Note: The Governor vetoed this bill on October 8, 2023. His veto message is here.
Commentary by Sean Bothwell, Executive Director of the California Coastkeeper Alliance
If your community suffered from contamination because of illegal dumping by a nearby industry, you’d expect the polluter to clean up your neighborhood. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works in California today. But Assembly Bill 753 by Assemblywoman Papan (D, San Mateo) is designed to fix the problem.
Industries that are caught discharging pollutants above legal limits into California’s lakes, rivers and ocean waters should clean up their contamination themselves. But instead, nearly all pay into the State Water Resources Control Board’s Clean Up and Abatement Account. Unfortunately, in recent years, the State Water Board has spent those clean up funds without regard to where violations occurred or how local communities are affected. In fact, they can be spent pretty far afield. For example, the State Water Board recently approved spending enforcement fines on an abandoned mine in a remote part of the Eastern Sierra, despite little to no enforcement actions in the area. Mine clean up in rural areas is important, but it does nothing to clean up illegal contamination in California’s cities, farm worker communities or elsewhere.
AB 753 would require at least 40% of the fines the State Board receives from water quality violators to be used to clean up the pollution and benefit local communities near the the violation.
This is a big deal – because the impacts of pollution are not shared equally.
It’s well known that polluting industries in California are disproportionally located near communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities. In fact, the state has acknowledged that communities of color are “overrepresented in the neighborhoods that are the most environmentally degraded” and that “many of these communities lack access to parks, open spaces, greenways, and green infrastructure.” AB 753 addresses these historic inequities by returning water quality fines back to those communities with a priority for the funds to be spent on green infrastructure.
Illegal contamination can drive up drinking water treatment costs for economically disadvantaged communities. It can limit recreational and subsistence fishing opportunities that can be vitally important for underserved folks. And dangerous levels of toxic metals or poisonous algae blooms can cause human health impacts. So it’s critically important that fines received from illegal polluters be used to clean up contamination at the site of the violation.
Water quality advocates across the state support this important, common sense bill. AB 753 passed the legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support. Yet it still faces opposition from the State Water Board, which wants to maintain the status quo. We urge Governor Newsom to sign AB 753, which will help ensure an equitable approach to cleaning up illegal pollution.
GUEST COMMENTARY: Governor Newsom Should Sign Legislation to Ensure Equitable Distribution of Water Quality Funding *UPDATED*
Note: The Governor vetoed this bill on October 8, 2023. His veto message is here.
Commentary by Sean Bothwell, Executive Director of the California Coastkeeper Alliance
If your community suffered from contamination because of illegal dumping by a nearby industry, you’d expect the polluter to clean up your neighborhood. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works in California today. But Assembly Bill 753 by Assemblywoman Papan (D, San Mateo) is designed to fix the problem.
Industries that are caught discharging pollutants above legal limits into California’s lakes, rivers and ocean waters should clean up their contamination themselves. But instead, nearly all pay into the State Water Resources Control Board’s Clean Up and Abatement Account. Unfortunately, in recent years, the State Water Board has spent those clean up funds without regard to where violations occurred or how local communities are affected. In fact, they can be spent pretty far afield. For example, the State Water Board recently approved spending enforcement fines on an abandoned mine in a remote part of the Eastern Sierra, despite little to no enforcement actions in the area. Mine clean up in rural areas is important, but it does nothing to clean up illegal contamination in California’s cities, farm worker communities or elsewhere.
AB 753 would require at least 40% of the fines the State Board receives from water quality violators to be used to clean up the pollution and benefit local communities near the the violation.
This is a big deal – because the impacts of pollution are not shared equally.
It’s well known that polluting industries in California are disproportionally located near communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities. In fact, the state has acknowledged that communities of color are “overrepresented in the neighborhoods that are the most environmentally degraded” and that “many of these communities lack access to parks, open spaces, greenways, and green infrastructure.” AB 753 addresses these historic inequities by returning water quality fines back to those communities with a priority for the funds to be spent on green infrastructure.
Illegal contamination can drive up drinking water treatment costs for economically disadvantaged communities. It can limit recreational and subsistence fishing opportunities that can be vitally important for underserved folks. And dangerous levels of toxic metals or poisonous algae blooms can cause human health impacts. So it’s critically important that fines received from illegal polluters be used to clean up contamination at the site of the violation.
Water quality advocates across the state support this important, common sense bill. AB 753 passed the legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support. Yet it still faces opposition from the State Water Board, which wants to maintain the status quo. We urge Governor Newsom to sign AB 753, which will help ensure an equitable approach to cleaning up illegal pollution.