Maximum Environmental Penalty Cut by 80% over 36 Years

Inflation happens.

That's the message from today's hearing in the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee on Senate Bill 105, which would adjust the maximum penalties for environmental violations.

Oregon's maximum penalty for violations of pollution standards on air quality, asbestos, hazardous waste, and water quality was set in 1973 at $10,000. It has not changed since, meaning in consumer-price-index inflation terms, it's 80% lower today than it was 36 years ago.

From testimony from the Department of Environmental Quality: "Simply put, the maximum penalties our agency can assess today are not as strong as they were originally intended."

What's the response from industry? That we shouldn't raise penalties during a recession.

But as Tualatin Riverkeeper's Brian Wegener ably pointed out, pollution imposes significant costs on others -- harming those businesses and people during the same recession. Wegener pointed to a recent discharge of polluted water into the Tualatin Basin over two months that cost the Joint Water Commission at least $285,000 to increase filtration at their drinking water plant, and impacts on canoe and kayak businesses who couldn't use the Tualatin River for two weeks.

Senate Bill 105 is a small step, and would only get us halfway there, by raising the maximum penalty to $25,000 per day. Here's to hoping the Legislature passes it.

Comments

[Brian Wegener]

There is a prevailing reluctance by state natural resource agencies to enforce their own rules because they have inadequate budgets for investigation and enforcement. Tualaltin Riverkeepers asked that environmental penalties be paid into a fund that reimburses agencies for their cost of enforcement and invetigation.

Thanks for posting this Evan.

Brian Wegener
Tualatin Riverkeepers

Follow us on Twitter

Senate Bill 105