DIOXIN CLEANUP STANDARDS

House Bill 5963

Sponsor:  Rep. John Moolenaar

Committee:  Government Operations

Complete to 6-14-04

A SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 5963 AS INTRODUCED 6-1-04

The bill would amend Part 201 (Environmental Remediation) of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act to specify that the cleanup criteria for a dioxin would be the action level provided in the August 1997 document of the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry entitled, “Dioxin and Dioxin-like Compounds in Soil, Part 1: ATSDR Interim Policy Guideline.”  That level is 1,000 parts per trillion.

Part 201 provides that if a hazardous substance poses a cancer risk to humans, the cleanup criteria for the substance shall be the 95 percent upper bound on the calculated risk of one additional cancer above the background cancer rate per 100,000 individuals. From that, a complicated formula using soil criteria, contaminant toxicity, exposure levels, and reasonable assumptions about a person’s exposure is developed.  The cleanup level for dioxins works out to be 90 parts per trillion (ppt).

FISCAL IMPACT:

The bill would not have a fiscal impact, but could affect the regulatory efforts of the department (DEQ).

                                                                                           Legislative Analyst:   Mark Wolf

                                                                                                  Fiscal Analyst:   Kirk Lindquist

■ This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.