Deukmejian Submits New Toxic Waste Control Plan

Less than two months after the Legislature rejected his proposal to create a new state agency to clean up and regulate hazardous wastes, Gov. George Deukmejian on Monday submitted a revised plan to streamline the current complicated system for enforcing toxic waste laws.

Deukmejian again asked legislators to approve a state department of waste management, which would assume much of the authority now shared by several state agencies.

The existing system has been criticized as a bureaucratic disaster that has paralyzed efforts to clean up hazardous dump sites and protect water supplies.

Shifting of Authority

The proposed new department, along with proposed statewide and regional waste management commissions, would take over much of the authority for controlling hazardous chemicals. Under the revised proposal, the governor himself would resolve jurisdictional disputes between agencies arising from the reorganization plan, thus giving him the ultimate responsibility for running the state’s program.

Deukmejian wants the new department in place by Jan. 1. To meet that goal, Deukmejian plans to ask the Legislature to approve the plan in 30 days, rather than the 60 days normally allowed for reviewing reorganization efforts. The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn Sept. 13, long before the 60-day period would be over.

The reorganization plan has been one of the Republican governor’s top legislative priorities this year--as well as one of his chief sources of frustration. But the original proposal was attacked by environmental groups, who charged that the plan would weaken current laws that give the state Water Resources Control Board the authority to protect water quality.

On a strictly partisan 46-31 vote, the Democrat-led Assembly in June killed the original proposal. The Democrats complained that “foul-ups” in the detailed plan would have weakened the regulation of hazardous wastes that are threatening the state’s water supplies.

Administration officials admitted that there were some minor drafting errors, but promised to take care of the problems in separate legislation. But their pleas were rejected by Assembly Democrats, several of whom accused the Administration of deliberately attempting to weaken environmental protections.

Responding to Objections

To win legislative support on the second attempt, the Administration responded on Monday to several objections that were raised in June.

The revised plan, for example, would leave the state Water Resources Control Board with much of its existing power to protect water quality.

But critics immediately raised questions about the new proposal.

While reserving his final judgment, Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda) complained that the new proposal “appears to create more bureaucracy rather than less bureaucracy.” He also objected to the membership of a new California waste commission and three regional commissions that would have broad powers to speed cleanup operations.

Katz said that the commissions “appear to be industry-dominated.” Under the governor’s proposal, representatives of industries affected by environmental rules would have a place on these regulatory bodies.

Conclusion of Analyst

A legislative analysis of the new proposal concluded that the revisions clarify some ambiguities in the earlier version, but create some new problems. Instead of streamlining regulation of hazardous wastes by eliminating overlapping responsibility, the new plan would reduce agency coordination, the legislative staff memo contended.

Sierra Club lobbyist Michael Paparian raised several technical objections to the governor’s new proposal. Some of the changes, Paparian said, are improvements over the original plan but might face legal challenges that would jeopardize hazardous waste cleanups in the state.