Phosphates face ban
OLYMPIA – Trying to steer a course between dirty dishes and a dirty river, the state Senate on Wednesday voted to sharply curtail phosphates in automatic dishwashing detergents.
If the governor and House of Representatives agree, the bill would be the first such law in the nation. Massachusetts and Minnesota have rejected similar proposals.
“The phosphate ban is important to Spokane. We need it,” said Sen. Brad Benson, R-Spokane.
Phosphates – common in fertilizer – spur the growth of algae in lakes and rivers. When algae dies and decays, it uses up oxygen in the water. Result: ailing or dead fish.
Because of that, Spokane County is under the regulatory gun to dramatically reduce the amount of phosphate pollution in the Spokane River. Even with a new sewage plant planned, county Commissioner Todd Mielke told lawmakers last month, limiting phosphates going down the drain is critical to helping the county meet federal clean water standards.
Rep. Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane, is the prime sponsor of House Bill 2322, which would limit the amount of phosphorus to half a percent. Current law allows nearly 9 percent. The state passed a similar law for laundry detergents in 1993.
The ban easily cleared the House last month, but on Wednesday, Senate Republicans amended it so the ban is phased in. It would start in July 2008 in Spokane, Clark and Whatcom counties. For the rest of the state, it would kick in two years later.
“This is a very well-worked compromise,” said Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane.
It’s unclear, however, how manufacturers would respond to a ban that initially applies to only three of the state’s 39 counties. Spokane County and other proponents wanted a statewide ban, figuring that soap companies wouldn’t abandon a market of more than 6 million people.
Under the compromise bill, “It may well be that some markets may not be supplied with certain products,” said Dennis Griesing, a lobbyist for the Washington, D.C.-based Soap and Detergent Association. “That’s the choice of the Legislature.”
That’s precisely the fear of some Vancouver lawmakers. Because most of their stores are supplied by distributors and warehouses in nearby Oregon, they fear that the detergent companies will simply leave shelves bare there.
“So we just won’t be able to get dishwashing soap in Clark County anymore. Gee, that’s really fair,” said Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver. “… Spokane is the one that has the problem. The amendment should have zeroed in on Spokane.”
Major detergent companies have lobbied hard against the bill, saying that they’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars in an unsuccessful effort to come up with effective substitutes.
“We’ve tried in the past, and they’ve been rejected by consumers,” Griesing said. In test markets, he said, complaints over dirty dishes skyrocketed. And because phosphates prevent lime from building up in dishwasher pumps and spray arms, he told lawmakers last month, some major appliance manufacturers also don’t want phosphates banned.
State lawmakers in Massachusetts and Minnesota have rejected similar proposals.
In debate on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon, lawmakers pooh-poohed industry predictions of unhappy consumers and dirty dishes. Several say they already use no-phosphate detergents that work fine.
“The reality is that products like this are already on the market,” Brown said. “I’ve used them, and they keep my dishes sparkling clean.”
Sen. Joyce Mulliken – who uses phosphate-based Electrasol – called for more study of where the river phosphates are coming for. In Moses Lake, she said, the phosphate problem is largely due to wildlife waste, not dish detergents.
“I think we need to have a lot more information before we begin to ban dishwashing detergents in our state,” she said.
In the end, the bill passed, 41 votes to 7. It now goes back to the House. Assuming that the House agrees, it then goes to Gov. Chris Gregoire to be signed into law.