Sen Billig on Protecting the Spokane River

Excerpted from Senator Andy Billig's newsletter

In the 2023 legislative session, I was the prime sponsor of SB 5369, which was intended to further regulate polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in Washington state. This topic is especially important to me because of the presence of PCBs in the Spokane River. These dangerous chemicals can create lasting negative effects for fish and humans.

One of the challenges with PCBs is that the federal government still allows low levels of PCBs in some products like paint and inks, and states are prohibited from creating more stringent standards (believe me, we tried!). SB 5369 requires the Washington State Department of Ecology to petition the federal Environmental Protection Agency to formally request a rulemaking process to restrict PCBs at the federal level.

The petition was sent sent to the EPA two weeks ago, and the EPA will respond to the petition by April 3, 2024.

For more information about the importance of restricting PCBs and the effect of the petition, read Ecology’s blog post. To read the petition itself, click here.