BILL REQ. #:  S-0631.2 

Read first time 02/04/2003.   Referred to Committee on Natural Resources, Energy & Water.

     TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, Toxic waste sites threaten public and environmental health; and
     WHEREAS, The threats to public health posed by toxic waste sites include cancer and other diseases caused by PCBs, benzene, cadmium, TCE, and arsenic, and central nervous system damage caused by lead; and
     WHEREAS, One in four people in the United States live within four miles of a Superfund site; and
     WHEREAS, Thirty-six of forty-eight Superfund sites in the state of Washington involve ground water contamination and sixty-one percent of people in Washington rely on ground water for drinking water; and
     WHEREAS, Superfund is the nation's preeminent law for cleaning up the most contaminated toxic waste sites; and
     WHEREAS, The success of Superfund depends upon taxes that make polluting industries and users of dangerous products pay to clean up contamination, when polluters refuse to undertake clean-up, or cannot be found, or cannot afford to pay; and
     WHEREAS, Since the creation of Superfund, every previous administration has collected and supported reauthorization of Superfund taxes on polluting industries and users of dangerous products; and
     WHEREAS, These taxes expired in 1995 and the three billion dollars in remaining funds have now diminished to less than thirty million dollars; and
     WHEREAS, The amount that citizens now contribute to cover the cost of clean-ups has increased, but funding of clean-ups has decreased, and taxes on polluting industries and users of dangerous products have not been reauthorized; and
     WHEREAS, The rate of clean-up of toxic waste sites has decreased by more than fifty percent in two years; and
     WHEREAS, In the state of Washington, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has told a community that the agency cannot conduct a human health risk assessment at a site that is contaminated with heavy metals and radioactive material; and
     WHEREAS, The longer that toxic waste sites remain polluted, the greater the threat to the health of neighboring communities;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that Superfund taxes on polluting industries and users of dangerous products be reauthorized, in order to clean-up the most heavily contaminated toxic waste sites to protect public and environmental health, and that the amount of funding that is contributed by citizens be reduced.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.