Opponents Quick to Launch Drive on Toxics Measure

Opponents of a newly qualified ballot initiative to crack down on toxic pollution charged Friday that the measure is so restrictive it would force farmers to stop growing crops and so lax it would legalize “midnight dumping” of hazardous chemicals.

Wasting no time in launching a campaign against the proposal, the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Farm Bureau attempted to portray the measure as so “ludicrous” that it could conceivably prevent businesses from flushing their toilets.

Assemblyman Lloyd G. Connelly (D-Sacramento) and other proponents of the initiative promptly charged the opponents with waging a campaign of “distortion” and “misrepresentation.”

The initiative, which qualified Thursday for the Nov. 4 ballot, would require the governor to publish a list of chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects.

The measure would then prohibit anyone from knowingly releasing these chemicals into drinking water. It would also require anyone who uses them to warn people who would be exposed to them.

Stiffer Penalties

In addition, the measure would impose stiffer penalties for illegal dumping and other violations of hazardous waste laws.

At a press conference called by the opponents, Michelle Corash, an attorney who has lobbied state lawmakers on behalf of Chevron Oil Co. concerning toxics bills, said the initiative is unnecessary because California toxics laws already are the toughest in the nation.

The measure, she said, “comes across not as an anti-toxics initiative but as an anti-business initiative.”

Kirk West, president of the state chamber, told reporters that the opponents will try to raise at least $3 million to defeat the initiative.

West, a former state secretary of business and transportation and a member of Gov. George Deukmejian’s Cabinet, said the campaign will attempt to make the measure look silly, relying on what he called the “giggle factor” to defeat it.

Cites Example

For example, West contended that the initiative could make businesses unable to flush their toilets because the water contains chlorine, a chemical that can cause cancer if ingested in large enough doses.

Assemblyman Connelly called this a “distortion” of the initiative because the measure makes an exception for chlorine, which is put into drinking water to kill bacteria.

Another opponent, Farm Bureau President Henry Voss, said that if the measure passes, “It would be difficult if not impossible for most of the 83,000 (farmers) left in this state to legally farm our land.”

He said farmers rely on chemicals that are known or suspected cancer-causing agents to kill pests and that some of these chemicals end up in the water supply in small amounts. One chemical cited by Voss was carbaryl, which is used to kill insects that attack oranges.

But advocates countered that the initiative would not prohibit farmers from using these pesticides if the amount that reaches the water supply fails to pose a significant health risk. They said a chemical such as carbaryl would not appear on the list because it is a suspected, not a known, carcinogen.

Added Tom Epstein, campaign manager for the initiative: “If some of the pesticides they are using now do cause cancer, those chemicals shouldn’t be used in places where they end up in the water, and we should find substitutes for them.”

‘Midnight Dumping’

Corash, an attorney for the campaign against the initiative and a former general counsel for the Environmental Protection Agency during the Carter Administration, said the measure would make “midnight dumping” legal because such disposal of hazardous waste is usually carried out by small businesses. The initiative exempts companies with fewer than 10 employees from many of its provisions.

But Epstein said the initiative would not exempt anyone from laws that make midnight dumping illegal and would in fact double the penalties for the crime. In addition, the measure would make it a crime to cause bodily injury by illegally dumping toxic chemicals.