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At the Ecology Center

Michigan Pays Dearly for Failed Energy Policy of the 1990's

June/July Issue, 2004

Mercury pollution from automobiles is at record levels, according to an April report by the Ecology Center and Clean Car Campaign. A record 18,000 pounds of mercury pollution was released into the U.S. environment last year when scrap vehicles were recycled and an estimated 259,000 pounds of mercury have been released into the environment over the past 30 years. Most troubling, according to the new analysis, is that approximately an equal amount could be released over the next two decades if action is not taken soon to recover the mercury in vehicles before they are scrapped.

Domestic automakers have used more than 200 million, one-gram mercury switches in vehicles since the early 1970s. In January 2001, the Ecology Center and Environmental Defense released reports documenting that the processing of scrap automobiles at steel manufacturing facilities was the 4th largest source of mercury emissions into the environment.

The reports called on auto manufacturers to take immediate steps to eliminate mercury use in new vehicles, and to remove, collect, and replace mercury switches in vehicles already on the road. Since the 2001 reports, automakers completed an accelerated phase-out of mercury switches in new vehicles but have done little to encourage the recovery of mercury from the millions of vehicles still on the road.

“In the three years since the reports, less than one percent of the mercury in vehicles has been recovered nationally, resulting in the release of an estimated 54,000 pounds of mercury into the environment,” said Jeff Gearhart, Ecology Center Auto Project Campaign Director. “It’s time for automakers to be part of the solution, not part of problem.”

This latest Clean Car Campaign analysis highlights model legislation that would require automakers to help pay for the removal and collection of mercury switches from vehicles before they are processed for recycling. This legislation, which has been introduced in New Jersey, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and is law in Maine, was developed through a collaborative effort that included both industry and environmentalist organizations, the Partnership for Mercury-Free Vehicles.

Mercury is a persistent heavy metal that is highly toxic to humans and wildlife and is dangerous in even tiny amounts. The EPA has recently estimated that one in every six women of childbearing age has enough mercury in her blood to pose a risk to her child -- resulting in over 600,000 children being born each year overexposed to mercury.

To download a copy of the report, go to:
www.cleancarcampaign.org/mercuryupdate.shtml.

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