Instructions for Filing Exemption Petitions Under the Mercury Export Ban Act of 2008
On this page:
- Under what conditions may EPA grant a petition?
- What should I include in my petition?
- Where should I send my petition?
- What about confidential business information?
- How will EPA decide whether to grant my petition?
Any person residing in the U.S. may petition EPA for an exemption from the ban on export of elemental (metallic) mercury imposed by section 12(c)(1) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) by filing a petition for exemption. Petitions must be submitted on an individual basis for each person affected by the export ban.
Under what conditions may EPA grant a petition?
EPA may grant by rule, after notice and opportunity for comment, an exemption for a specified use at an identified foreign facility if each of the following findings is satisfied:
- Non-mercury alternatives for the specified use are not available in the country where the facility is located.
- There is no other source of elemental mercury available from domestic supplies (not including new mercury mines) in the country where the elemental mercury will be used.
- The country where the elemental mercury will be used certifies its support for the exemption.
- The export will be conducted in such a manner as to ensure the elemental mercury will be used at the identified facility and not otherwise diverted for other uses for any reason.
- The elemental mercury will be used in a manner that will protect human health and the environment, taking into account local, regional, and global human health and environmental effects.
- The elemental mercury will be handled and managed in a manner that will protect human health and the environment, taking into account local, regional, and global human health and environmental effects.
- The export of elemental mercury for the specified use is consistent with international obligations of the United States intended to reduce global mercury supply, use, and pollution.
What should I include in my petition?
Each petition should:
- Provide the name, address and telephone number of the petitioner.
- State the length of time requested for the exemption (the maximum length of an exemption is three years).
- Describe the elemental mercury to be exported, including the amount of elemental mercury to be exported during the requested exemption period (maximum amount is ten metric tons).
- Identify the country to which the elemental mercury will be exported and the facility at which the elemental mercury will be used under the exemption.
- State the basis for the petitioner's contention that the following criteria of section 12(c)(4)(A)(i) – (vii) of TSCA are met:
- Non-mercury alternatives for the specified use are not available in the country where the facility is located.
- There is no other source of elemental mercury available from domestic supplies (not including new mercury mines) in the country where the elemental mercury will be used.
- The country where the elemental mercury will be used certifies its support for the exemption.
- The export will be conducted in such a manner as to ensure the elemental mercury will be used at the identified facility as described in the petition, and not otherwise diverted for other uses for any reason.
- The elemental mercury will be used in a manner that will protect human health and the environment, taking into account local, regional, and global human health and environmental impacts.
- The elemental mercury will be handled and managed in a manner that will protect human health and the environment, taking into account local, regional, and global human health and environmental impacts; and use is consistent with international obligations of the United States intended to reduce global mercury supply, use and pollution.
- The export of elemental mercury for the specified use is consistent with international obligations of the United States intended to reduce global mercury supply, use and pollution.
Where should I send my petition?
Submit your petition by one of the following methods:
Mail:
Document Control Officer (7407M)
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20460
Attention: Sue Slotnick, MEBA Exemption Petition
Hand Delivery:
OPPT Document Control Office (DCO)
EPA East Bldg., Rm. 6428
1201 Constitution Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20004
Attention: Sue Slotnick, MEBA Exemption Petition
The DCO is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the DCO is (202) 564-8930. Deliveries are only accepted during the DCO's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information.
What about confidential business information?
EPA encourages the submission of non-confidential information by petitioners and petitioners. However, a petitioner may submit information claimed to be confidential necessary to state his or her position.
Clearly mark the part or all of the information that you claim to be confidential. For confidential information in a disk or CD-ROM that you mail to EPA, mark the outside of the disk or CD-ROM as confidential and then identify electronically within the disk or CD-ROM the specific information that is claimed as confidential.
If EPA determines the exemption petition meets the criteria, a public docket will be established for the exemption petition. Confidential information if submitted with the exemption petition will be placed in a confidential file, not available to the public. EPA will then state in the public docket that the petitioner requested confidentiality for certain information submitted with the exemption petition in accordance with the procedures in 40 CFR part 2, subpart B.
How will EPA decide whether to grant my petition?
EPA will initiate rulemaking to grant an exemption if it finds that the criteria of section 12(c)(4)(A)(i) – (vii) of TSCA are met. After notice and an opportunity for comment, EPA will determine whether to grant the exemption. EPA reserves the right to request information additional to what is included in a petition.
Each exemption issued by the Administrator will contain such terms and conditions as are necessary to minimize the export of elemental mercury and ensure that the conditions for granting the exemption will be fully met, and shall contain such other terms and conditions as EPA may prescribe. No exemption granted pursuant to this paragraph may exceed three years in duration and no such exemption may exceed ten metric tons of elemental mercury.
For questions about exemptions from the Mercury Export Ban Act of 2008, contact Sue Slotnick of the National Program Chemicals Division at (202) 566-1973 or slotnick.sue@epa.gov.