The Department of Environmental Quality and the State Air Pollution Control Board will conduct a mercury symposium on November 28-29, 2007 at the Omni Newport News Hotel (1000 Omni Boulevard, Newport News, VA).

The symposium’s purpose is to raise awareness and understanding of Virginia mercury air emissions, emissions prevention and control techniques, transport and deposition, and health effects and risk assessment.  It will provide interim results from the ongoing DEQ mercury study, which is being performed in response to General Assembly request.  The study will include an examination of mercury sources and deposition as well as environmental and economic assessments of existing mercury controls. Experts from Resources for the Future, the Institute of Clean Air Companies, the Smithsonian Institution, ICF International, the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, environmental non-governmental organizations, Electric Power Research Institute, Virginia Tech, and Virginia Commonwealth University are among the planned speakers.

Please note that this symposium is oriented toward air emissions and their impacts.  It will not address mercury-containing products; surface mercury releases and cleanup of contaminated sites; or recovery, recycling, treatment, and disposal of mercury-bearing wastes, among other mercury-related topics.

Invited participants will include Commonwealth environmental board members, relevant state agency staff, industry, non-governmental organizations, academics, and policy research professionals. The symposium will also be open to interested members of the public as observers.