Mercury Reclamation Act of 2006 - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in cooperation with the Secretary of Transportation, to: (1) review storage, transportation, tracking and packaging requirements as they pertain to mercury-bearing solid waste; and (2) promulgate regulations governing the tracking, storage, packaging, record keeping, and reporting on the shipments of mercury-bearing waste. Requires such regulations to ensure the ability to track the generation, treatment, and disposal of mercury wastes and require accountability for waste generators and treatment, storage, and disposal facilities to identify and document wastes and comply with treatment and disposal requirements.
Requires the Administrator to promulgate packaging standards to prevent the release of mercury and mercury vapor during the transportation and storage of mercury-bearing wastes. Exempts from the standards wastes generated by households, until such wastes are received by a treatment, storage, or disposal facility.
Provides for enforcement through compliance orders.
Requires, with certain exemptions, that each person who generates any solid waste which consists of a device that contains mercury integral to its function: (1) take steps to insure that such waste is treated to reclaim the mercury; or (2) transfer such waste to another person who has accepted responsibility for such reclamation. Requires the Administrator to develop a voluntary compliance program to maximize the collection of mercury-containing exempted items.
Requires the Administrator to re-evaluate the 100 kg/month exemption from hazardous waste standards for small quantity generators.
Requires the treatment standards applicable to all hazardous waste containing mercury in concentrations of 260 mg/kg or more to require the recovery of mercury from such waste prior to land disposal using a technology approved by the Administrator. Authorizes the Administrator to: (1) limit the organic content of such waste that may be subjected to mercury recovery technologies; (2) limit the use of such technologies for radioactive wastes; (3) issue variances and exceptions to the required use of such technologies, based on feasibility of mercury recovery; and (4) revise such treatment standards to incorporate the capabilities of the most advanced available mercury recovery technologies.
Authorizes appropriations for mercury programs.
[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6261 Introduced in House (IH)]
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 mercury
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 environment 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 Representatives 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:
(1) Mercury is a naturally occurring element that is found
in air, water and soil. It is a bioaccumulative 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 elemental mercury in
schools and other public and private 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 Academy of
Sciences, over 60,000 children are born each year in the United
States at risk for adverse neurodevelopmental effects due to
exposure to methyl mercury in utero.
(5) Current Federal hazardous waste regulations allow land
disposal of certain highly contaminated mercury wastes without
treatment to remove the mercury, despite Environmental
Protection Agency-sponsored studies concluding that such
disposal practices are not sufficiently protective of human
health and the environment.
(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 Environmental 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 certain that businesses are properly managing their
mercury contaminated wastes.
(8) The Government Accountability Office determined 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 our water and threatening the
health of workers and others exposed to mercury vapors from
these releases.
(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 significant.
(12) Use of fluorescent lamps creates a net environmental
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 mercury recovery.
(14) A study by a major retailer finds that changing 100
million light bulbs to compact fluorescent 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 recycling of mercury-
containing lighting devices, particularly from consumers and
small businesses. By stimulating the nation's ability to
collect and recycle mercury-containing lighting devices, the
Federal government will achieve the dual goals of energy
conservation and environmental protection.
(16) Current Federal laws and regulations allow many
discarded mercury items to escape regulation 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 protections.
(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 cooperation with the
Secretary of Transportation, shall review the storage, transportation,
tracking and packaging requirements of their respective departments and
agencies as they pertain to mercury-bearing solid waste, as defined in
section 1004(27) of this Act, including those wastes which qualify as
hazardous wastes under this Act, and shall promulgate, within 18-month
of enactment of the Mercury Reclamation Act of 2006, regulations to
protect public health and the environment governing the tracking,
storage, packaging, record keeping, and reporting on the shipments of
mercury-bearing waste. Such regulations shall address any deficiencies
in the current regulations of the Administrator and of the Secretary of
Transportation governing the transportation, storage, and packaging of
mercury-bearing wastes and intact, defective or broken mercury-
containing products.
``(b) Tracking.--The regulations under this section shall ensure
the ability of regulators and the public to track the generation,
treatment, and disposal of mercury wastes and require accountability
for both waste generators and treatment, storage, and disposal
facilities to properly identify and document mercury wastes and comply
with the proper treatment and disposal requirements for such wastes.
``(1) The regulations promulgated under this paragraph
shall include, but not be limited to, promulgation of
regulations necessary to ensure the ability of regulators and
the public to track the generation, treatment and disposal of
devices which contain mercury integral to their function and
ensure that such devices are properly treated prior to
disposal.
``(2) In the case of mercury-bearing waste subject to
section 3004(m), tracking requirements shall include a
statement of whether the shipment is intended to be treated to
reclaim the mercury, and a statement of justification in the
event the mercury contained in the waste is not being
reclaimed.
``(3) Tracking standards established pursuant to this
section for widely generated wastes, as determined by the
Administrator, shall be implemented in a manner that improves
the ability of regulators and the public to track the
generation, treatment and disposal of such wastes while
avoiding placing undue burdens on the collection and
transportation of such wastes that would discourage the proper
collection and treatment of such wastes.
``(c) Packaging Standards.--Based upon the review of the current
packaging standards for mercury-bearing waste shipments of the
Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency,
the Administrator shall promulgate such additional standards as may be
necessary to protect public health and the environment. Such
regulations shall be structured so as to prevent the release of mercury
and mercury vapor during the transportation and storage of mercury
bearing wastes
``(d) Households.--The tracking and packaging standards under this
section shall not apply to wastes generated by households, as defined
by the Administrator under this Act, until such wastes are received by
a treatment, storage or disposal facility.
``(e) Enforcement.--The provisions of subsections (a), (b), and (c)
of section 3008 shall apply to violations of subsection (a) of this
section in the same manner and to the same extent as such provisions
apply to violations of subtitle C.''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for such subtitle D
is amended by adding the following new item at the end thereof:
``Sec. 4012. Mercury waste packaging, tracking and storage.''.
SEC. 4. DEVICES CONTAINING MERCURY.
(a) In General.--The Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6941 and
following) is amended by adding the following new section at the end of
subtitle D:
``SEC. 4012. MERCURY DEVICE RECYCLING.
``(a) In General.--Effective 60 days following enactment of this
section, each person who generates any solid waste which consists of a
device that contains mercury integral to its function, including but
not limited to mercury added lighting, shall
``(1) take such steps as may be necessary to insure that
such solid waste is treated as necessary to reclaim the
mercury, or
``(2) transfer such solid waste to another person who has
accepted responsibility for such reclamation.
The Administrator shall promulgate such regulations as may be necessary
to carry out this subsection.
``(b) Household and Small Generator Exemption.--
``(1) The requirements of subsection (a) shall not apply to
any of the following categories of solid waste:
``(A) Solid waste from households, as defined by
the Administrator under this Act.
``(B) Solid waste generated by a person who
generates during a calendar month not more than 15
items to which subsection (a) would otherwise apply so
long as the mercury contained in the items generated in
a calendar month does not exceed one half ounce of
mercury.
``(2) The Administrator shall develop a voluntary
compliance program to maximize the collection of mercury
containing items that qualify for the exemption under paragraph
(1) of this subsection, particularly those programs involving
the take back of spent mercury lamps at the point-of-sale.
``(3) Nothing in this subsection shall affect the authority
of any State or local government to provide for the reclamation
of solid waste containing mercury.
``(c) State Programs.--Any State may notify the Administrator that
the State has adopted a program providing for the reclamation of
mercury from solid waste referred to in subsection (a). Upon receipt
and acceptance of such notification, compliance with the requirements
of the State program, as long as it remains in full force and effect,
shall constitute compliance with the requirement of subsection (a).
``(d) Enforcement.--The provisions of subsections (a), (b), and (c)
of section 3008 shall apply to violations of subsection (a) of this
section in the same manner and to the same extent as such provisions
apply to violations of subtitle C.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents for such subtitle D
is amended by adding the following new item at the end thereof:
``Sec. 4012. Mercury device recycling.''.
(c) Reevaluation of Small Generator Exemption.--Consistent with
section 3001(d)(4) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act regarding small
quantity generators, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection
Agency shall assess and re-evaluate whether the current 100 kg/month
exemption for small quantity generators generally, is protective of
public health and the environment as it pertains to generators of
mercury-containing wastes.
SEC. 5. REQUIRING MERCURY RECLAMATION FROM HAZARDOUS MERCURY WASTES.
Section 3004(m) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6924(m))
is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(3) Effective 30 days after the date of enactment of this
paragraph, the treatment standards applicable to all hazardous
waste containing mercury in concentrations equal to or
exceeding 260 mg/kg shall require the recovery of mercury from
such waste prior to land disposal using a technology approved
by the Administrator for such wastes under regulations issued
pursuant to this subtitle. The Administrator may, consistent
with the protection of human health and the environment--
``(A) limit the organic content of such waste that
may be subjected to mercury recovery technologies;
``(B) limit the use of mercury recovery
technologies for radioactive wastes;
``(C) issue, by regulation, variances and
exceptions to the required use of mercury recovery
technologies, based on feasibility of mercury recovery;
and
``(D) revise such treatment standards to
incorporate the capabilities of the most advanced
available mercury recovery technologies.''.
SEC. 6. FUNDING FOR MERCURY PROGRAMS.
Section 2007 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6941 and
following) is amended by adding the following new subsection at the end
thereof:
``(g) Funding for Mercury Programs.--There is authorized to be
appropriated to the Administrator to award contracts, grants and other
funding assistance needed to perform the following tasks (including
coordination with the mercury product manufacturing industry, the
mercury recycling industry, non-profit organizations, and the States)
not more than $50,000,000 for each fiscal year after the enactment of
the Mercury Reclamation Act of 2006:
``(1) Preparing an inventory of the legitimate uses of
mercury in commercial, industrial, consumer, and medical
applications, and the uses of mercury exported from the United
States.
``(2) Promoting the recovery of mercury from waste
materials.
``(3) Enforcement of Federal regulations for the management
of mercury wastes under section 4012 and making grants to
States for carrying out State regulatory programs under section
4012.
``(4) Promoting the establishment of mercury lamp take back
programs at the point-of-sale to assist consumers and small
businesses in the reclamation of spent mercury lamps and
devices.''.
SEC. 7. ANNUAL REPORT.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and
annually thereafter, the Administrator shall transmit to the Congress a
report on the progress made under this Act. Such report shall include
at minimum each of the following:
(1) A progress summary of any regulatory actions taken in
response to the review under section 4011(a) of the Solid Waste
Disposal Act.
(2) A progress summary of mercury device recycling efforts
relating to this Act, including a quantitative analysis of the
amount of mercury recycled.
(3) A description of grants and amounts awarded under
section 2007(g) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act and of the
criteria used for awarding those grants.
(4) A detailed financial reporting of total administration
costs of carrying out this Act.
(5) A joint summary, by the Administrator and appropriate
State officials, that describes the coordination and
communication progress and problems between the Federal and
State Governments in carrying out this Act.
(6) Recommendations for greater efficiency or improvement
of administration of this Act.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials.
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