The Interim Health and Environment Committee should reject the PCB recommendations of the Utah Solid and Hazardous Waste Board.
The mission of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and the Utah Board of Solid and Hazardous Waste should not be to perpetuate the flow of toxic wastes into Utah in order to provide operating revenues for the DEQ.A more appropriate mission for the DEQ and the Board would be to do everything possible to decrease the amount of imported waste that is listed as hazardous in other states.
Toward this end, our group has endeavored this past year to engage diverse supporters in the formation of a Citizens Advisory Committee on Imported Waste that would help to counterbalance the undue influence of the imported waste lobby on imported waste policy formulation in Utah.
Furthermore, we recommend that the interim committee reject the PCB recommendations of the Utah Solid and Hazardous Waste Board. We urge, instead, that the interim committee initiate legislation that will designate PCBs as hazardous waste in Utah and increase fees on PCBs by 50 percent.
By demonstrating this courage to be green, the Interim Health and Environment Committee will send a compelling message to concerned Utahns, toxic waste producers and the rest of the nation that Utah can no longer be perceived and used as an easy place to dump toxic wastes.
Peter Durkson
Co-chairperson
Utah Citizens Watchdog Committee on Imported Waste