SANTA MONICA, CA – Californians can look forward to hazardous waste being “left in place” instead of removed and sent to specially constructed and licensed facilities if lawmakers vote through a gut-and-amended Assembly Bill 1330 without new amendments this week, said Consumer Watchdog.

Consumer Watchdog called on author Assembly Speaker John Perez to amend the bill: “We are writing to ask you to amend AB1330—which would create a gaping hole in environmental protections and allow toxic regulators to leave hazardous waste in place, rather than remove it,” said the group. “The bill was amended hours ago after its third reading, and has not been heard in its present version in any committee.”
 
See Letter Here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/perezab1330ltr9-9-13.pdf

"It's like cleaning up Prince William Sound by letting Exxon leave the oil in the bay," said Consumer Advocate Liza Tucker. The legislation directs the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) to prepare and submit a hazardous waste plan on or before January 1, 2016 that sets out a framework for slashing the amount of hazardous waste generated and disposed of in the state. The bill says that among measures to be employed is “reducing the disposal of hazardous waste.” DTSC Director Debbie Raphael announced that she wanted to significantly reduce the amount of toxic waste disposed of, meaning that it won’t be removed from communities. The DTSC has been the subject of whistleblower and consumer complaints that it is falling down on the job, but the last minute amendments would let polluters have a pass at cleaning up their pollution.  Among the beneficiaries are Boeing, Chevron, KB Homes, Lockheed Martin and Waste Management, all prolific donors in Sacramento.

“No doubt major industry players from Boeing with its radioactively contaminated Simi Valley land to KB Homes, are rubbing their hands together,” the letter said. “This legislation disposes of the need for disposal, saving them untold millions and making official what the DTSC has already been quietly sanctioning.”

Waste that is not removed continues to expose the public to toxins via different pathways from breathing it in to ingesting it through food or water, Tucker said.

For more on the DTSC and its toxic regulators, go to Consumer Watchdog’s recent report “Golden Wasteland”: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/golden-wasteland-report

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