S-4829.2 _______________________________________________
SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6401
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State of Washington 53rd Legislature 1994 Regular Session
By Senate Committee on Ecology & Parks (originally sponsored by Senators Franklin, Winsley, Prentice, Rinehart, Pelz, Talmadge, Moore, Drew, Fraser, Moyer, Wojahn and Williams)
Read first time 02/04/94.
AN ACT Relating to environmental equity; and creating new sections.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds and declares that each community in the state should equitably share the responsibilities, burdens, and benefits of managing and solving the state environmental problems, and the facilities necessary to remedy such problems. The legislature also finds that an inequitable distribution of environmental risks across different population groups has been demonstrated in other areas of the United States. In many of these areas, environmental facility siting and toxic chemical releases have had a disproportionately negative or discriminatory impact on racial minority and low-income communities. In order to determine whether such inequities exist within Washington state, the legislature seeks to (1) identify those areas of the state that are subject to the highest reported releases of toxic chemicals; and (2) identify those areas of the state in which the greatest number of environmental facilities have been sited so that reported and potential chemical release impacts on different individuals and groups can be better understood.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout sections 1 through 3 of this act.
(1) "Environmental facility" means a facility that has:
(a) Reported under the toxic release inventory (section 313) of the federal emergency planning and community right-to-know act (P.L. 99-499, Title III); or
(b) Been placed on the hazardous sites list, as maintained by the department of ecology, pursuant to RCW 70.105D.030; or
(c) Interim status or a final permit from either the department of ecology or the environmental protection agency as a treatment, storage, or disposal facility.
(2) "Low-income community" means any census tract or subdivision thereof in which thirty percent or more of the population lives below the federal poverty level.
(3) "Minority community" means any census tract or subdivision thereof that includes twenty-five percent or more of any racial or ethnic group.
(4) "Toxic chemicals" means any substance reported under the toxic release inventory (section 313) of the federal emergency planning and community right-to-know act (P.L. 99-499, Title III) on the effective date of this section.
(5) "Tract" means any census tract or block numbering area identified and designated in the state by the United States census bureau in the latest census available.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. By June 30, 1995, the department of ecology and the department of health shall jointly prepare a report to the legislature providing information on the distribution of reported toxic chemical releases and environmental facilities in relation to minority and low-income census tracts. The report shall include the following elements:
(1) A breakdown of the population by race and ethnicity, and the percentage of persons below the federal poverty level for each census tract;
(2) A survey indicating the location and types of permitted environmental facilities located within each census tract in the state;
(3) A list of tracts ranked in order of the amount of toxic chemicals released during the most recent five years based on information reported in the toxic release inventory required under the federal emergency planning and community right-to-know act. For the purposes of this study, the fifty tracts with the highest total toxic releases shall be referred to as "environmental high impact areas"; and
(4) Recommendations on further studies and/or actions that could be taken by the legislature or the departments of ecology and health to address environmental equity concerns.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. The study authorized under this act shall not apply to toxic substances releases or environmental facilities associated with agricultural operations, including those that use, store, or dispose of pesticides or herbicides.
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