CC Minutes - 02/14/05 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Steve Johnson, 3818 Laurel Hill, illustrated his comments with two posters, entitled Eugene Toxics Right to Know: Reporting Businesses and Eugene Toxics Right to Know: Proposed New Businesses. He asserted that the only way to learn what and how much hazardous substance was being released was to refer to the reports available through the Toxics Right-to-Know Program. He stated that auto repair and filling stations released enormous amounts of benzene that had negative effects on children, as supported by a study by the federal Department of Health and Human Services. Lisa Arkin, 1192 Lawrence Street, Eugene, the Executive Director of the Oregon Toxics Alliance, said the primary mission of the alliance was to inform the public and the media about toxic use issues. She said the public needed to be aware of toxics issues to better plan community health. She said that The Register- Guard recently erroneously implied that Eugene's Toxics Right-to-Know Program was the only one in the state because no other city was interested in establishing a similar program. She countered that opposition or lack of interest played no role in the singularity of Eugene's program, but that no other community was able to put such a program in place due to a 1999 law, House Bill 2431, supported by the Oregon Associated Industries, that discouraged any city or county from enacting right-to-know ordinances due to policy hurdles and economic barriers. She stated Portland recently adopted a toxics reduction strategy whereby the City and Multnomah County adopted policies that supported reduction and elimination of public and environmental exposures to toxic pollutants, and similar programs were in place in Lake Oswego, Seattle, Cleveland and San Francisco, as well as the states of New Jersey and Massachusetts. In response to The Registe~Guard's contention that there was little public interest in the reports that could be accessed on the City's website, Ms. Arkin stated the Oregon Toxics Alliance received at least 20 to 30 calls annually, many from people considering moving to Eugene, seeking assistance in determining the risk of exposure to hazardous emissions in various parts of the city. Dianne Lobes, 4595 Fox Hollow Road, said that it was entirely fair that any company that used hazardous materials should contribute to the administrative costs of the Toxics Right-to-Know Program. What was unfair was for a company to claim it was unfair to pay a fee because their use was less than the threshold of 2,640 pounds annually. She stated there was evidence linking cumulative chronic chemical exposures to illness and chronic health conditions, asserting that the public had a right to know about all hazardous emissions in the community, regardless of whether or not they met the 2,640 pound threshold. The proposed ordinance would improve the City's Toxics Right-to-Know Program by bringing it into alignment with the voters' intention. Lynne Fessenden, 95348 Grimes Road, Junction City, a scientist who worked for a national non-profit on toxic issues, encouraged the council to adopt the proposed ordinance to address the inequities in the current funding of the hazardous substance reporting program. She said knowledge was essential, and that synthetic chemicals could be found in all sources of surface water in the United States and in our bodies. She said that public health officials, health care providers, public servants and policy makers, regulatory authorities, and citizens must understand that specific knowledge of the home, community, workplace and school environments was essential information for identifying health risks and implementing preventive strategies against disease and disability. She said Eugene's program illustrated a sophisticated comprehension of this new age of ubiquitous chemical contamination and was leading the way in addressing informed decision making with transparent, relevant and valuable information. She urged the council and the Toxics Board to create an equitable fee system. MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 14, 2005 Page 16 Regular Session