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Legislative Update #15, April 20, 2001SIERRA CLUB - Grand Canyon Chapter To: Conservation Friends Hi all! It is on a sad note that I write this week's update. Yesterday, Senator Andy Nichols died . We will miss him. He was a true friend of environmental protection and a decent human being. He acted as a strong advocate for environmental protection while serving on the House Environment Committee and tried to help defeat the worst of the environmental legislation that passed through that committee, including the "Polluter Protection Act." He supported Proposition 202, the Citizens' Growth Management Initiative, even when it was clear it was going to be defeated, and this year has been working on a Growth Management Task Force, to see if he could help bring folks together to promote solutions to growth-related problems. He is probably best known for his work to ensure good health care for all. Senator Nichols was a man of integrity and compassion in a legislative body that often lacks both. HB2524 NOW: Management of state land and resources (Flake) is still around and where it is headed seems to change daily. The bill in its current form will undermine county, city, and town authority to enter into conservation agreements with federal agencies and also severely limit local governments' ability to pass ordinances relating to land management and protection in their communities. With this measure, state agencies can effectively veto ordinances that seek to provide more protection and habitat for wildlife, such as Pima County's Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan or even Scottsdale's McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Please keep up the pressure on your senator and ask him/her to vote no on this anti-conservation, anti-local control bill. Also, ask your senators to oppose HB2426 environment; NPDES program (Huffman, Blendu, Graf, Landrum, et. al.) unless the Richardson Floor Amendment is adopted. This bill is ADEQ's attempt to take charge of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program for discharges to surface waters. We remain unconvinced that the legislature will provide adequate funding for the program and we object to provisions that prohibit ADEQ from doing anything more stringent than the Clean Water Act. We are also concerned about the level of enforcement -- in the bill everything is discretionary -- and about how ADEQ will address endangered species issues. We think the agency should be required to consult with U.S. Fish and Wildlife regarding the impact on any endangered species and ADEQ does not. Finally, the bill limits citizens' ability to appeal agency actions related to issuing a NPDES permit. Please ask senators to oppose SCR1004 state land exchanges; school lands (Bowers, Hamilton, Bundgaard, et al.) This bill was amended on the House Floor to include some additional positive provisions, but it still does not contain adequate protections against abuse. Besides, the governor is only pushing this bill in order to undercut efforts to put together a conservation-oriented ballot measure. This bill refers to the ballot a measure that allows state trust land to be exchanged for other lands, provided the exchange is in the best interest of the trust and the purpose is for preserving open space on the trust lands offered. It also provides some public notice and hearing requirements. The Legislature has tried four times to amend the Constitution in this manner; the voters rejected all of these measures. SCR1004 promises more of the same. It is clear the public does not trust the government with land deals. While SCR1004 does not technically allow for private land exchanges, that is pretty meaningless; all the state has to do to facilitate a private exchange is use the federal government as the "middle man." Please call your senator and ask him/her to support HB2431 NOW: environment; electronic reporting; chemicals (Landrum, Weason, Avelar, et al.). The bill requires the Arizona Emergency Response Commission to allow reporting of certain hazardous chemicals reports required under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know law to be done electronically to the Commission's internet site. It also requires the State Fire Marshal to establish standards under the state fire code for a statewide database that includes hazardous material management plans and hazardous material inventory statements. This bill passed out of Appropriations 12-0. SB1455 county air quality; procedures (Guenther, Bowers, Huffman, et al.) failed on Final passage in the Senate 15-14-1, but will be back for reconsideration sometime this next week. This bill allows the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality or a county to renew an order of abatement requiring compliance with air quality laws, rules or permits for an additional year upon a showing of good cause. Right now, the law requires compliance within one year. If this bill passes, it means that an entity could continue to violate our air quality laws up to two years. This is a special bill to allow APS to fire up two older units (that pollute more) at its west Phoenix facility. We should not be giving them a two-year license to pollute. Please ask your senator to continue to oppose this bill. Here is a brief update on a few other bills: HB2144 structural pests; integrated pest management (May) allows a person buying property to request information from the Structural Pest Control Commission (SPCC) regarding the number of times it has been treated for termites in the previous three years. There are important health issues related to many of these pesticides and they can be especially detrimental to those who already have chemical sensitivities. It also requires the SPCC to prepare guidelines for an integrated pest management program. The bill passed out of the Senate and went to conference committee for a minor correction. WE SUPPORT IT. HB2364 northeastern Arizona environmental projects; appropriations (Flake, Brown, Allen, et al.) appropriates $350,000 to the state land department for distribution to a private nonprofit, the Environmental Economic Communities Organization (EECO), formed by the eastern Arizona counties for planning and implementing of "environmental programs." This is an inappropriate use of the public's dollars. They've already used tax dollars for the incorporation costs and fundraising costs of this private non-profit and for opposition to Proposition 202. Dr. Martin Moore was campaign chair of "Arizonans Against Proposition 202," and is also the director of EECO. This bill passed out of Senate Appropriations 9-0-3. WE OPPOSE IT. HB2432 NOW: delinquent property tax reduction; contamination (Landrum, Huffman, Avelar, et al.) allows a county board of supervisors to reduce the lien for delinquent taxes, interest and penalties up to the amount of the actual costs of remediation for contaminated property. Facilitating the clean up is a plus, but has anyone noticed how they have shifted the clean up costs to the public? It awaits a Third Read in the Senate. WE SUPPORT THE BILL. HB2523 state trust land; appraisal (Binder, O'Halleran) brings more accountability to the state land department relating to the use of proper appraisal standards. This goes next to the Rules Committee. WE SUPPORT THE BILL. HB2538 Brown cloud study; air quality (Allen) provides $1.5 million in FY 2001-2002 and $3 million in FY 2002-2003 to the Voluntary Vehicle Repair and Retrofit Program, expands the Area A boundaries to include areas west of Goodyear and Peoria, as well as a small piece of land on the north end Lake Pleasant. It requires ADEQ to establish and administer a roadside diesel testing program in Area A and Area B and appropriates $400,000 for it. It appropriates $775,000 total to ADEQ to establish a visibility index and nearly $4 million for alternative fuel refueling stations. It includes some voluntary programs including voluntary use of low-sulfur diesel. It clarifies which pollutants are eligible for the emissions trading program and appropriates $600,000 over two years for it. We are opposed to the trading program, because it does not includes adequate enforcement and public accountability. This passed out of Appropriations. WE SUPPORT THIS. HB2556 S/E Growth Management Task Force establishes a 13-member Growth Management Task Force that actually includes environmentalists. The Task Force will conduct hearings on and study growth management issues facing Arizona. Our amendment adding someone representing education interests and also someone representing affordable housing interests was added on the Floor. This passed out of the Senate 17-13. WE SUPPORT THE BILL. On another note, President Bush and Secretary of Interior Gale Norton are looking to revoke new environmental mining safeguards and replace them with weak, outdated rules. The new environmental mining rules govern the activities of the mining industry on publicly owned lands managed by the Department of the Interior. Bush/Norton are looking at rescinding them and replacing them with old mining rules, which have left a wake of environmental devastation and taxpayer-funded mine pollution cleanups. The new rules establish environmental performance standards that protect ground and surface water, force the mining industry to clean up its own environmental messes, and require land managers to deny mine proposals where they would cause "substantial irreparable harm" to environmental or cultural resources. To show public support for these new rules we need to generate as many letters as possible in favor of strong fiscal and environmental oversight of the mining industry, and the right to say no to irresponsible mine proposals. Comments should also denounce the rollback as an assault on public participation in policy making. Please write to the Bureau of Land Management and ask that the agency keep the stronger new rules in place (include in the subject line "Attn: AD22"): WOComment@blm.gov, Director (630), BLM, 401 LS, 1849 C St, NW, Washington, DC 20240. Send a copy to: Secretary of Interior Gale Norton: Gale_Norton@ios.doi.gov, Secretary Norton, U.S. Department of the Interior 1849 C. Street N.W., Washington, DC 20240 Thanks for all your help! For more information on legislation go to the web page at www.azleg.state.az.us. If you're outside the Phoenix area, you can call your legislator's office toll free at 1-800-352-8404. In the Phoenix area call (602) 542-3559 (Senate) or (602) 542-4221 (House). Correspondence goes to 1700 W. Washington, Phoenix, AZ 85007-2890. To email legislators use first initial + 7 letters of surname@azleg.state.az.us. If you are not sure who your legislators are, please go to www.vote-smart.org or call the House or Senate information desks. Page updated: 04/20/01 Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Chapter, 202 E. McDowell Rd, Suite 277, Phoenix, AZ 85004, (602) 253-8633 |