On April 9, the House Environment and Energy Committee held a hearing on HB 3281, the bill introduced by Rep. Jim Welsh [R, District 43 -- Veneta, Noti, Elmira, Eugene] on behalf of the Associated Oregon Industries and the American Electronics Association to nullify the Toxic Right to Know initiative Eugene passed in November and to prevent any other Oregon community from learning what chemicals are being used and disposed of in their environment. Welsh states that he is "totally opposed to punishing industry" with this regulation. Evidently exposing the general public and wildlife to unknown toxics is not a punishment.

Eugene Representatives Kitty Piercy, Floyd Prozanski, and Cynthia Wooten, Senator Susan Castillo, City Councilor Ken Tollenaar, and Eugene Fire Marshal Dave Peterson all testified against the bill. Industry reps from AOI, AEA, and several Eugene companies, including Molecular Probe and Forrest Paints then spoke at length.

Citizens did not get to the mike until 10 minutes to 4:00, and the hearing ended at 4:00. Thus, industry representatives, who are paid to testify, were heard, while unpaid citizens, concerned about the health and welfare of their communities, who had come from Portland, Corvallis, Salem and Eugene, were told they would have to return, at an unspecified time, to testify at another hearing.

Aside from the attempt to withhold vital information from citizens, the bill is a major attack on home rule: it bars any community, city, county, or regional agency from passing any law or establishing any rule or regulation that would gather information on any toxics used or released by private companies for the purpose of informing the public.

The principle of home rule has already been violated by the legislature in several instances. In the last legislative session, legislators prohibited communities from regulating or requiring notification about local pesticide use by tacking the previously vetoed bill onto the Light Rail bill, which they knew Governor Kitzhaber would not veto.

Industry representatives insisted, based on an extremely restrictive interpretation, that requirements of Eugene's Toxic Right to Know law would put some companies out of business. Some of those testifying sit on the Eugene Toxics Board, which is implementing the law. There are a variety of techniques regarding measuring, monitoring and estimating amounts of toxics being discussed that are acceptable to industry. Industry continued to insist that any necessary information on industrial chemicals is already available, and any that isn't is not reasonable to collect.

The State Fire Marshal only gathers data on what toxics are stored on-site, none on where stored or produced chemicals end up: the air, the water, or products. Federal data on some such releases apply only to a subset of hazardous chemicals, and then only if the manufacturer uses 10,000 pounds or makes 25,000 pounds of them.

Industry also complained that no one had consulted them when writing the initiative, but the authors of HB3281 did not consult any of the 29,901 Eugene citizens who voted for the Toxic Right to Know initiative, nor with citizens who have attempted to obtain information about chemicals in their communities and found out it unavailable.

Rep. Welsh noted that the industry representatives "represented over 250 workers." But do those workers know what chemicals they're being exposed to? Could they find out? Ken Tollenaar, as City Councilor, represents over 110,000 people, including 29,901 voters who voted for the Toxic Right to Know initiative.

The Toxic Right to Know Committee is alerting citizens, City Councils and County Commissions throughout the state of the threat of HB3281 to democracy and home rule.

SB585, another bill that threatens the TRK by pre-empting communities' ability to charge hazardous waste fees, would also prevent DEQ from collecting fees on hazardous materials and reduce its budget by about $1 million. These provisions were removed from the bill by an amendment introduced by Sen. Eileen Qutub [ R-Beaverton] and sent to the Ways and Means Committee, where another bill has been introduced to increase fees. Two days later, Ways and Means kicked it back to the Livability Committee, and the process is back at square one.