[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1772 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1772
To establish a national mercury monitoring program, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 31 (legislative day, May 30), 2023
Ms. Collins (for herself and Mr. Carper) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and
Public Works
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish a national mercury monitoring program, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Comprehensive National Mercury
Monitoring Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) mercury is a potent neurotoxin of significant
ecological and public health concern;
(2) it is estimated that approximately 100,000 to 200,000
children born each year in the United States are exposed to
levels of mercury in the womb that are high enough to impair
neurological development;
(3) based on estimates from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, between 2000 and 2010, between 2 and 6 percent
of women in the United States of childbearing age have exceeded
blood mercury levels determined to be safe by the Environmental
Protection Agency;
(4) exposure to mercury occurs largely by the consumption
of contaminated fish, but fish and shellfish are important
sources of dietary protein and micronutrients, and a healthy
fishing resource is important to the economy of the United
States;
(5) in most locations, the primary route for mercury input
to aquatic ecosystems is atmospheric emissions, transport, and
deposition;
(6) existing broad-scale data sets are important but
insufficient to track changes in mercury levels in the
environment over time, test model predictions, and assess the
impact of changing mercury emissions and deposition; and
(7) a comprehensive national mercury monitoring network to
accurately quantify regional and national changes in
atmospheric mercury deposition, ecosystem contamination, and
bioaccumulation of mercury in fish and wildlife in response to
changes in mercury emissions would help policy makers,
scientists, and the public to better understand the sources,
consequences, and trends of mercury pollution in the United
States.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
(2) Advisory committee.--The term ``Advisory Committee''
means the Mercury Monitoring Advisory Committee established
under section 5(a).
(3) Ancillary measure.--The term ``ancillary measure''
means a measure that is used to understand the impact and
interpret results of measurements under the program.
(4) Ecoregion.--The term ``ecoregion'' means a large area
of land and water that contains a geographically distinct
assemblage of natural communities, including similar land
forms, climate, ecological processes, and vegetation.
(5) Mercury export.--The term ``mercury export'' means
mercury transport from a watershed to the corresponding body of
water, or from 1 body of water to another body of water (such
as from a lake to a river), generally expressed as--
(A) mass per unit of time;
(B) mass per unit of watershed; or
(C) area of the water body per unit of time.
(6) Mercury flux.--The term ``mercury flux'' means the rate
of transfer of mercury between ecosystem components (such as
between water and air or land and air) or between portions of
ecosystem components, expressed in terms of--
(A) mass per unit of time; or
(B) mass per unit of area of land or water per unit
of time.
(7) Program.--The term ``program'' means the national
mercury monitoring program established under section 4(a).
(8) Surface sediment.--The term ``surface sediment'' means
sediment in the uppermost 2 centimeters of a lakebed, riverbed,
estuary, or coastal area.
SEC. 4. MONITORING PROGRAM.
(a) Establishment.--
(1) In general.--The Administrator, in consultation with
the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service,
the Director of the United States Geological Survey, the
Director of the National Park Service, the Administrator of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the heads
of other appropriate Federal agencies, shall establish a
national mercury monitoring program.
(2) Purpose.--The purpose of the program is to track--
(A) long-term trends in atmospheric mercury
concentrations and deposition; and
(B) mercury levels in watersheds, surface water,
and fish and wildlife in terrestrial, freshwater,
coastal, and marine ecosystems in response to changing
mercury emissions over time.
(3) Monitoring sites.--
(A) In general.--In carrying out paragraph (1), not
later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this
Act and in coordination with the Advisory Committee,
the Administrator shall select multiple monitoring
sites representing multiple ecoregions and associated
coastal waters of the United States.
(B) Locations.--Locations of monitoring sites shall
include--
(i) units of the National Park System;
(ii) units of the National Wildlife Refuge
System;
(iii) units of the National Estuarine
Research Reserve System;
(iv) human communities with highly exposed
and vulnerable populations; and
(v) sensitive ecological areas in which
substantive changes are expected to result from
changes in domestic or international mercury
emissions.
(C) Colocation.--Monitoring sites shall be co-
located with sites from other long-term environmental
monitoring programs, where practicable, including sites
associated with the National Ecological Observatory
Network, the Long Term Ecological Research Network, and
the National Atmospheric Deposition Program.
(D) Monitoring protocols.--Not later than 1 year
after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Administrator, in coordination with the Advisory
Committee, shall establish and publish standardized
measurement protocols for the program.
(4) International cooperation.--To the maximum extent
practicable, the program shall be compatible with similar
international efforts, including the Arctic Monitoring and
Assessment Programme, the Global Earth Observation System of
Systems, and the monitoring associated with the effectiveness
evaluation of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, adopted
October 10, 2013 (TIAS 17-816), which entered into force on
August 16, 2017.
(5) Data collection and distribution.--Not later than 1
year after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Administrator, in coordination with the Advisory Committee,
shall establish--
(A) a centralized database for existing and newly
collected environmental mercury data that can be freely
accessed on the internet; and
(B) assurance and quality standards for the
database under subparagraph (A).
(b) Functions.--
(1) In general.--Under the program, the Administrator, in
consultation with the appropriate Federal agencies and the
Advisory Committee, shall at a minimum carry out monitoring
described in paragraphs (2) through (4) at the locations
selected under subsection (a)(3).
(2) Air and watersheds.--The program, in association with
the National Atmospheric Deposition Program, shall monitor
long-term changes in mercury levels and important ancillary
measures in the air, including--
(A) the measurement and recording of wet mercury
deposition;
(B) an estimation of--
(i) dry mercury deposition (such as litter
mercury deposition or estimates of mercury
accumulation in vegetation through eddy
covariance measurements);
(ii) mercury flux; and
(iii) mercury export; and
(C) the measurement of stable isotopes of mercury
and ancillary measurements to fully understand the
transport, cycling, and transformations of mercury
through ecosystems.
(3) Water and soil chemistry.--The program, in association
with the WaterWatch Program established by the United States
Geological Survey, shall monitor long-term changes in mercury
and methyl mercury levels and important ancillary measures in
the water and soil or sediments, including--
(A) extraction and analysis of soil and sediment
cores;
(B) measurement and recording of total mercury and
methyl mercury concentration in surface sediments; and
(C) measurement and recording of total mercury and
methyl mercury concentration in surface waters.
(4) Aquatic and terrestrial organisms.--The program, in
association with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
and the Inventory and Monitoring Division of the National Park
Service, shall monitor long-term changes in mercury and methyl
mercury levels and important ancillary measures in marine,
freshwater, and terrestrial organisms, including--
(A) measurement and recording of total mercury and
methyl mercury concentrations in--
(i) invertebrates;
(ii) yearling or lower trophic level fish;
and
(iii) commercially, recreationally, or
conservation relevant fish; and
(B) measurement and recording of total mercury
concentrations in--
(i) selected insect- and fish-eating birds;
and
(ii) selected insect- and fish-eating
mammals.
SEC. 5. ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
(a) Establishment.--The Administrator, in consultation with the
Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Director
of the United States Geological Survey, the Director of the National
Park Service, the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, and the heads of other appropriate Federal agencies,
shall establish a scientific advisory committee, to be known as the
``Mercury Monitoring Advisory Committee'', to advise the Administrator
and those Federal agencies on the establishment, site selection,
measurement, recording protocols, and operation of the program.
(b) Membership.--The Advisory Committee shall consist of scientists
who are not employees of the Federal Government, including--
(1) 3 scientists appointed by the Administrator;
(2) 2 scientists appointed by the Director of the United
States Fish and Wildlife Service;
(3) 2 scientists appointed by the Director of the United
States Geological Survey;
(4) 2 scientists appointed by the Director of the National
Park Service; and
(5) 2 scientists appointed by the Administrator of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
SEC. 6. REPORTS AND PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.
(a) Reports.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of
this Act and every 2 years thereafter, the Administrator shall submit
to Congress a report on the program, including data on relevant
temporal trends and spatial gradients in mercury contamination in the
environment.
(b) Assessment.--Not less frequently than once every 4 years, the
report required under subsection (a) shall include an assessment of
mercury deposition rates that need to be achieved in order to prevent
adverse human and ecological effects.
(c) Availability of Data.--The Administrator shall make all data
obtained under this Act available to the public through a dedicated
website and on written request.
SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act--
(1) $37,000,000 for fiscal year 2024;
(2) $29,000,000 for fiscal year 2025; and
(3) $29,000,000 for fiscal year 2026.
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