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| COLAB: The Colition of Labor Agriculture and Labor |
| DA to concentrate on real crimes April 11, 2002 - In the next few weeks you can expect the District Attorney's office to be proposing a new rule to require that all hazardous material releases or threatened releases be reported to the Fire Department. This is a perfect example of regulatory overkill here in Santa Barbara County. Current laws require that emergency personnel be contacted whenever there is a release of chemicals that pose a threat to public health and safety. Businesses that use dangerous chemicals are required to have on file emergency response plans and risk management prevention programs to ensure that all proper precautions are taken in order to prevent off-site consequences and also to protect the facilities employees. But somehow that doesn't go far enough for the DA and County Fire. The State Office of Emergency Services has a reporting requirement that is based upon common sense. It employs the reasonable person standard in making the determination of what must be reported. In a nutshell, if a chemical handler has a reasonable belief that the release or threatened release poses no significant present or potential hazard to human health and safety, property, or the environment, then there is no reporting requirement. The DA's office, on the other hand, is proposing an ordinance that will require all spills, no matter how insignificant, to be reported to the County Fire Department. The proposed ordinance will require those cases where there is a potential impact to public health and safety, or the environment, to be reported immediately by calling 911. Those that pose no significant hazard would be required to be reported within 24 hours by fax. I have no problem with businesses calling 911 in true emergencies. Neither do I find it burdensome for businesses that have a significant, but controllable spill or incident, to report within 24 hours. But what I object to is a overly broad ordinance that is both burdensome and entirely vague. The way the ordinance reads is that anybody who spills oil or paint in their garage would have to file a report with the county. Anybody that spills fertilizer in the gutter would have to call 911. Even if they clean it up! For crying out loud, a spill of "white-out" would be reportable. How can this be? All of these chemicals are considered hazardous. Home use of the products does not exempt you from the reporting requirements. Now, I can hear you, and the District Attorney, as well as, the Fire Department indicating that they won't enforce the law with respect to household spill incidents. But all of you would only be bringing up the main point of my complaint! Why will there be one rule for everybody but selective enforcement for some? A chemical is a chemical. Is it any less dangerous for society and the environment for a business owner to spill something in the middle of an industrial facility than a homeowner to spill something in the middle of a residential neighborhood? Who is better equipped and trained to adequately handle a spill and dispose of it properly? I don't like it when government bureaucrats craft laws making the most mundane things of life a crime only to selectively enforce the bad law. It makes us all guilty of violating the law while we excuse and justify our own behavior, while at the same time we throw the book an the guy down the street who didn't do anything we haven't already done. This proposed ordinance carries the potential of both criminal and civil penalties. The fines can be up to $50,000 for failure to report an emergency, $2500 per day for failure to report a non-emergency, and coupled with these penalties, up to a year in jail! I would prefer the DA to concentrate on real crimes which pose a real threat to our community. We have no need for laws that purposely exceed our already strict State mandates in this county. |