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Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy

Mercury

Group Leaders

Mercury Workgroup Reports

• Draft Report on Mercury - Sources, and Regulations (November 1999)
• Consumer Energy Mercury Pollution Prevention Plan (March 1999, Update)

Mercury Workgroup Meetings

• May 17, 2005 - Mercury Workgroup Meeting - Delta Chelsea, Toronto
• Mercury Group Meeting: November 18, 1999
  • Assessing Progress; Expectations for the Future
• April 27-28, 1999 Mercury Workgroup Meeting, Toronto
• April 27 Mercury and Utilities Subgroup Meeting, Toronto
• November 16, 1998 Mercury Workgroup Meeting, Chicago
• November 17, 1998 Workshop on Potential Mercury Reductions at Electric Utilities
• March 23, 1998 Mercury Workgroup Meeting, Chicago

Other Information on Mercury

• The National Academy of Sciences completed a report, Toxicological Effects of Methylmercury (2000), which: supports EPA's reference dose for methylmercury; recommends steps towards updating that reference dose, and estimating that 60,000 children are born annually at risk of reduced school performance as a result of fetal exposure to methylmercury.  Read the press release.
• The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and USEPA issued the joint National Alert: A Warning About Continuing Patterns of Metallic Mercury Exposure, focusing on exposure to mercury vapor in indoor air.
• USEPA's December 1997 Mercury Report to Congress (eight volumes) is available for download. It includes emissions estimates for 1995, as well as information about the effects of mercury on human health and the environment, control technologies, etc.
• USEPA's estimate of 1990 mercury emissions can be found on the Urban Air Toxics Program webpage.
• The U.S. Geological Survey has information about mercury use, imports and exports.
• A 1994 report Background Information on Mercury Sources and Regulations, prepared for EPA's Virtual Elimination project.
• Mercury Source Sector Assessment for the Greater Milwaukee Area provides information about mercury sources in an urban area.
• The U.S. Geological Survey has a Mercury Studies Program to improve scientific understanding of mercury in the environment.
• The National Wildlife Federation report: Clean the Rain, Clean the Lakes: Mercury in Rain Is Polluting The Great Lakes.
• The Food and Drug Administration's 1994 Mercury In Fish: Cause For Concern? addresses risks from mercury in seafood.
• The U.S. Geological Survey has a list of methods for measuring various mercury species in water.
• Mercury Reduction Partners
  • States/Provinces:
    • Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has a page devoted to information about mercury. For instance, you can detailed reports developed under the Mercury in Minnesota: Research and Reduction Initiative.
    • Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's Michigan Mercury Pollution Prevention Home Page has links to a variety of information, including the Michigan Mercury Pollution Prevention Task Force Final Report.
    • Vermont has a Mercury Education and Reduction Campaign, including legislation and outreach.
    • New England Governors/Eastern Canadian Premiers have a Mercury Action Plan
  • Federal
    • EPA has a Persistent, Bioaccumulative Toxic (PBT) Pollutants Project, with a Mercury Page that includes a Mercury Factsheet and a Draft EPA Mercury Action Plan.
    • Great Lakes National Program Office's Options Paper on Developing a Vitual Elimination Strategy For Mercury
  • International
    • A draft of the Commission on Environmental Cooperation's North American Mercury Action Plan is available.
    • In 1998, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe adopted a Heavy Metals Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, requiring parties (including the United States and Canada) to reduce emissions of mercury, cadmium and lead.
• Mercury Reduction Opportunities
  • Sewage Treatment Plants
    • Pollution Prevention at POTWs is a resource listing (of people, programs and publications), compiled by Region 5, containing a lot of useful information on activities aimed at reducing releases of mercury.
    • Western Lake Superior Sanitary District's pollution prevention web page contains a lot of good information about mercury, including a Blueprint For Mercury Elimination at Publicly Owned Treatment Works
    • The Wisconsin Mercury Sourcebook contains information on mercury reduction options for a variety of different sectors, including a chapter on Wastewater Treatment Plants
  • Healthcare
  • Dentistry
    • The Naval Dental Research Institute has a web page on Dental Mercury Environmental Issues. 
    • The Wisconsin Mercury Sourcebook contains a chapter on Dentists.
  • Schools
  • Households and Small Businesses; Mercury Collection and Waste Management
    • Erie County, PA has a Mercury Pollution Prevention Education Project.
    • Florida Department of Environmental Protection has a web page focusing on waste management issues related to mercury.
    • Maine Department of Environmental Protection has produced a report on Labeling and Collection of Mercury-Added Products.
    • Electric Utilities
      1. Community action items that can reduce mercury releases from utilities were identified at a November 18, 1998 Binational Strategy workshop in Chicago.
      2. USEPA's Unified Air Toxics Website contains information about the Information Collection Request to gather data on mercury in coal and speciated mercury emissions from coal-fired electric utilties.
      3. USEPA's Study of Hazardous Air Pollutant Emissions from Electric Utility Steam Generating Units contains an analysis of air toxics emissions (including mercury) from utility plants, risk assessment, and discussion of controls.
      4. USEPA's Clean Power Initiative has produced reports on potential controls on mercury and other emissions from power plants and their costs
      5. The Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC), in conjunction with the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM), have developed Policy Recommendations for the Reduction of Mercury Emissions from Coal-Fired Electric Utility Boilers, including in the areas of data acquisition and dissemination, technology-forcing performance standards, emissions offsets, retail supply standards, use of market-based strategies, energy-efficiency, and multi-pollutant benefits.
      6. The Center for Clean Air Policy website has information about strategies for reducing emissions of mercury and other pollutants from utilities.
      7. The Utility industry is undergoing restructuring and competition in power generation is beginning. The Department of Energy has information available about the Comprehensive Electricity Competition Plan
      8. Energy efficiency and use of renewable energy can reduce emissions of mercury and other pollutants. Check the Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network page
      9. The Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy has a wealth of information about policies and regulations related to encouragement of alternative energy.
    • Chlor-alkali Industry
      1. The Chlorine Institute represents the chlor-alkali industry, and has voluntarily committed to reducing mercury use 50 percent by 2005. The Institute releases annual reports on progress towards meeting this commitment.
      2. Chorine Institute Third Annual Report (May 2000)
      3. Chlorine Institute Second Annual Report (May 1999)
      4. Chlorine Institute First Annual Report (May 1998)
    • Metals Industry
      1. Lake Michigan Forum, together with USEPA and Indiana DEM signed a voluntary reduction agreement with three Northwest Indiana Steel mills in September 1998
      2. An Inventory of Mercury Sources at Three Northwest Indiana Steel Mills has been completed by Bethlehem Steel Burns Harbor, Ispat Inland, East Chicago, and US Steel, Gary, under the voluntary agreement.
      3. The Wisconsin Mercury Sourcebook contains a chapter on mercury use in the Metals Industry
    • Auto Industry
      1. Michigan Department of Environmental Quality presents Case Studies of Mercury Pollution Prevention in the Auto Industry, including mercury P2.
      2. The Wisconsin Mercury Sourcebook contains a chapter on mercury use in the Automotive Sector.

Visit Other EPA Mercury Webpages

• Region 5 Mercury Website
• EPA Mercury Homepage

 

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