Advisory Committee on Mercury Pollution
Meeting #49: Monday, January 12, 2004
Time: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
Location: Conference Room, Environmental Assistance Division
Laundry Building, Waterbury State Complex, Waterbury, Vermont
MINUTES
Members Present:
Michael Bender, Abenaki Self-Help Association, Inc.
Neil Kamman, Agency of Natural Resources, Water Quality Division
Ruma Kohli, chemical Management Program Manager, IBM, Burlington
Rich Phillips, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, Environmental Assistance
Guests Present:
Allison Crowley-DeMag, New England Public Affairs Group
Gary Gulka, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, Environmental Assistance
Karen Busshart, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, Environmental Assistance
The Committee members and interested parties gathered in the Conference Room of the Environmental Assistance Division, Waterbury State Complex.
Rich Phillips called the meeting to order.
Agenda Item 1-
Accept minutes of December meeting and possible changes to today's agenda.
December minutes were approved with no changes.
Agenda Item 2-
Review of draft legislative report.
Sections of the draft legislative report were discussed and any comments or changes to the various sections are listed below. No changes were considered
for the sections not listed.
I. BACKGROUND ON THE MERCURY PROBLEM
Human Health and Wildlife Impacts of Mercury Exposure
- Third paragraph add a statement after the sentence ending " . . . content of chick blood was elevated." which reads "Southeastern
New Hampshire and the Rangeley Lakes area of Maine show the greatest concentrations of mercury in loons in the nation, and. . . " include
the next sentence as part of the previous sentence and change the percentage from 13 to 20 percent.
- Third paragraph next sentence after first bullet. Question as to the information supplied regarding otters. Gary will check data.
Mercury Emissions and Deposition in the U.S.
- Third sentence. Add to the end of the sentence the following words: "anthropogenic load."
- Fifth sentence. Delete the word "miscellaneous" after the word "Other." After wording " . . . significantly to anthropogenic
releases", add wording to the end of the sentence "although regionally, waste combustion sources have been significantly curtailed."
- Sixth sentence. Suggestion to reword.
- Seventh sentence. Add word "Nationally" to the beginning of the sentence.
- Suggestion to add mercury cell chlor alkali facilities as a large source in this section
- Suggestion to add examples of natural sources of mercury.
- Suggestion to add that municipal and medical waste combustion sources in New England have been reduced.
- Suggestion to add a statement about the emissions continuing indefinitely. Neil will provide rewording.
Posting of Fish Consumption Advisories
- Suggestion to look at new data from 15 Mile Falls in light of revising advisories.
Mercury Reduction Policy
- First paragraph, second sentence. Add "Newly-available" to the beginning of the sentence before "scientific studies.
- First paragraph, end of second sentence. Change (a few years) to read (within several years)
- Second paragraph, last sentence. Add comma between "power plants" and "a strong national."
- Third paragraph, fourth sentence. Add "the Advisory Committee views this as" before "in appropriate for mercury" and eliminate
"it is" in between those two statements.
II. STATUS OF MERCURY REDUCTION EFFORTS AND WORK OF THE COMMITTEE
Vermont's Product Labeling Law
- First paragraph, first sentence. Change the wording to indicate that the US District Court ruled in Vermont's favor in lieu of the initial introduction.
Wildlife Criterion Value for Mercury
- Second sentence. Eliminate the words "above those" before the word "considered" and add the prefix "un" in front
of "safe" making the wording read "considered unsafe for humans and wildlife that consume the fish."
Collaborative Regional Mercury Modeling Project
- Next to last sentence is corrected to read: "The most important of these appears to be that steel manufacturing is a previously un-accounted
source of mercury."
III. COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
Other Recommendations
- Add sentence at the end that reads, "This very minor investment will yield a very large return in reduced potential mercury releases in
the future."
Agenda Item 3-
Updates and other topics not on agenda.
No new items were suggested for discussion.
Agenda Item 4-
Set date and agenda for next meeting.
The next meeting will be scheduled via e-mail and will be held at the Waterbury state complex in the EAD conference room. The agenda of the meeting
will be to discuss the work plan for the Committee for 2004.
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