HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolutions - No. 95-53RESOLUTION NO. 95-53
A RESOLUTION OF THE LODI CITY COUNCIL
RECOMMENDING CHANGES IN ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH
LAWS, AND THE ADMINISTRATION THEREOF BY STATE
AND FEDERAL REGULATORY AGENCIES
WHEREAS, many state and federal laws, originally intended to provide for the cleanup
and protection of the environment have been applied in an oppressive way so as to discourage
development, cripple industry, bankrupt small businesses, contribute to unemployment and put
local governments in danger of insolvency; and
WHEREAS, state and federal administrative agencies charged with the enforcement of
such laws have in some cases entirely lost sight of the fact that businesses and local
governments have finite resources and myriad other responsibilities which create demands on
those resources; and
WHEREAS, some state and federal administrative agencies seem to be beyond the
control of both the legislative bodies which created them and the voters whom they serve; and
WHEREAS, many local agencies have been ordered to do cleanup actions which, if done
literally to the specifications of the enforcing administrative agencies, would leave the local
governments without funds to provide basic municipal services such as police and fire protection,
streets, water and sewer service; and
WHEREAS, the City of Lodi itself is presently involved in cleanup actions which, if done
as recommended by certain administrative agencies, could foreseeably cost upwards of $20
million, or more than $1,100 for every household in Lodi and which would address only two
specific chemicals; and
WHEREAS, the state and federal methods by which maximum allowable levels for
contaminants are determined and enforced have become a self -tightening noose, with costs of
cleanup in many cases far outweighing benefits returned; and
WHEREAS, it is now time for state and federal legislatures to entirely reconsider certain
environmental and health policies, to reassert control over the administrative agencies they have
created, and to return a measure of common sense and balance to environmental cleanup and
enforcement actions;
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NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Lodi:
That it is necessary to restore sanity and common sense to government administration of
environmental and health agencies by a number of means, including but not limited to:
1. Return of primary control over certain environmental and health matters to local
agencies which are best suited for such responsibility;
2. Require that if the methods and assumptions upon which state and federal
environmental and health laws or regulations are based are not generally those universally
accepted by the scientific community as a whole, then all costs directly resulting from such
regulations be borne by the state or federal agency adopting such measures;
3. Eliminate from all proceedings to set, or enforce maximum contaminant levels for
any and all substances the "Delaney clause", a provision which is unrealistic and no longer
workable;
4. In the case of all environmental regulations resulting in unfunded mandates,
provide an appeal process outside the administrative agency overseeing implementation or
enforcement of the regulation;
5. Require that in every cleanup or remediation order directed to a single chemical
or substance, which will foreseeably cost more than $100 per capita for the population of the city
or county receiving the order, that all costs over and above that $100 be paid by the issuing
administrative agency;
6. Place in the statutes creating all federal and state environmental administrative
agencies a revolving "sunset" clause, requiring that every five years, the legislature creating such
agency must affirmatively reauthorize the agency or it shall cease to exist;
7. Strengthen laws, both civil and criminal, for the willful or knowing pollution of the
environment.
Dated: April 19, 1995
I hereby certify that Resolution No. 95-53 was passed and adopted by the Lodi City
Council in a regular meeting held April 19, 1995, by the following vote:
AYES: Council Members -Davenport, Pennino, Sieglock, Warner and
Mann (Mayor)
NOES: Council Members -None
ABSENT: Council Members -None
ABSTAIN: Council Members - None
J C UELINE L. AYLO
tin City Clerk
95-53
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