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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990-09-25 - AGENDA REPORTS - MUNICIPAL SUPERFUND LIABILITY (2)I AGENDA REPORT City Manager Approval Item to be presented Y. CONSENT CALENDAR City Manager DATE: September 25, 1990 SUBJECT: A Resolution of the League of California Cities Regarding Municipal Superfund Liability DEPARTMENT: City Manager BACKGROUND A letter was received from the City of Paramount regarding a resolution from the League of. California Cities .which urges to support legislation in the Congress protecting cities from liability for protecting public health by providing for the collection and disposal of household solid.waste. Support resolution by transmitting a letter to the League of California Cities. ATTACHMENT Letter dated September 4, 1990 with resolution Agenda Item: /4 8 26630 6731 PARAMOUNT 09//005/90 11:43 002 City Manager (213) 2204225 September 4, 1990 JoAnne Darcy, Mayor Delegate of L. A. Division of League of California Cities City of Santa Clarita 23920 Valencia Boulevard Santa Clarita, California 91355 Dear Mayor Darcy: MANTUEL E. GUILLEN Mayor ALLEN J. PARKLR Vice Mayor VERA AMARO Couacilmember ESTHER C. CALDW F.1.1. Ed. D. Cuuncilmember V ERALD A. MULROONCV Cuuncilmember Enclosed with this letter is a copy of a resolution to be considered by the L. A. Division of the League of California Cities at its meeting on September 6, 1990 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pico Rivera Senior Center. Twenty-four L. A. division cities signed the petition to have this resolution considered. The resolution is important because it urges the League of California Cities to support legislation in the Congress which would protect cities from liability for. the mere act of protecting the public health by providing for the collection and disposal of household solid waste, A number of cities in Los Angles County have been sued by industrial polluters .after those polluters were sued by the Environmental Protection Agency to cleanup the Operating Industries landfill. The purpose of this resolution is to prevent other cities In the future from being sued for disposing of household rubbish at a landfill that subsequently becomes a Superfund site. Without a change in the law, the potential liability is staggering. 16400 Colorado Avcnuc • Paramount, California 90723.5050 • (213) 220.2000 Faosimilcs: City Hall (213) 630-6731, Public Scrviccs racility (213) 630-2713, Sheriff Substation (213) 220.2009 S 630 6731 PARAMOUNT 09/05/90 11:43 003 League of California Cities L A, Division Delegates September 4, 1990; Page We believe that cities should not be penalized for acting responsibly and protecting the public health by providing for the collection of household solid waste. Please support the resolution when it comes before you for consideration, Thursday evening. CITY OF PARAMOUNT Manuel E. Guillen Mayor _C> ..,TY OF PARAMOIINI a * 630 6731 PARAMOUNT OW190 11:44 004 A RESOLUTION OF THE LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA CITIES REGARDING MUNICIPAL SUPERFUND LIABILITY, WHEREAS, cities in California and throughout the United States have a duty to protect and assure the public health and they fulfill this obligation, in part, by assuming the responsibility for household solid waste collection and disposal; and WHEREAS, cities support Federal Superfund and hazardous waste laws and the national effort to cleanup the environment; and WHEREAS, household solid waste differs from commercial and industrial hazardous waste in toxicity, type and form but industrial polluters are arguing that household solid waste should be treated the same as Industrial hazardous waste in apportioning liability for the cleanup of landfills; and WHEREAS, liability for landfill cleanup should lie with industrial polluters who deposit highly toxic materials into landfills and other sites; and WHEREAS, twenty-nine member cities of the League of California Cities have been sued as third -party defendants by over sixty major industrial polluters for the cost, currently estimated to be in the range of $650,000,000 to $800,000,000, to cleanup the federal Superfund site known as the Operating Industries, Inc. landfill; and WHEREAS, many additional landfills throughout the Nation are or will undoubtedly become Federal Superfund sites for which the industrial polluters will attempt to shift the cost of cleanup to local taxpayers from the industrial firms placing toxic chemicals at the sites; and WHEREAS, it is unfair for cities who fulfill their duty to perform a public service and protect the public health by collecting and disposing of household solid waste to be inequitably forced to pay for the cleanup of Superfund sites caused by industrial polluters; and WHEREAS, shifting the cost of cleanup to local taxpayers is directly contrary to the basic purpose of.the Federal Superfund law which is to impose the cost of cleanup on those who profited from the disposal; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED by the League of California Cities assembled in annual conference in Anaheim, October 23, 1990, that the League support legislation in the United States Congress and, as appropriate, in the California Legislature, which would protect cities from liability for the mere act of protecting the public health by providing for the collection and disposal of household solid waste; and be it further RESOLVED, that the League of California Cities urges the National League of Cities to make this a priority issue in their work with the Congress.