US EPA: Mercury Study Report to Congress - Vol. 3 - Fate and Transport of Mercury in the Environment
Description
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Section 112(n)(1)(B) of the Clean Air Act (CAA), as amended in 1990, requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to submit a study on atmospheric mercury emissions to Congress. The sources of emissions that must be studied include electric utility steam generating units, municipal waste combustion units and other sources, including area sources. Congress directed that the Mercury Study evaluate many aspects of mercury emissions, including the rate and mass of emissions, health and environmental effects, technologies to control such emissions, and the costs of such controls. In response to this mandate, U.S. EPA has prepared an eight-volume Mercury Study Report to Congress. This document is a review of mercury fate and transport (Volume III of the Report). The fate and transport assessment is one component of the risk assessment of U.S. anthropogenic mercury emissions. The modeling summarized in this volume is paired with an assessment of exposure to human and wildlife populations (Volume IV). Conclusions drawn from these analyses are then integrated with information in Volumes V and VI relating to human and wildlife health impacts of mercury in the Risk Characterization Volume (Volume VII) of the Report .
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