Automakers Press Objection to Maine's Mercury Switch Law

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BANGOR, Maine, August 4, 2003 (ENS)

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers has filed an objection to a federal magistrate judge's recommended rejection of their lawsuit against Maine's mercury auto switch law. Maine is the first state in the United States to require automakers to accept responsibility for preventing mercury pollution from old cars. ---

Passed in April 2002, the Maine law, "An Act to Prevent Mercury Emissions when Recycling and Disposing of Motor Vehicles," took effect as of January 1, 2003. It requires automakers to pay a $1 fee to junkyards and scrap dealers for each mercury switch brought to a consolidation center. Automakers are required to set up these consolidation centers and provide for collection and shipping of the mercury switches to recycling centers. ---

In Maine, an estimated 2,300 pounds of mercury is in the light switches of the 1.3 million registered cars in the state. Just one tablespoon of mercury is enough to render all the fish unsafe to eat in a 1,400 acre lake, says the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

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