You’d think we might tire over on this site here writing about environmental policy that is being drastically rewritten under the new administration. But you’d think wrong. I don’t even know why you thought that.

Anyway, back to the point at hand. After chucking out the Bush administration policy that stated nations should voluntarily control mercury emissions, the United States has joined with more than 140 nations and agreed to sign an international treaty that will control mercury emissions. From the Washington Post:

The agreement, announced at a high-level United Nations meeting of environmental ministers in Nairobi yesterday came after Obama administration officials reversed U.S. policy and embraced the idea of joining in a binding pact. Once the administration said it was reversing the course set by President George W. Bush, China, India and other nations also agreed to endorse the goal of a mandatory treaty.

Now, before we get toooooo excited (because this is pretty exciting, in an environmentalism sort of way), since this is a ginormous international treaty that will have to be all official and whatnot, negotiations are going to start towards the end of this year, and be over after Obama’s first term is done. As in 2013, tentatively. So, if Bush gets back in office, he could stop the process before it was finished. Anyway, back to the treaty.

The White House issued a statement saying a future treaty would use “a combination of legally binding and voluntary commitments” to cut mercury emissions from industrial processes as well as coal-fired power plants and small-scale mining.

So, once this all comes together, this could be a very beneficial treaty, and environmental people are psyched, as one analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council called the administration’s decision “an amazing and astonishing turn of events.”

In case you were wondering, by the way, the article states that mercury is a “toxin that hampers brain development among infants and young children worldwide.” So, it’s not so awesome.

takepart with the Natural Resources Defense Council.