Mercury battery ban meets roadblock

The final component of Maine’s effort to ban the use of mercury in common household products was stalled Tuesday by legislators calling for further study.

Members of the Natural Resources Committee voted to hold over a bill seeking to regulate the sale and disposal of button-cell batteries, the small tabs used to power hearing aids and many novelty toys.

A Maine Department of Environmental Protection proposal would have called for banning “novelty products” – cheap toys with mercury-containing batteries sealed inside – and eliminating the use of all such batteries over time.

However, several legislators raised concerns about how “novelties” would be defined and whether alternatives to mercury batteries truly exist. While at least one Chinese company is marketing an alternative battery, representatives of major battery manufacturers at a public hearing last week raised concerns about the products’ quality.

Legislators also questioned why all battery makers weren’t being forced to comply with a 2001 bill requiring that all companies report their sales of mercury-containing products – including batteries – to the DEP. That registry was designed to inform the Legislature, so that any future product bans could be done with “a stiletto and not a sledgehammer” said Rep. Robert Daigle, R-Arundel.

“You’re going to take that sledgehammer out and kill an ant,” Daigle said of the proposed ban on button-cell batteries, which are a relatively small source of mercury.

A majority of his fellow legislators agreed, voting to carry the bill over to next year’s legislative session. In the meantime, lawmakers called on DEP to collect more detailed information about mercury-battery alternatives and how to keep a “novelty” product ban narrowly focused.

Rep. Joanne Twomey, D-Biddeford, and Rep. Jane Eberle, D-South Portland, opposed the decision.