I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6261 
To provide for the protection of public health and the environment from 
mercury contamination associated with the shipment of elemental mer-
cury or with mercury-bearing solid waste, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 
Mr. GUTKNECHT (for himself, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, and 
Ms. WATSON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To provide for the protection of public health and the envi-
ronment from mercury contamination associated with the 
shipment of elemental mercury or with mercury-bearing 
solid waste, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mercury Reclamation 
Act of 2006’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Mercury is a naturally occurring element 
that is found in air, water and soil. It is a bio-
accumulative toxin that is easily absorbed through 
skin and respiratory and gastrointestinal tissues. 
(2) Communities across the country have been 
victims of accidental and intentional releases of ele-
mental mercury in schools and other public and pri-
vate buildings, exposing citizens to harmful mercury 
vapors and costing millions of dollars in property 
damage and remediation costs. 
(3) Mercury deposition is a significant public 
health threat in many States throughout the United 
States. 
(4) According to a report by the National Acad-
emy of Sciences, over 60,000 children are born each 
year in the United States at risk for adverse 
neurodevelopmental effects due to exposure to meth-
yl mercury in utero. 
(5) Current Federal hazardous waste regula-
tions allow land disposal of certain highly contami-
nated mercury wastes without treatment to remove 
the mercury, despite Environmental Protection 
Agency-sponsored studies concluding that such dis-
posal practices are not sufficiently protective of 
human health and the environment. 
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(6) According to the Government Accountability 
Office, in 2003 over 26,000,000 pounds of mercury 
wastes disposed of in landfills were not required to 
meet treatment standards promulgated by the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency for the safe mercury 
disposal. 
(7) According to the Government Accountability 
Office, the Environmental Protection Agency does 
not know how millions of pounds of mercury wastes 
are treated prior to land disposal and cannot be cer-
tain that businesses are properly managing their 
mercury contaminated wastes. 
(8) The Government Accountability Office de-
termined that many states and landfill operators are 
misidentifying highly contaminated mercury wastes 
as ‘‘debris’’, which allows these wastes to be 
landfilled without testing or mercury reclamation as 
the law envisioned. 
(9) Current Federal laws and regulations do 
not provide the information necessary for regulators 
or the public to accurately track mercury-containing 
items from generation to disposal. 
(10) Mercury is released to the environment 
when mercury-containing products are discarded in 
landfills and broken in the waste stream, polluting 
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our water and threatening the health of workers and 
others exposed to mercury vapors from these re-
leases. 
(11) While mercury-containing wastes must be 
properly managed and recycled whenever possible, 
the energy conservation benefits of using mercury- 
based compact fluorescent lighting are highly signifi-
cant. 
(12) Use of fluorescent lamps creates a net en-
vironmental benefit, reducing mercury emissions by 
lowering energy demands on power plants burning 
fossil fuels to generate electricity. 
(13) Less than twenty-five percent of mercury- 
containing lamps disposed of each year are recycled, 
leading to the release of mercury from over one-half 
billion lamps broken in solid waste without any mer-
cury recovery. 
(14) A study by a major retailer finds that 
changing 100 million light bulbs to compact fluores-
cent lights would: save $3 billion in energy costs, 
keep 45 billion pounds of greenhouse gases from 
reaching the atmosphere, and would eliminate the 
need for 1.3 coal-fired power plants. 
(15) The Federal government should develop 
specific programs to increase the collection and recy-
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cling of mercury-containing lighting devices, particu-
larly from consumers and small businesses. By stim-
ulating the nation’s ability to collect and recycle 
mercury-containing lighting devices, the Federal gov-
ernment will achieve the dual goals of energy con-
servation and environmental protection. 
(16) Current Federal laws and regulations 
allow many discarded mercury items to escape regu-
lation due to inadequate mercury testing methods 
and loopholes allowing significant amounts of waste 
to be improperly disposed of as solid waste without 
mercury recovery and other environmental protec-
tions. 
(17) Improved tracking of mercury-containing 
wastes is critical to ensure that mercury is reclaimed 
from mercury wastes whenever feasible. 
SEC. 3. MERCURY WASTE PACKAGING, TRACKING AND 
STORAGE. 
(a) AMENDMENT OF SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL ACT.— 
Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Disposal Act is amended 
by adding the following new section at the end thereof: 
‘‘SEC. 4011. MERCURY WASTE PACKAGING, TRACKING AND 
STORAGE. 
‘‘(a) REGULATIONS.—The Administrator, in coopera-
tion with the Secretary of Transportation, shall review the 
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