City Council moves to cut down on toxins

Tuesday, July 2, 2002

By KATHY MULADY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Hoping others will follow, the Seattle City Council yesterday took the first steps toward eliminating toxic chemicals, such as those associated with bleached paper and fluorescent lights, from City Hall and other city property, including utility poles and vehicles.

The council unanimously passed a resolution encouraging the city to buy items that don't contain persistent bioaccumulative toxic chemicals (PBTs) or come from a manufacturing process that produces them.

Such chemicals, which include dioxin, pentachlorophenol and mercury, have been found in local animals and fish, including orca whales and seals.

Environmentalists said Seattle is the first city in the country to take official action to reduce its use of PBTs.

The resolution calls for outlining by October the environmental, social and economic factors to be considered before the city purchases products connected with the toxins.

The next step could include changing the city building code to encourage the private sector to use fewer PBT-related construction materials, said Councilwoman Heidi Wills, who sponsored the resolution.

During a noon news conference before the council meeting, Mayor Greg Nickels applauded the resolution, saying the city needs to take a leadership position on the issue of toxins.

He added that it is worth paying a little more for alternative products.

"We will pay a price in the long term if we don't make these decisions. It is a matter of paying a little bit now, or, as we are in the Duwamish, paying a whole lot more later," said Nickels, referring to cleaning up the contaminated Duwamish River.

Two years ago, the Washington State Department of Ecology released a plan to phase out PBTs.

Last fall the agency selected mercury as the first toxin targeted for reduction. Some environmentalists have complained that the program is proceeding too slowly, with a draft plan for mercury reduction not expected until the end of the year.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been working since 1998 on a national initiative to address these toxins, but progress has been slow there, too.

P-I reporter Kathy Mulady can be reached at 206-448-8131 or kathymulady@seattlepi.com

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