S. 3394Senate115th Congress (2017-2019)In Committee

Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act

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Updated April 15, 2026 at 11:27 PM UTC

The Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act creates a federal program to track mercury levels in the air, water, soil, and wildlife across the United States. It directs the EPA Administrator, working with other agencies, to set up monitoring sites in national parks, wildlife refuges, and other key ecosystems. The data and findings are to be shared publicly and reported to Congress, helping protect public health and the environment from mercury exposure.

Key Provisions

Establishes a national mercury monitoring program coordinated by the EPA Administrator and multiple federal agencies to measure atmospheric mercury, deposition, and concentrations in water, soil, sediments, and organisms.
Requires selection of monitoring sites in diverse ecoregions, including national parks, wildlife refuges, and estuarine reserves, and co‑location with existing long‑term monitoring networks.
Mandates standardized measurement protocols and a centralized, publicly accessible online database for all mercury data collected.
Creates a Mercury Monitoring Advisory Committee of independent scientists appointed by EPA, Fish and Wildlife Service, USGS, National Park Service, and NOAA to guide the program.
Requires biennial reports to Congress on trends and a quadrennial assessment of needed mercury deposition reductions, with all data available to the public.
Authorizes appropriations of $37 million for FY2019 and $29 million each for FY2020 and FY2021 to fund the program.

Legislative Activity

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1 earlier action

SenateIntro Referral Latest Action

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S5992-5993)

Environment and Public Works Committee

August 28, 2018

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SenateIntro Referral

Introduced in Senate

August 28, 2018

SenateIntro Referral

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S5992-5993)

Environment and Public Works Committee

August 28, 2018

Floor Debate

2 members

What members said about S. 3394 on the floor

1 Republican1 Democrat

Sen. Susan M. CollinsR-ME · Aug 28, 2018

Mr. President, today along with Senator Carper, I am introducing the Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act. This bill would ensure that we have accurate information about the extent of…

Mr. President, today along with Senator Carper, I am introducing the Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act. This bill would ensure that we have accurate information about the extent of mercury pollution in the United States.

A comprehensive national mercury monitoring network is needed to protect human health, safeguard fisheries, and track the effect of emissions reductions. This tracking is particularly important in light of increasing mercury emissions from other countries, including a substantial amount of mercury emissions from China. Mercury can be transported around the globe, meaning emissions and releases can affect human health and environment even in remote locations.

The issue of mercury emissions is growing in importance around the world. In 2013, the United States was the first Nation to join and sign the Minamata Convention on Mercury, a global agreement to reduce mercury pollution. The Minamata Convention has been signed by more than 125 countries and raises the issue that mercury poses a global threat to human health. At present, scientists must rely on limited information to understand the critical linkages between mercury emissions and environmental response and human health. Successful design, implementation, and assessment of solutions to the mercury pollution problem require comprehensive long-term information. A system for collecting such information, such as we have for acid rain and other pollution, does not currently exist for mercury--a much more toxic pollutant.

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin of significant ecological and public health concern, especially for children and pregnant women. It is estimated that approximately 200,000 children born in the U.S. per year are exposed to levels of mercury in the womb that are high enough to impair neurological development. Mercury exposure has gone down as U.S. mercury emissions have declined; however, levels remain far too high.

By accurately quantifying regional and national changes in atmospheric deposition, ecosystem contamination, and bioaccumulation of mercury in fish and wildlife in response to changes in mercury emissions, a monitoring network would help policy makers, scientists, and the public to better understand the sources, consequences, and trends in mercury pollution in the United States. We must have more comprehensive information and we must have it soon; otherwise, we risk making misguided policy decisions.

Specifically, the Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act would:

Direct EPA, in conjunction with the Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, National Park Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, and other appropriate Federal agencies, to establish a national mercury monitoring program to measure and monitor mercury levels in the air and watersheds, water and soil chemistry, and in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial organisms across the nation;

Establish a scientific advisory committee to advise on the establishment, site selection, measurement, recording protocols, and operations of the monitoring program;

Establish a centralized database for existing and newly collected environmental mercury data that can be freely accessed on the Internet and is comprised of data that is compatible with similar international efforts;

Require a report to Congress every two years on the program, including trends, and an assessment of the reduction in mercury deposition rates that need to be achieved in order to prevent adverse human and ecological effects every four-years; and

Authorize $95 million over three years to carry out the Act.

We must establish a comprehensive, robust national monitoring network

for mercury to provide the data needed to help make decisions to protect the people and environment of Maine and the United States.

Sen. Susan M. CollinsR-ME · Aug 28, 2018

Mr. President, today along with Senator Carper, I am introducing the Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act. This bill would ensure that we have accurate information about the extent of…

Specifically, the Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act would:

Establish a scientific advisory committee to advise on the establishment, site selection, measurement, recording protocols, and operations of the monitoring program;

Authorize $95 million over three years to carry out the Act.

We must establish a comprehensive, robust national monitoring network

for mercury to provide the data needed to help make decisions to protect the people and environment of Maine and the United States.

Sen. Ron WydenD-OR · Aug 28, 2018

Mr. President, today I am introducing the Clean Air Refugee Assistance Act of 2018 to help Americans who have been driven away from their homes by choking, hazardous wildfire smoke. Western wildfires are getting bigger, hotter, and more difficult to fight and scientists says it's only likely to get worse.

Folks back home in Oregon and across the Pacific Northwest already know what I'm talking about because they're on the front lines of these disasters. With dryer summers and lower snow packs, wildfires rage across the West. They're threatening lives, homes, and businesses and generating so much smoke that they're creating what I call clean air refugees.

These are people who can't go outside and, in some cases, who must flee their homes and communities to find pockets of fresh air.

I'm talking about children suffering from asthma and other conditions and seniors who need a respirator to breathe.

In some cases, Oregonians lacking access to safe, clean air are being told to seek shelter in public places like libraries and government buildings.

My legislation would help provide some relief by opening the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Transitional Sheltering Assistance program to people seeking temporary shelter from wildfire smoke.

This program already permits FEMA to pay for temporary lodging for people who can't immediately return home following a disaster.

My bill would permit clean air refugees to apply if they live in an area where the air quality index is determined to be unhealthy for at least three consecutive days as the result of a wildfire declared to be a major disaster by the President or Governor of the affected state.

FEMA-approved applicants would pick from a list of participating hotels and motels and FEMA would pay the lodging costs.

Mr. President, the Federal government needs to step up and be a better partner on these wildfires and it can start by helping Americans who have been driven from their homes find some refuge.

Passing the Clean Air Refugee Assistance Act would be a breath of fresh air for folks struggling to escape the choking smoke, and I urge my colleagues to support this important bill.

Bill Text

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Introduced in SenateIssued August 28, 2018

115th CONGRESS

2d Session

S. 3394

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

August 28, 2018

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.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act.

Findings

Congress finds that—

(1)

mercury is a potent neurotoxin of significant ecological and public health concern;

(2)

it is estimated that approximately 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 many 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.

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; or

(B)

mass per unit of watershed or body of water area 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.

Monitoring program

(a)

Establishment

(1)

In general

(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; and

(iv)

sensitive ecological areas in which substantive changes are expected from reductions in domestic mercury emissions.

(C)

Colocation

Monitoring sites shall be colocated 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);

(ii)

mercury flux; and

(iii)

mercury export; and

(C)

the measurement of mercury isotopes 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.

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.

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.

Authorization of appropriations

There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act—

(1)

$37,000,000 for fiscal year 2019;

(2)

$29,000,000 for fiscal year 2020; and

(3)

$29,000,000 for fiscal year 2021.