City Council Endorses Anti-Toxics Initiative 9-1

The Los Angeles City Council, responding to a personal appeal from Mayor Tom Bradley, endorsed a November ballot initiative that seeks to prevent the discharge of toxic chemicals into the state’s water supply.

In voting 9-1 to back Proposition 65, the council went along with Bradley, who described the passage of the anti-toxics measure as “truly a matter of life or death.”

“The initiative would propose to deal with those industries that now pollute our drinking water by putting into those waters toxic chemicals that could cause cancer or birth defects,” he said.

Proposition 65, which has the strong backing of Bradley’s gubernatorial campaign, would make it illegal to release into drinking water certain carcinogenic chemicals and any others that could cause birth defects.

The initiative would require the state government to develop a list of chemicals that cause cancer and birth defects and to set maximum exposure levels that would be permitted. Businesses that expose employees or the public to the chemicals would have to issue warnings of the potentially harmful effects.

Under the measure, financial penalties for violations would double to $100,000 and any dumping that results in bodily injury would be punishable by three years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine for each day of the violation. Money collected from such fines would be used to strengthen enforcement of anti-toxics laws.

The initiative also would allow residents to sue those who knowingly use listed chemicals that pose a threat to drinking water supplies.

Some critics of the measure point out that Proposition 65 specifically exempts government entities from its requirements. Others, including Gov. George Deukmejian, charge that it would harm small businesses and farmers who depend on the use of pesticides and modern chemicals.

In casting the lone vote against the initiative Tuesday, Councilman Hal Bernson claimed that the initiative was marred by “major deficiencies” and argued that existing laws are adequate against toxic polluters.

Bradley, however, said Proposition 65 was needed to crack down on the chemical pollution that he said has already forced the closure of 20 water wells in the San Fernando Valley. He also said that government agencies were left out of the initiative because they are not profiting from the manufacture or use of toxic chemicals.

“Those industries and agencies that do put these toxic chemicals into the drinking water represent 85% of the problem, and that’s the reason we focus this initiative on them,” Bradley said.

The mayor’s appearance before the council was only his second this year to push for action. Last July, he went before council members to successfully urge them to broaden the city’s anti-apartheid policy by voting to limit its purchases from firms doing business in South Africa.

Joining the mayor Tuesday in lobbying for Proposition 65 were representatives from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and a local PTA group, a homeowner from Riverside whose neighborhood was scarred by toxic wastes and Barry Groveman, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney who took a leave of absence from his job to help write the initiative.