AHT Victory! Mercury Products Bill Signed into Law
Photo: Elizabeth Saunders, Clean Water Action (center) stands surrounded by AHT activists for a news conference before delivering “toxic tuna” to Senators’ offices.
Mercury Phase-out Mandated: Mercury Products Bill Signed Into Law!
A 5 year campaign of the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow ended with victory on Friday, July 28th when Governor Mitt Romney signed legislation to curb mercury pollution in Massachusetts. The bill, An Act Relative to Mercury Management, is among the strongest of an increasing number of state laws across the country that will dramatically reduce emissions resulting from the use of mercury-containing products.
The bill was first introduced to the Massachusetts legislature in 2001 by Representative Doug Petersen (D-Marblehead) and Senator Susan Tucker (D-Andover). It was passed unanimously by the House of Representatives on February 2nd, 2006 and a slightly amended version was passed unanimously by the Senate on March 29th. The bill was first sent to the Governor’s desk on July 7th, after a Conference Committee of six legislators ironed out the differences between the bills. On July 13th, Governor Romney returned the bill to the legislature with amendments. The legislature accepted the Governor’s amendments, with some changes, and the bill was returned to his desk. He finally signed the bill into law 9 days after he received the final version.
Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin that has been linked to learning disabilities and developmental delays in children, as well as damage to the heart, nervous system and kidneys in adults. In Massachusetts a large source of air emissions is the states’ 5 largest incinerators, which together emit 587 pounds of mercury a year according to DEP data.The Mercury Products Bill is expected to dramatically reduce emissions of mercury from municipal waste incinerators.
Passage of the Mercury Products Bill has been a top priority of the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow. Hundreds of member organizations, activists and volunteers have worked tirelessly to contact their legislators and urge support for the bill. This victory demonstrates that by working together, we can win smarter laws to protect our health from dangerous toxins and create a healthier tomorrow.
Mercury Bill Passes Senate! Activists deliver “Toxic Tuna” to Senators
On Wednesday, March 29, the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow had another legislative victory when the Massachusetts Senate voted unanimously to pass legislation to S-2464, An Act Relative to Mercury Management, sponsored by Representative Douglas Petersen (D-Marblehead) and Senator Susan Tucker (D-Andover), will phase out the use of certain mercury-containing products that have safer alternatives and will require manufacturers to set up collection programs to keep discarded products out of the waste stream.
Thirteen other states including Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Vermont have passed similar legislation but the Massachusetts bill goes farther than other states by requiring collection systems for fluorescent lamps. The House of Representatives had unanimously passed the bill on February 2.
This legislative victory follows a grassroots campaign in which hundreds of concerned parents, teachers, doctors and activists contacted their Senators and urged them to pass the bill. The campaign culminated in an event at the State House on Tuesday, March 21st, with over 50 Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow supporters from across the state, many with children in tow. Children tossed cans of tuna fish labeled: “Contains Mercury,” “May be hazardous to your health” and “Pass the Mercury Products Bill” into a “hazardous waste” bucket. Adults and children then delivered cans of tuna, labeled hazardous, to Senators to urge passage of the bill. The “tuna drop” captured the attention of reporters, legislators and several industry lobbyists who had been working to weaken the bill.
Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin that has been linked to learning disabilities and developmental delays in children, as well as damage to the heart, nervous system and kidneys in adults. People are most commonly exposed to the toxic chemical by eating contaminated fish. In Massachusetts a major source of mercury emissions are the states’ 5 largest incinerators, which together emit 587 pounds of mercury a year according to most recent DEP data.
The next step for the Mercury Bill may be a conference committee to work out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the Bill. Governor Romney must also sign the bill into law. We have no word yet on whether or not he will sign the bill.
A New Year's Resolution for the House: Passing the Mercury Products Bill
The Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow is currently engaged in a no-holds barred team effort to pass the Mercury Products Bill (H-4319 An Act Relative to Comprehensive Mercury Management). As the legislature opened the 2006 Formal Session, staff and volunteers for the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow worked to collect Representatives' signatures onto a letter to Representative Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop), Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, the committee that is currently holding the bill.
The letter, signed by more than half of the state's 157 Representatives began, "We, the undersigned, propose a New Year's resolution for the House: Pass the Mercury Products Bill." The letter went on to request that the bill be released from the Ways & Means Committee in time for the House to vote on it in January 2006.
In December and early January, AHT pulled out all the stops to get a majority of the Representatives to sign the letter. In the weeks, days and moments before the holidays, representatives from the Environmental League of Massachusetts, Clean Water Action, and Massachusetts Public Health Association visited office after office at the State House lobbying Representatives to sign the letter. Simultaneously, constituents across the state poured calls into their Representatives' offices requesting the same. It worked! Slowly but steadily, legislators joined the growing list of signers requesting that the Ways and Means Committee give the bill a favorable report.
After the bill leaves the Committee on Ways and Means there are several procedural steps it must go through before coming to the floor for a vote. First, it is expected go to the Committee on Steering and Policy, chaired by Representative Paul Donato (D-Medford) followed by a "Second Reading" on the floor and then the Committee on Bills in Third Reading, chaired by Representative Thomas Golden (D-Lowell). Representatives Donato and Golden are both co-sponsors of the bill, and Speaker of the House Salvatore DiMasi (D-Boston) has given verbal support as well, so supporters are hopeful that the bill will pass through the House in January and then move quickly to the Senate floor.
Industry lobbyists are eager to stop this bill in its tracks and their pressure will only increase as it gets closer to passage. For that reason, the success of the bill will be dependent on full coalition participation. Organizers will be contacting you to ask you to call or write your legislators and find neighbors and friends who can do that too. Your help will be crucial! Together, we've gotten the bill this far, and together we can pass it.
For more information on the bill, visit the Current Legislative Priorities page or contact Elizabeth Saunders at Clean Water Action: 617-338-8131 x203, esaunders@cleanwater.org.
Mercury Bill Moves Out of Committee
In early August, our work to reduce exposure to mercury in products took a step forward when the Joint Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources passed the Mercury Products Bill out of committee with a favorable recommendation. Mercury poses a threat to human health and the environment in Massachusetts due to high levels of mercury in fish and a major cause of mercury contamination in fish is mercury-added products, such as thermostats, measuring devices, and switches that release mercury upon their disposal and combustion in municipal waste incinerators.
Given that that there are cost effective non-mercury alternatives available on the market today, the Act for Safer Alternatives to Mercury Containing Products (H.4319) calls for mercury-added products to be replaced with safer alternatives whenever feasible, prohibits the disposal mercury-containing waste products as solid waste, and promotes and ensures the proper collection, transportation, recycling and disposal of all mercury-containing waste products.
The bill is currently in the Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives, chaired by Rep. Robert DeLeo of Winthrop. AHT will be watching closely to ensure that H.4319 moves out of the Ways and Means Committee soon, and is brought to a floor vote before the end of the year. Please call your legislators today and ask them to encourage Representative DeLeo to give the bill a Favorable Recommendation soon!
