Volume 148, No. 98 covering the 2nd Session of the 107th Congress (2001 - 2002) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“STOP MERCURY EMISSIONS” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H4920 on July 18, 2002.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
STOP MERCURY EMISSIONS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kirk) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, the Great Lakes are under attack from many environmental threats, such as invasive species, PCB contamination, and other aquatic pollutants. In the next week, along with the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton), the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak), and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kind), I will be introducing the Great Lakes Mercury Reduction Act, which will prohibit the issuance of new permits under the Clean Air Act that will result in the deposition of any additional mercury into the Great Lakes.
Our legislation seeks to halt new mercury pollution sources that would deposit further amounts of mercury into the Great Lakes. Currently, the technology does not exist to stop mercury emissions from already-permitted sources. Therefore, we should not allow construction of new mercury pollution sources.
Our legislation will not affect existing sources already permitted under the Clean Air Act, but rather, will halt addition of new sources of mercury that will further degrade the Great Lakes with mercury pollution. Airborne mercury is the dominant source of mercury in the Great Lakes; and according to the Lake Michigan Federation, \1/70\ of a teaspoon of mercury can contaminate a 25-acre lake. Mercury quickly bioaccumulates, contaminating the food chain and making the fish of the lakes inedible by humans.
The Federal Government must address mercury pollution, because sufficient reduction limits were not set in the Clean Air Act Amendments in 1990. The act only contained large general national emission numbers, and control studies monitoring the growing problems with mercury pollution. While the Clean Air Act required extensive studies of the potential dangers of mercury, it deferred much of the work on limiting mercury emissions to the States.
In 1997, the United States and Canada, as part of the Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy, met to address strategies for eliminating toxic substances in the Great Lakes. These talks resulted in each nation agreeing to address a number of toxic emissions, including mercury. According to this agreement, the United States will seek to reduce airborne emissions of mercury by 50 percent, and Canada by 90 percent by the year 2006.
President Bush and the Congress both made the elimination of mercury pollution an environmental priority of this Congress. In his Clear Skies Initiative, President Bush seeks to cut mercury emissions up to 69 percent and create the first-ever national cap for mercury emissions. Mercury emissions will be cut from current emissions from 48 tons to a cap of 26 tons in 2010, and 15 tons in 2018. Likewise, two similar proposals in Congress will seek to cap mercury emissions for the first time ever for air quality improvements.
In my district, Lake Michigan is the source of our drinking water, and the lake provides recreation in the summertime, and once provided fish for eating. We now know that Lake Michigan fish are harmful because of the toxins they contain. According to the EPA, each year over 3,000 pounds of mercury pollution are dumped into Lake Michigan, and 86 percent of that comes from direct atmospheric deposition. Recently, the North Shore Sanitary District obtained a permit from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to build a sludge sewage incinerator on the shores of Lake Michigan in Waukegan, Illinois. If construction commences, the mercury emitted from this sludge incinerator will be the first new source of mercury pollution in the Great Lakes in over a decade.
My top environmental goal in this Congress is to protect Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes. Earlier this year, I chaired the Nuclear Fuel Safety Caucus, which sought the safe removal of nuclear waste from key environmental ecosystems in the Great Lakes burdened with nuclear waste on our shores. The approval of the nuclear waste resolution in this Congress will make our 10th district nuclear free upon completion of the National Nuclear Waste Repository. But now, Congress must focus its attention on mercury pollution in the Great Lakes.
Airborne mercury pollution is an issue which the Federal Government has ignored in years past. Further mercury pollution of the Great Lakes will irreparably damage our fragile ecosystem.
I urge Members to support our bipartisan legislation. We joined in this effort to end mercury pollution in the Great Lakes just this week, but passage of our bill will go a long way to fulfilling our international commitments to our Canadian allies and fulfill the promise of President Bush's Clear Skies Initiative on mercury. But most importantly, Mr. Speaker, it will protect the mothers and children of the Midwest who are most at risk for mercury pollution.
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