NWEA resigned from the Washington Department of Ecology’s process to adopt new human health criteria for toxics today. NWEA was the last remaining participant not affiliated with pollution sources. In a letter to Ecology Director Maia Bellon, NWEA wrote that “Ecology has pandered excessively to monied interests, failed to demonstrate a serious commitment to using the Clean Water Act to control toxic pollution, and will use the outcome of this Delegates’ Table process to justify taking politically expedient actions.” The letter specifically highlights how Ecology engages in “Orwellian doublespeak” by calling proposed regulatory loopholes “implementation tools.” NWEA decried Ecology’s proposed rollbacks in the state’s regulatory program. The letter points out that if Ecology wants to establish regulatory loopholes for permitted dischargers it must also commit to establishing pollution controls on currently un- or under-regulated sources of toxic pollution.
The letter also sets out four specific actions NWEA believes will bring most stakeholders back to the table. First among these is the need for Ecology to renounce the possibility of increasing the State’s policy on cancer risk to offset any increase in health protection afforded by making the standards more reflective of actual fish consumption. NWEA’s letter refers to that possibility as a “confidence game.”