In its long-standing tradition of bucking every measure designed to protect our environment, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers has filed a lawsuit against Maine to derail a new law regulating mercury switches in car lights and ABS brakes.

The law, passed last year, prohibits automakers from selling cars manufactured after Jan. 1, 2003 if they contain mercury switches. If the cars do contain the switches, the manufacturer must provide a system for proper removal and recycling. The law also prohibits the sale of mercury switches for installation in any car after Jan. 1.

Automakers have already eliminated mercury in cars sold in Europe, so fighting a similar measure in the United States is hypocritical.

Maine is the first state to enact a law banning these switches in new cars. We acted first because we have higher mercury deposits in our state than elsewhere and we know the damage this poisonous element causes.

The auto industry claims Maine’s law is unconstitutional. That we are compelling “speech” by requiring the industry to “provide information, training and other technical assistance” for the collection of switches in older cars. The industry also objects to being forced to establish disposal sites and pay a minimum of $1 for every mercury switch dropped off at those sites.

We understand that the auto industry felt compelled to file suit. It has a history of battling environmental protections.

However, the argument it makes that the law is unconstitutional is not just weak, it’s transparent.

Requiring proper disposal of mercury switches is no different than requiring proper disposal of car batteries. In Maine and elsewhere, car owners must turn in their used batteries or face a hefty core fee.

In order to implement this battery disposal system there must have been information, training and other technical assistance provided and we don’t find battery recycling onerous. It is responsible management of a potential environmental hazard.

So is proper disposal of mercury switches.

The Maine People’s Alliance, Natural Resources Council of Maine, Natural Resources Defense Council and the Learning Disabilities Association of Maine have joined the Attorney General’s Office in fighting the automakers’ lawsuit. Good. We need a show of force and conviction on this issue.

We also urge newly-elected Rep. Elaine Makas of Lewiston to get involved.

She has just been appointed to the Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Natural Resources and will help guide standards for Maine’s air and water quality and disposal of solid, hazardous and biomedical wastes, among other things. We need her voice in this dispute.

There are 2,300 pounds of mercury in light switches in Maine’s 1.3 million registered cars, and more in brake systems. Each time one of these switches breaks in a crash, or cracks and leaks its contents, we are exposed to an element that causes brain damage, memory loss, nerve and kidney damage, vision problems, hallucinations and increased blood pressure.

This is a fight for our health. But it’s also a fight for basic fairness.

Automakers have produced mercury-free cars for Europeans since 1995 and ought to be able to do the same for Americans. Or is the standard of consumer care different for us?


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