Mercury News

• August 2008: EPA released Health Services Industry Detailed Study: Dental Amalgam (PDF) (76 pp., 1.0 M, about PDF). As required by the Clean Water Act (CWA), every other year EPA publishes an Effluent Guidelines Program Plan. In the 2006 Plan, EPA announced that it would conduct a detailed review of discharges into wastewater by the health services industry. EPA based its decision in part on public comments concerning the discharge of mercury from dental offices and dental laboratories. The study includes information on current mercury discharges from dental offices; best management practices; and amalgam separators. The study concludes that establishing national, categorical pretreatment standards for dental mercury discharges under the CWA is not appropriate at this time.

• May 2008: EPA has completed a study to better characterize fugitive mercury emissions from chlorine manufactures that use mercury cell technology. Study findings show that mercury emissions average about 0.2 tons per year per facility. EPA is also proposing to require manufacturers of chlorine using mercury cell technology to take additional steps to prevent mercury emissions. EPA would require plants not already monitoring mercury emissions to do so. Fact sheet (PDF) (3 pp., 49K, about PDF)

• April 2008: EPA issued instruction manuals to promote safe mercury and chemical management in secondary schools at the “Mercury in Our World Conference on Mercury and Other Hazardous Chemicals in Southeast Asia Schools” in Thailand, April 22-24, 2008.