Coalition Victorious in Restoring Ecology Program

March 11, 2004

Olympia, Wash. -- Late yesterday, the state Senate agreed to restore funding to the Department of Ecology's (Ecology) program to phase out mercury, toxic flame retardants (PBDEs), and other persistent toxic chemicals. The final budget, expected to be passed tonight by the Legislature, includes $325,000 for Ecology's program.

"This is a huge win for children and the environment," said Ivy-Sager Rosenthal, environmental advocate for the Washington Public Interest Research Group (WashPIRG). "The legislature has now given its seal of approval to protecting children's health and ridding our environment of these harmful chemicals."
 
The final budget includes money for Ecology to develop a plan to phase out toxic flame retardants (PBDEs). In a recent study by Northwest Environment Watch, high levels of PBDEs were found in the breast milk of Puget Sound women. PBDEs, chemical cousins of PCBs, can impair memory and learning and disturb thyroid hormone levels in lab animals. Industries tried but failed to obtain an exemption in the planning process for one of the forms of PBDE (deca) that is widely used in electronics and textiles. The final budget language requires Ecology to address ALL forms of PBDEs in its phaseout plan. 

"The handwriting is on the wall. Chemicals that wind up in our breast milk and in our bodies that threaten our children's health must be phased out," said Laurie Valeriano, policy director for the Washington Toxics Coalition and breastfeeding mother of twins. "This is a great first step toward protecting our children's health and we now need Ecology to develop a strong plan that will end the legacy of pollution from toxic flame retardants."

Ecology's program got off the ground in 2000 with a vision and plan for the state to reduce and eliminate persistent toxic chemicals by 2020. The program's funding was eliminated in 2003 by the Legislature after intense opposition by the Association of Washington Businesses and others. Gov. Gary Locke took action in January issuing an Executive Order directing Ecology to move forward on phasing out mercury and toxic flame retardants. The governor also jump-started the efforts by providing $100,000 from the state's emergency fund.

"We applaud the Governor and the Legislature for helping to make Washington a leader in protecting public health and the environment from persistent toxic chemicals," said Dr. Charles Weems, board member of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility.

"These actions by the governor and the Legislature give us great hope that Washington state will reverse the toxic trend and improve the health of the Puget Sound ecosystem", said Bruce Wishart, policy director for People for Puget Sound.

Key legislators who fought to restore the Ecology program included: Reps. Cooper, Linville, Hunter, Ruderman, and Sens. Carlson, Fraser, and Zarelli.

"This victory for the environment and public health was truly a bipartisan effort," said Clifford Traisman, state lobbyist for Washington Conservation Voters and Washington Environmental Council. "Without leadership from both sides of the aisle, it would have never happened."

The funding will support Ecology's efforts to: develop the PBDE plan ($83,000); implement its mercury phaseout plan ($159,000); and, conduct rulemaking ($83,000). One major piece of the program that was not funded was monitoring fish for mercury contamination ($111,000). Opposition to the testing came from pulp and paper industry. The fish monitoring is used to measure success of efforts to reduce mercury pollution and to provide data to the Department of Health for issuing fish advisories.

"It's hard to understand why anyone would oppose efforts to determine whether fish are safe to eat," added Rosenthal.  "Without funding, the Department of Health's fish advisory program will suffer and we will not be able to measure the effectiveness of the state's pollution reduction efforts," she concluded. 

Major public health, religious, environmental and community organizations supported restoring funding to Ecology's program to phase out persistent toxic chemicals. These groups included: American Academy Of Pediatrics-Washington State Chapter, Breast Cancer Fund, Institute for Children's Environmental Health, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Western Washington,  Washington Academy of Family Physicians, Washington State Association of Occupational Nurses, Washington State Medical Association, Washington State Nurses Association, Washington State Public Health Association, Earth Ministry, Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, Lutheran Public Policy Office of Washington, Washington Association of Churches, Healthy Building Network, and many others.

Contact:

Ivy Sager-Rosenthal
Washington Toxics Coalition
206-632-1545 ext. 122

Laurie Valeriano
Washington Toxics Coalition
206-632-1545 ext. 114

For more information on our work to phase out persistent toxic chemicals, please visit our Toxic-Free Legacy section.