supports the safe re8 moval and management of mercury-laden amalgam 

9 within reasonable proximities to dental offices. 

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