The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works’ Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety, chaired by Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), announced that the Committee will hold a hearing titled, The State of Mercury Regulation, Science, and Technology.” Senator Susan Collins, who has authored legislation to create a national mercury monitoring network, is scheduled to testify before the Committee. The Hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, May 16th.
The hearing can be viewed live on the Committee’s website: http://epw.senate.gov
In March, Senator Collins introduced the bipartisan “Comprehensive National Mercury Monitoring Act,” which would create a comprehensive nationwide mercury monitoring network. The legislation would also provide new data to help address the flaws in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) existing mercury data, based largely on a computer model, which was used to justify the flawed Clean Air Mercury Rule issued in 2005. Senator Collins has long been an advocate of proposals to better monitor and reduce Mercury emissions, which pose major environmental and health threats.
The legislation would authorize $18 million in fiscal year 2008, $13 million in fiscal year 2009, $14 million in fiscal year 2010, and additional funding through 2013 for the EPA, United States Geological Survey, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to create a nationwide mercury monitoring program. The legislation would establish mercury monitoring sites across the nation in order to measure mercury levels in the air, rain, soil, lakes and streams, and in plants and animals.
Details are as follows:
WHAT: Senator Collins to testify before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
WHEN: Wednesday, May 16 – 10:00 AM
WHERE: EPW Hearing Room
406 Dirksen Senate Office Building
http://epw.senate.gov
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