Can Mercury Waste Be Treated On-site?

Last week we looked at where mercury is found in our daily lives. This week, we will address what is being done in regards to pollution control of mercury emissions. Possible changes in government regulations could allow on-site treatment methods, which could make it possible to clean-up areas that are otherwise considered too cost- and time-prohibitive to treat. For instance, a planned cleanup of a 40-mile section of the Hudson River in New York illustrates the need for on-site treatment. The area is heavily contaminated with PCBs, but the off-site method for the PCB disposal will lead to liberation of huge quantities of mercury.

It is an incongruent challenge because in trying to remove one form of pollution, they will generate another—which is thought to be the lesser of two evils. Theoretically, the 40-mile stretch would generate many billions of tons of waste. If sent to a typical plant, the quantity of waste would take the next 1,000 years to process. Not only would the time requirements be impractical, but the transportation costs would be huge—making it a cost-prohibitive and impractical solution.

Instead, the government may one day allow on-site treatment options, and companies will be gearing up in the coming years to provide services, technology and engineering to make it possible.

Brad Buscher
Chairman and CEO
VaporLok Products LLC

CFL Usage and What You Should Do If a CFL Breaks in Your Home

As a result of a growing green movement and new government regulations—including an Act of Congress to cease the manufacture of incandescent lamps by 2013—the use of more energy efficient lights, such as CFLs, continues to increase. Like all fluorescent lights, CFLs contain hazardous mercury vapor, which is emitted when these fragile bulbs break and causes significant health and safety issues, as well as environmental concerns.

What should you do if a CFL breaks in your home? A Maine Compact Fluorescent Lamp Breakage Study found that mercury concentration in a room can exceed permissible exposure levels, even from the breakage of a single CFL. For a clean-up guide, click here: http://www.maine.gov/dep/rwm/homeowner/cflreport/appendixe.pdf

Brad Buscher
Chairman and CEO
VaporLok Products LLC

Ban on exportation of elemental mercury

A new government regulation that goes into effect in 2013 effectively bans the exportation of elemental mercury—unless it has a legitimate use. The Mercury Export Ban Act of 2008, introduced by Barack Obama when he was an Illinois senator, was signed on October 14, 2008. The act will prohibit the transfer of elemental mercury by federal agencies, ban U.S. export of elemental mercury by 2013, and requires the Department of Energy to designate and manage an elemental mercury long-term disposal facility.

The United States is currently one of the world’s leading exporters of elemental mercury, and large amounts of mercury-containing waste have been shipped over the border to Canada and other countries. The Mercury Export Ban Act of 2008 will help prevent other industries and countries that do not have the same protections as we do from receiving the mercury and letting it proliferate right back into the system and the environment.

Peder Larson
Attorney
Larkin Hoffman