Transcript Lead-Based Paint and the PCO US-EPA’s Pre

Regulatory Pressures Affecting
Manufacturing in
Contra Costa County
Peter McGaw
ARCHER NORRIS
on behalf of
The Contra Costa Council
Presented to
The Contra Costa County
Board of Supervisors
October 28, 2003
The Contra Costa Council
 A collaboration of business, labor,
government, education and non-profit
organizations
 Nearly 400 members provide
approximately one quarter of the
employment in Contra Costa County
 Dedicated to improving the quality of life
in Contra Costa County and in the Bay Area
Changes in the Regulatory
Climate
Water Quality
Air Quality
Environmental Justice
Precautionary Principle
New Water Quality Regulation
 New rules
 California Toxics Rule
 TMDLs
 New interpretations of existing rules
 Narrative Toxicity Criteria
 Virtually every permit adopted in the Bay
Area in the last three years has been
appealed
New Air Quality Regulation
 Title V
 Ozone and NOx Attainment Plans
 Refinery Flaring Rule
Message Received
 Placing regulatory burdens on those
who have done the most already
 Point sources (Water)
 Stationary sources (Air)
 Least benefit for the cost incurred
Environmental Justice
 The Contra Costa Council actively
supports the fair treatment of all,
regardless of race,culture, or economic
status, with respect to the development,
adoption, implementation and enforcement
of environmental laws
 Need clear criteria before declaring an
issue to be “EJ”
Precautionary Principle
 No activity is entirely risk free
 Precaution is appropriate where risk of
harm cannot be precisely characterized
 Our current regulatory system has
considerable precaution already built in:
 conservative assumptions
 safety factors
 low acceptable risk levels
Precautionary Principle
The Precautionary Principle advocates an
extreme form of precaution:
“Where an activity raises a threat to human
health or the environment, precautionary
measures should be taken even if some cause
and effect relationships are not fully established
scientifically.”
Recommendations of Advisory Committee to CalEPA Interagency Working Group on Environmental
Justice
Precautionary Principle
The Precautionary Principle advocates the
abandonment of sound scientific
investigation as a basis for environmental
decision-making
 Replaces science with unquantifiable
“threats”
 No standards, no procedural criteria
 Easily subject to misapplication and
abuse
Precautionary Principle
Allows regulation based on
unsubstantiated allegations

Requires the impossible: prove a
negative

Precautionary Principle
Adds to cost of products to
consumers

Drains regulatory resources chasing
imaginary or negligible risks

Allows no consideration of potential
benefits


Stifles innovation
Precautionary Principle
Products that would not have passed the
test
 Aspirin and other medications
 Airplanes
 Automobiles
Precautionary Principle
• Chlorine disinfection of drinking water
 Environmental advocates: stop chlorine
disinfection due to potential byproducts
 Peru: 1.3 million people contracted
cholera
 Over 11,000 people died
 One of Latin America’s biggest
cholera epidemics
 All to avoid a handful of purely
speculative cancer cases
Precautionary Principle
• CT and MRI Scans
 Electricity
 High yield crops
 Radar
Environmental Regulation
Science, not speculation
Conclusion
 Manufacturing is important, to
California and to Contra Costa County
 Good, high-paying jobs
 Best job multiplier
 Manufacturing is imperiled in this
County and across the state
Conclusion
 Decisions at the County level can
make Contra Costa business-adverse or
business-friendly
 Advocacy at the Regional and State
level can help preserve Contra Costa
County’s important manufacturing base
California Manufacturers
& Technology Association