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Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I rise today to introduce the Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act. I want to thank Senator Carper, the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, for his partnership on this bill. Our bipartisan bill would help ensure that we have accurate information about the extent of mercury pollution in the United States.

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin. It poses significant ecological and public health concerns, especially for children and pregnant women. Mercury exposure has gone down as U.S. mercury emissions have declined; however, levels remain unacceptably high in some areas. It is estimated that nearly 100,000 to 200,000 children born in the United States have been exposed to levels of mercury in the womb that are high enough to impair their neurological development. This exposure can impose a lifelong disability.

In Maine, some of our lands and bodies of water face higher mercury pollution compared to the national average. Maine has been called the ``tailpipe of the nation,'' as the winds carry pollution, including mercury, from the west into Maine.

A system for collecting information, such as we have for acid rain and other pollution, does not exist currently for mercury, even though it is a more toxic pollutant. A comprehensive national mercury monitoring network is needed to help protect human health and track the effect of emissions reductions. This monitoring network would also help policymakers, scientists, and the public better understand the sources, consequences, and trends in U.S. mercury pollution.

Specifically, our legislation would do the following: First, it would direct the Environmental Protection Agency, in conjunction with the Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, National Park Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and other appropriate Federal Agencies, to establish a national mercury monitoring program. This program would be tasked to measure and monitor mercury levels in the air and watersheds, water and soil chemistry, and in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial organisms at multiple sites across the Nation.

Second, our bill would establish a scientific advisory committee to advise on the establishment, site selection, measurement, recording protocols, and operations of the monitoring program.

Third, our bill would establish a centralized database for existing and newly collected environmental mercury data that can be accessed on the internet and that is compatible with similar international efforts.

Fourth, our bill would require a report to Congress every 2 years on the program, including trend data, and an assessment every 4 years of the reduction in mercury deposition rates that would need to be achieved in order to prevent adverse human and ecological effects.

Fifth, the bill would authorize $95 million over 3 years to carry out these activities.

We must establish a comprehensive, robust national mercury monitoring network to provide the data needed to help make decisions that can protect the people of Maine and the Nation. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important bipartisan legislation, the Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act. ______

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