The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 06031997 - SD3 Tg: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS a_-8 _ - Contra ",OM. Leslie Stewart, Chair e"' ' `s Costa Hazardous Materials Commission County DATE: June 3, 1997 SUBJECT: Support for Federal Funding of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSHIB) SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATIONS) &BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION I. RECOMMENDED ACTION: APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Chair to execute letters to the County's Congressional delegation and the President in support of funding for the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. The Board is an independent non-regulatory federal program modeled after the National Transportation Safety Board, empowered to investigate .and issue reports on serious chemical incidents, and recommend ways to improve safety at facilities throughout the country. II. REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS/BACKGROUND: As documented by the Health Services Department in its August 29, 1996 report to the Board, 37 hazardous materials incidents in the county in the six previous years had the potential to harm the public's health, the environment, or property -- an average of one every two months. There have been several more such incidents since that report was prepared. Equally serious incidents occur elsewhere in California and the United States at facilities very similar to those we have here. The FY 1998 federal budget is now moving through Congress. The Office of Management and Budget has not included the Board's appropriation request (6 million dollars). According to Congressman George Miller, the Administration has suggested that OSHA and the USEPA perform the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board's duties. Those agencies, however, have neither the focus nor the legal authority to do the job the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is charged with. In addition, the concern about subsequent regulatory action by OSHA and USEPA can interfere with the free flow of information necessary to address incident root cause issues. This and liability concerns are key factors in the nationwide absence of reliable data on the causes of incidents. Although it is a national body, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board's reports and research into the causes and analysis of incidents would provide important information not now available that could lead directly to accident prevention measures here in Contra Costa County, and a reduction in hazardous materials incidents locally. The Hazardous Materials Commission has reviewed the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board's membership and mandate, and voted to recommend its support by the Board of Supervisors. Since the Commission's action in April, further local support has come from Congressman Miller, who has spoken widely in the District on the Board's behalf, and from the Contra Costa Times, which published an editorial in the Board's favor (attached). III. FISCAL IMPACT: None CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: X YES _NO SIGNATURE:X" RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF RD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S): ACTION OF BOARD ON June 3, 1997 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER X Please See Addendum (AttAched ) for a list of speakers. and Board Action. VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE X UNANIMOUS (ABSENT ------ ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. Contact Person: Elinor Blake 370-5022 CC: Health Services Director ATTESTED __4u_qP 3, 1997 Hazardous Materials Commission(via HSD) PHIL BATC LDCOU RK OF THE BOA Hazardous Materials Department(via HSD) SUPE ADMIN BY Fund chenucal unit 0'NE OF THE LEAST WORTHY tricks lawmakers pull is to pass a law or set up a board to look into a critical public need then turn their backs on putting up the money to make it work.Take,for example,the Chemical Safety and Hazardous Investigation Board created by a 1990 law + passed in the wake of several deadly industrial accidents.As this area knows,there is a need for high-level,expert probing into the cause of major refinery accidents.The chemical safety board was designed to do just that.Not specifically aimed at the local spills and toxic releases, it would have addressed the problem on a national scale, much like the NAtional Transportation Safety Board investigates plane crashes. It,, The goal of the transportation board is to find what causes planes to-crash, share the information on a national basis, and try to make planes safer.The chemical hazard board was designed to do the same things. It did not succeed for a couple of reasons. s= 1.The board has never met in all the seven years of its existence. { 2. It hasn't met because Congress and the president have never fifnded it. The chairman of the nonfunctioning board, Paul Hill, a chemical expert from Charleston, W. Va., was in Contra Costa County earlier this year and was interviewed by The Times. He gave a chilling an- 4�ver to a question about why his board has been treated differently than the board that investigates plane accidents: "If a plane goes down;"he said,"it's very tragic.You have 150 peo- p)e killed instantly.It's very moving.It calls for a national response to giake sure it doesn't happen again. Chemical accidents happen more often, but they are less dramatic in most cases." That's an explanation. But it is not an excuse. There may be hope. When Rep.George Miller was in Rodeo Saturday he told a group of con- ' &reed residents that he and others,including Sen.Barbara Boxer,were how pushing to find money for the board. Those efforts are overdue. They need to be pursued vigorously to a conclusion that is only accept- able if it includes enough money to make this 7-year-old investigative board fully functioning. It's time to put a stop to the self-serving, short- sighted, and stinting doings of a Congress that sets up a Worthy appa-ratus to address a public need,then starves it of the means to do its job. t i SD.3 ADDENDUM Item SD.3 June 3, 1997 Leslie Stewart, Chair, Hazardous Materials Commission, presented the attached report to the Board. Subsequent to the presentation, Chairman DeSaulnier invited the public to comment on the issues and the following persons spoke: Wally Shoults, Member, Hazardous Materials Commission, 2977 Grant Street, Concord; Sabiha Gocken, Ph.D., Member, Hazardous Materials Commission, 2047 Olympic Drive, Martinez; Tom Lindemuth, Kleinfelder & Associates, Member, Hazardous Materials Commission, 501 Daisy Place, Pleasant Hill; Cathy Ivers, 321 "G" Street, Martinez; and Jim Payne, Oil Chemical and Atomic Workers' Union (OCAW), P.O. Box 428, Martinez. All persons desiring to speak having been heard, Chairman DeSaulnier ended public comment on the matter. The Board members discussed the issues and then took the following action: 1. APPROVED and AUTHORIZED the Chair, Board of Supervisors, to execute letters to the County's Congressional delegation and the President in support of funding for the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. The Board is an independent non-regulatory federal program modeled after the National Transportation Safety Board, empowered to investigate and issue reports on serious chemical incidents, and recommend ways to improve safety at facilities throughout the country; and 2. REQUESTED Health Services staff assist with the drafting of the letters including: relating some of the County's recent experiences to illustrate the need to fund this Board, and conveying the County's concerns about duplication of current services. cc: Supervisors County Administrator Health Services Director Hazardous Materials Department (via HSD) Hazardous Materials Commission (via HSD)