RE: [greenyes] Swedish Proposal on Deep Rock Terminal Storage of Mercury

[TomT <TomT@no.address>]

When I read this I think of my freshman year in engineering when a speaker
was talking about ethics in engineering.  The hypothetical situation was
dumping waste water with heavy metals into a stream.  The regulation said
only X% of heavy metals per gallon.  So then the company dumping the garbage
just has to do a little math and add the appropriate amount of water to
their slurry to make sure that it meets X%.

I hope the makers of this bill take things like that into account.

-----Original Message-----
From: Reindl, John [mailto:Reindl@no.address]
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2003 10:46 AM
To: 'GreenYes@no.address'
Subject: [greenyes] Swedish Proposal on Deep Rock Terminal Storage of
Mercury


The Swedish Government has proposed a bill to require that waste containing
at least 1% mercury be permanently stored deep in the bedrock by 2015. The
following is a news release of May 20th from the Swedish Ministry of the
Environment on this proposal. 

John Reindl
Dane County, WI 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Proposal on Deep Rock Terminal Storage of Mercury

One of the main proposals in the bill "A society with a non-toxic and
resource-saving ecocycle" is a proposal on deep rock terminal storage of
mercury. 

The Government proposes a legal requirement that waste containing at least 1
percent by weight of mercury shall be stored permanently deep in the bedrock
by 2015 at the latest. Storage may also be an option for waste containing
lower concentrations of mercury if this is deemed reasonable according to
the criteria in the Swedish Environmental Code. The Government will appoint
a coordinator to coordinate implementation, taking technical, environmental,
social and economic conditions into account.

Under the Swedish strategy, mercury should not be recycled but should be
terminally disposed of in a safe and environmentally sound way. Starting
from this principle, the Government has commissioned two inquiries into how
such terminal disposal can be effected. In 2001, the Committee on the
Terminal Storage of Mercury proposed a legal requirement that waste
containing mercury should be stored permanently deep in the bedrock. Waste
owners should cooperate and bear the responsibility for the location,
construction and management of a deep storage facility. Several technical
and 
legal issues remain to be solved before a storage facility can become a
reality. 
 
  
http://www.regeringen.se/galactica/service=irnews/owner=sys/action=obj_show?
c_obj_id=51816