House legislation to ban exports of elemental mercury still faces lingering obstacles, despite a recent compromise between industry and environmentalist stakeholders on how to deal with expected mercury stockpiles — one of the most contentious issues surrounding the bill. Chemical industry officials are uncertain whether they will sign a letter encouraging lawmakers to support the export ban legislation, and it is unclear whether mining industry officials will drop their initial opposition to the bill despite the recent compromise. Further complicating passage of the bill, H.R. 1534, the Department of Energy (DOE) is also raising concerns about whether it has the capacity to handle mercury stockpiles. Most stakeholder groups participating in talks on the bill have agreed to a proposed amendment under which DOE would take custody of private elemental mercury stockpiles generated within the United States, industry and environmentalist sources say.
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