413 



a few cases substanital effort was required by industry, but significant results 

 liave been acMeved nevertheless. Given additional short periods, a matter of 

 a few months, more sophisticated process, product, or raw material changes 

 plus special treatment techniques have resulted in further reductions in mercury 

 discharges. The search for additional measures which will eliminate the addition 

 of mercury to the aquatic environment then continues, and complete elimination 

 has been achieved in some cases. This effort to identify and eliminate major 

 and specific point sources of industrial mercury discharge has resulted in meas- 

 urably improved conditions in waters formerly affected. 



In addition to the identifiable industrial sources of mercury entering the na- 

 tion's waters, there are ubiquitous sources from man's activity, which at the 

 source may be undectectable but when collected constitute measurable amounts. 

 A proposal to immediately ban the discharge of all mercury into navigable 

 waters would not recognize the practical limitations imposed by the fact of in- 

 numerable sources. Hospitals, dental clinics, university laboratories, medical 

 and scientific research facilities and many varieties of small businesses may 

 all discharge quantities of materials containing mercury. Most often these are 

 collected in municipal systems, where after treatment mercury may still be found 

 in the treatment plant discharge. The methods and alternatives available to 

 these small hut numerous sources are far more limited than to a large industrial 

 source. Additionally, the capabilities of municipal waste treatment plants are 

 limited for purposes of completely eliminating any particular waste constituent, 

 including mercury. 



The Environment Protection Agency along with other governmental agencies 

 and private concerns, having recognized the potential threat from increasing 

 mercury discharges before any known damage to man has occurred in the United 

 States, have reversed that trend. With continued progress in the reduction of 

 man-made mercury discharges and continued enforcement of appropriate limita- 

 tions on water and food and the use of mercury in materials such as pesticides 

 and fungicides, it is believed that public health is adequately protected. 



Mr. Rogers. Then one last question. How many enforcement aotions- 

 have been taken by your agency under the Air Polhition Act? I know 

 when you first came in you said you were concerned because only one 

 of any significance had been taken. Have you instituted any enforce- 

 ment actions ? 



Mr. Rtjckelsiiaus. One of the problems we have under the Air Pol- 

 lution Act is that we have two essential enforcement responsibilities. 

 One is to enforce the implementation plans as adopted by the States 

 now. Under the Clean Air Act of 1970, those implementation plans 

 are not adopted for IT to 19 months after the last day of last j^ear. 

 We have an emergency power under the act where there is a substan- 

 tial endangerment to human health. 



Mr. Rogers. Has that authority been used at all ? 



Mr. Rtjckelshaus. That authority has not been used, because we 

 have not as of this time found any circumstances where this occurred 

 where we were not able to get the particular discharger into compli- 

 ance without going to court. But we would certainly use that power if 

 we found it necessary. 



Mr. Rogers. How many actions have we had? The only ones I re- 

 call were in West A^irginia, the chicken case; and the ones in West 

 Virginia were initiated by the Governor. 



Mr. Rtjckelshaus. That is because of the cumbersome administra- 

 tive hearing procedures that were superceded by the Clean Air Act 

 of 1970. Once we get implementation plans adopted, we don't have to 

 go through those cumbersoiiie procedures of having enforcement con- 

 ferences and hearings before we get into court. 



Mr. Rogers. We passed the act last year and I want to know if any 

 actions have been instituted this year. 



