Global Sources of Mercury Pollution: what they are and what we can do

1. Global Sources of Mercury Pollution: what they are andwhat we can do Marianne Bailey Office of International Affairs U.S. Environmental Protection Agency May 2007

2. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, using J. Pacyna 2000 data.

3. 1990 Africa Asia 9% 38% Africa Asia South America 18% 52% 3% South America North America 4% Australia 14% 3% North America 9% Australia Europe Europe 6% 33% 11% Anthropogenic Air Emissions of Mercury: Distribution by Region in 1990 and 2000 2000 Total: 1,881 metric tons/yr Total: 2,269 metric tons/yr Asia and Africa account for about 70% of global emissions and show steady, significant increases due to industrialization. Based on Pacyna, J., Munthe J., Presentation at Workshop on Mercury: Brussels, March 29-30, 2004

4. Anthropogenic Air Emissions of Mercury: Distribution by Industrial Sector in 1995 Non-ferrous metal production 170 (7%) • Coal and fuel combustion is the largest source category • Estimates are rough; most countries do not have Hg inventories • We need to further develop reliable emissions inventories Pig iron and steel production 30 (1%) Cement production 130 (5%) Waste disposal 110 (5%) Coal/Fuel combustion 1470 (62%) Artisanal gold mining 300 (13%) Chlor-alkali 172 (7%) Total: 2,382 metric tons Source: UNEP Global Mercury Assessment, UNEP, Geneva, December 2002

5. Global Emissions Impact Imported and Domestic Fish Percent of total imports North America import flows Notes: Average import flows for 1998-2000. Source: FAO State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, 2002 • Commercial marine fish consumption major dietary source of Hg exposure in the U.S. • Global reductions in mercury emissions will lower mercury levels in all wild fish sources

8. Movement and Trends (cont’d) Commodity Mercury Shipments Among Global Regions (2004) Summary of Supply, Trade, and Demand Information on Mercury (November 2006), available at http://www.chem.unep.ch/MERCURY/Trade%20report%20final%20PDF.pdf, p. 13.

9. UNEP Governing Council Decisions • February 2003: established UNEP Global Mercury Program after accepting the findings of the Global Mercury Assessment: mercury is a global problem • February 2005: established partnerships as one mechanism to address global mercury reductions • February 2007: affirmed that partnerships are important but need to be strengthened • UNEP to develop an overarching framework for the partnerships, including goals, business plans, operational guidelines • UNEP called upon to develop new partnership areas: vinyl chloride, non-ferrous metals, and incineration

10. Anthropogenic Air Emissions of Mercury: Distribution by Industrial Sector in 1995 Non-ferrous metal production 170 (7%) Current Partnerships: Coal Combustion Artisanal Gold Mining Chlor-alkali Artisanal Gold Mining Air F&T Research Pig iron and steel production 30 (1%) Cement production 130 (5%) Waste disposal 110 (5%) Coal/Fuel combustion 1470 (62%) • www.chem.unep.ch/mercury/partnerships Artisanal gold mining 300 (13%) Chlor-alkali 172 (7%) Total: 2,382 metric tons Source: UNEP Global Mercury Assessment, UNEP, Geneva, December 2002

11. Global Partnership for Mercury Management in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining • Goals: • Deploy improved management techniques and improve access to best practice information targeted toward community-based organizations • Support and expand existing efforts in this sector, in particular the UNIDO Global Mercury Program • About 10-15 million miners in over 50 countries worldwide using mercury amalgamation, directly affecting at least 50 million people. Air emissions at least 300 tons per year, consumption about 1000 tons per year.

12. Global Partnership for Mercury Management in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining • Early consultative meeting at World Bank in Washington, D.C. (June 2005) • Initiated demonstration project and field training on retort use in Senegal • Initiated project to reduce emissions and exposure at gold refining shops in the Brazilian Amazon • Discussions with Mongolian government and NGOs • CASM web page development

16. Sediments are processed with Hg Hg-Au amalgam (50% mercury) Burned in the Garimpo Hg-Au amalgam (5-15 % mercury) Burned in the Gold Shop Purified gold

18. Mercury Capture System Hg-Au amalgam (5-15 % mercury) Mercury vapor vented directly to street Burned in the Gold Shop Purified gold

19. Prototype Description Exhaust to stack Inlet from fume hood 1.2 M Fan 1.2 M .7 M Pebble bed (stone not shown) ~US$1000 MI&T Gold Shop Mercury Collection Equipment

20. Global Partnership for Mercury Reduction in the Chlor-Alkali Sector • Goals: • Facilitate implementation of best practices for mercury stewardship at mercury-cell facilities; provide operational information on mercury-free technology • Improve global reporting on mercury consumption and releases in the sector

21. Global Partnership for Mercury Reduction in the Chlor-Alkali Sector • Early consultative meeting in Maine (May 2005) • Training, Action Plan, and implementation of three best practice demonstrations at one facility in Russia with Arctic Council partners • Measurable reduction in releases to date of over a ton in 2006 • Workshop, facility mentoring, and facility-led Action Plan for reduction projects at facility in Mexico • Conducting technical exchange with India for information on conversion and mercury cells.

22. Global Partnership for Mercury Reduction in Products • Goals: • Reduce global use of and demand for mercury by reducing or eliminating mercury in products where effective substitutes exist. • Reduce global mercury releases that may occur during manufacturing and industrial processes and during disposal or recycling of mercury-containing products and wastes.

23. Global Partnership for Mercury Reduction in Products • Early consultative meeting held in Maine (May 2005) • Sponsored product/use reduction workshop for the Americas with the CEC (February 2006) • Working with China, Argentina, Mexico, India and possibly other countries on hospital sector pilots • Assisting Burkina Faso with mercury use assessment • Product inventories and emissions inventories

24. Global Partnership for Mercury Reduction in Coal Combustion • Goals: • Improve understanding of the contribution of mercury emissions from the power sector • Increase understanding of existing multi-pollutant approaches, including cost-effectiveness and sharing of information on newly emerging technology • Workshop on mercury controls from coal fired utilities in China (October 2005) • Working with India’s power sector to improve particulate controls and evaluate NOx control options • Exploring a Russia demonstration project on the effectiveness of sorbents on power plant emissions • Building on work of Asia Pacific Partnership (APP)

25. Global Partnership for Air Fate and Transport Research Goals: • Accelerate the development of scientific information on global cycling and related information on mercury and increase communication between scientists and policymakers. • Facilitate establishment/recognition of regional collaborative research programs, invited to post summary descriptions of their plans and progress on the UNEP website.

26. New Partnership Work Areas • VCM – activities fueled through ground work conducted by NRDC with additional industry-to-industry work through our Russia chlor-alkali project • Waste incineration, including by cement kilns – activities to initially build on existing EPA work in China on cement kilns • Primary metals smelting – Region 5, OAR

27. What We can Do Global mercury partnerships can achieve measurable reductions in mercury use and emissions in the near-term. EPA views States as important partners State Resources Network has potential to be very useful in fielding expertise to get measurable results. We appreciate the interest and encouragement the States have shown as we work on this issue. Thank You!