S. HRG. 108–359 CLIMATE HISTORY AND THE SCIENCE UNDER- LYING FATE, TRANSPORT, AND HEALTH EF- FECTS OF MERCURY EMISSIONS HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JULY 29, 2003 Printed for the use of the Committee on Environment and Public Works ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 92–381 PDF WASHINGTON : 2004 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma, Chairman JOHN W. WARNER, Virginia JAMES M. JEFFORDS, Vermont CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri MAX BAUCUS, Montana GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio HARRY REID, Nevada MICHAEL D. CRAPO, Idaho BOB GRAHAM, Florida LINCOLN CHAFEE, Rhode Island JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut JOHN CORNYN, Texas BARBARA BOXER, California LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska RON WYDEN, Oregon CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware WAYNE ALLARD, Colorado HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, New York ANDREW WHEELER, Majority Staff Director KEN CONNOLLY, Minority Staff Director (II) CONTENTS Page JULY 29, 2003 OPENING STATEMENTS Allard, Hon. Wayne, U.S. Senator from the State of Colorado, prepared state- ment ...................................................................................................................... 11 Cornyn, Hon. Jon, U.S. Senator from the State of Texas, prepared statement . 58 Inhofe, Hon. James M., U.S. Senator from the State of Oklahoma .................... 1 Jeffords, Hon. James M., U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont, prepared statement .............................................................................................................. 7 Voinovich, Hon. George V., U.S. Senator from the State of Ohio ........................ 3 WITNESSES Legates, David R., director, Center for Climatic Research, University of Dela- ware ....................................................................................................................... 12 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 209 Levin, Leonard, program manager, Electric Power Research Institute .............. 40 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 211 Mann, Michael E., assistant professor, University of Virginia, Department of Environmental Sciences .................................................................................. 9 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 173 Responses to additional questions from: Senator Inhofe ........................................................................................... 178 Senator Jeffords ......................................................................................... 194 Myers, Gary, professor of Neurology and Pediatrics, Department of Neurology, University of Rochester Medical Center ............................................................ 44 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 299 Rice, Deborah C., toxicologist, Bureau of Remediation and Waste Manage- ment, Maine Department of Environmental Protection ................................... 42 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 283 Responses to additional questions from Senator Jeffords ............................. 284 Soon, Willie, astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics ..... 6 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 58 Responses to additional questions from Senator Jeffords ............................. 155 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL Articles: Climate Research, Vol. 23:89–110, 2003, Proxy Climatic and Environ- mental Changes of the Past 1000 years ......................................................127–148 Energy & Environment Vol. 14, Nos. 2 and 3, 2003, Reconstructing Climatic and Environmental Changes of the Past 1000 Years: A Re- appraisal....................................................................................................... 60–126 Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 31, Estimation and Representation of Long-term (>40 year) Trends of Northern-Hemisphere-gridded Sur- face Temperature: A Note of Caution ...................................................... 149–154 Original Contributions, Effects of Prenatal and Postnatal Methylmercury Exposure From Fish Consumption on Neurodevelopment..................... 302–308 Personal Health, Tip the Scale in Favor of Fish: The Healthful Benefits Await .............................................................................................................. 321 Risk Analysis, Vol. 23, No. 1, 2003, Methods and Rationale for Derivation of a Reference Dose for Methylmercury by the U.S. EPA .........................290–298 (III) IV Page —Continued The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 6, 2003, Clear Skies Mercury Curb Put in Doubt ........................................................................................ 317 The Lancet, Prenatal Methylmercury Exposure from Ocean Fish Con- sumption in the Seychelles Child Development Study........................... 309–316 The New York Times, July 29, 2003, Does Mercury Matter? Experts Debate the Big Fish Question ...................................................................... 319 The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 7, 2003, Mercury Rising ......................... 318 Chart, National Mean Mercury Concentration in Tissues of Selected Fish Species (all sample types) .................................................................................... 289 Letter, to Senator Inhofe, from John Christy ........................................................ 323 Report, EPRI, May 2003, A Framework for Assessing the Cost-Effectiveness of Electric Power Sector Mercury Control Policies ........................................ 217–282 CLIMATE HISTORY AND THE SCIENCE UN- DERLYING FATE, TRANSPORT, AND HEALTH EFFECTS OF MERCURY EMISSIONS TUESDAY, JULY 29, 2003 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9 o’clock a.m. in room 406, Senate Dirksen Building, Hon. James M. Inhofe (chairman of the committee) presiding. Present: Senators Inhofe, Allard, Carper, Clinton, Cornyn, Jef- fords, Thomas and Voinovich. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES M. INHOFE, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA Senator INHOFE. The meeting will come to order. We have a policy that we announced when I became chairman of the committee that we will start on time, whether anyone is here or not here, members, witnesses or others. So I appreciate all of you being punctual in spite of the fact that the Senators are not. One of my primary objectives as chairman of the committee is to improve the way in which science is used. I think that when I be- came chairman of this committee, I announced three very out- rageous things that we were going to do in this committee that have not been done before. No. 1, we are going to try to base our decisions, things that we do, on sound science. No. 2, we are going to be looking at the costs of some of these regulations, some of these policies that we have, and determine what they are going to be. And No. 3, we are going to try to reprogram the attitudes of the bureaucracy so that they are here not to rule, but to serve. Good public policy decisions depend on what is real or probable, not simply on what serves our respective political agendas. When science is debated openly and honestly, public policy can be debated on firmer grounds. Scientific inquiry cannot be censored. Scientific debate must be open. It must be unbiased. It must stress facts rather than political agendas. Before us today, we have two researchers who have published what I consider to be a credible, well-documented, and scientifically defensible study examining the history of climate change. Further- more, these are top fields of inquiry in the Nation’s energy environ- ment debate and really the entire world’s energy environment de- bate. We can all agree that the implications of this science are global, not only in terms of the environmental impacts, but also en- (1) 2 ergy impacts, global trade impacts, and quite frankly, no less than global governance impacts. We could also all agree that as a result of the import and impact of these issues, it is absolutely crucial that we get this science right. False or incomplete or misconstrued data are simply not an acceptable basis for policymaking decisions in which the Congress of the United States is involved. Such data would violate the Data Quality Act, which we passed on a bipartisan basis here in the Senate and which we have bipartisanly embraced. If we need more data to satisfy our standards, then so be it. This Administration is prepared to do so in an aggressive strat- egy that the climate change strategic plan outlines. The 1000-year climate study that the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astro- physics has compiled is a powerful new work of science. It has re- ceived much attention, and rightfully so. I would add at this time, it did not receive much attention from some of the liberal media who just did not want to