II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3627 

To prohibit the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy from 

selling, distributing, or transferring elemental mercury, to prohibit the 

export of elemental mercury, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 29, 2006 

Mr. OBAMA introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To prohibit the Department of Defense and the Department 

of Energy from selling, distributing, or transferring elemental mercury, to prohibit the 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 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) mercury and mercury compounds are highly 

2 toxic to humans, ecosystems, and wildlife; 

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

4 United States of childbearing age have mercury in 

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

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

7 in the United States are at risk of neurological prob8 lems related to mercury; 

9 (4) the most significant source of mercury expo10 sure to people in the United States is ingestion of 

11 mercury-contaminated fish; 

12 (5) the Environmental Protection Agency re13 ports that, as of 2004— 

14 (A) 44 States have fish advisories covering 

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

16 river miles; 

17 (B) in 21 States the freshwater advisories 

18 are statewide; and 

19 (C) in 12 States the coastal advisories are 

20 statewide; 

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

22 is to minimize global mercury use and releases to 

23 eventually achieve reduced contamination levels in 

24 the environment, rather than reducing fish consumpVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:03 Jul 11, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3627.IS S3627

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1 tion since uncontaminated fish represents a critical 

2 and healthy source of nutrition worldwide; 

3 (7) mercury pollution is a transboundary pollut4 ant, depositing locally, regionally, and globally, and 

5 affecting water bodies near industrial sources (in6 cluding the Great Lakes) and remote areas (includ7 ing the Arctic Circle); 

8 (8) the free trade of mercury and mercury com9 pounds on the world market, at relatively low prices 

10 and in ready supply, encourages the continued use 

11 of mercury outside of the United States, often in12 volving highly dispersive activities such as artisinal 

13 gold mining; 

14 (9) the intentional use of mercury is declining 

15 in the United States as a consequence of process 

16 changes to manufactured products (including bat17 teries, paints, switches, and measuring devices), but 

18 those uses remain substantial in the developing 

19 world where releases from the products are ex20 tremely likely due to the limited pollution control 

21 and waste management infrastructures in those 

22 countries; 

23 (10) the member countries of the European 

24 Union collectively are the largest source of mercury 

25 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, 

21 AND TRANSFER BY DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.—Ef22 fective as of the date of enactment of this sub23 section, the Secretary of Defense may not convey, 

24 sell, distribute, or otherwise transfer to any other 

25 department or agency of the Federal Government, 


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1 any State or local government, or any private person 

2 or entity any elemental mercury under the control or 

3 jurisdiction of the Department of Defense. 

4 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION ON SALE, DISTRIBUTION, 

5 AND TRANSFER BY DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY.—Ef6 fective as of the date of enactment of this sub7 section, the Secretary of Energy may not convey, 

8 sell, distribute, or otherwise transfer to any other 

9 department or agency of the Federal Government, 

10 any State or local government, or any private person 

11 or entity any elemental mercury under the control or 

12 jurisdiction of the Department of Energy. 

13 ‘‘(3) EXCEPTION.—The prohibitions in para14 graphs (1) and (2) shall not apply to the transfer of 

15 elemental mercury to any storage or other facility 

16 established under section 12(c)(3).’’. 

17 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON EXPORT OF MERCURY. 

18 Section 12 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 

19 U.S.C. 2611) is amended— 

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

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

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

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


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1 ‘‘(1) ELEMENTAL MERCURY.—Effective Janu2 ary 1, 2010, the export of elemental mercury from 

3 the United States is prohibited. 

4 ‘‘(2) EXTENSION OF PROHIBITION TO MERCURY

5 COMPOUNDS.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on January 

7 1, 2010, the President may prohibit the export 

8 of any mercury compound from the United 

9 States as necessary— 

10 ‘‘(i) to avoid subversion of the mer11 cury ban; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) to achieve the full force and ef13 fect of the prohibition under paragraph 

14 (1). 

15 ‘‘(B) NOTICE TO CONGRESS.— 

16 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If the President 

17 exercises the authority in subparagraph 

18 (A), the President shall notify Congress. 

19 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENTS.—A notification 

20 under clause (i) shall describe— 

21 ‘‘(I) each mercury compound the 

22 export of which from the United 

23 States will be prohibited; and 

24 ‘‘(II) a justification of the prohi25 bition of export of each compound. 


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1 ‘‘(3) STORAGE OF EXCESS MERCURY.— 

2 ‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT OF STORAGE CA3 PACITY.—In order to implement the prohibition 

4 on the export of elemental mercury under para5 graph (1) and the prohibition, if any, on the ex6 port of mercury compounds under paragraph 

7 (2), the President shall establish the capacity 

8 (including 1 or more storage facilities) to store 

9 safely such elemental mercury and mercury 

10 compounds covered by the prohibitions as are in 

11 excess of quantities necessary for domestic con12 sumption. 

13 ‘‘(B) REGULATIONS.—The establishment 

14 and operation of facilities to provide the capac15 ity required by subparagraph (A) shall be gov16 erned by such regulations as the President may 

17 prescribe for purposes of this paragraph. 

18 ‘‘(4) INAPPLICABILITY OF UNREASONABLE RISK

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

20 this subsection.’’. 

Æ 


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