Legislator Wants To Ignore Global Cfc Ban Washington State Bill Is Latest To Attack Science Behind Depletion Of Ozone Layer
A Colville legislator wants to allow ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons in Washington state - despite an international treaty signed by Ronald Reagan banning the substance.
The House Agriculture and Ecology committee will decide today whether to move Rep. Cathy McMorris’ bill to a House vote.
McMorris, a Republican orchardist, says Congress acted too hastily to ban CFCs as of the end of last year.
CFCs were outlawed because they help deplete the earth’s ozone layer - a thin veil of molecules in the stratosphere that absorbs most of the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays.
Replacing CFCs with a substitute chemical in autos and refrigerators will cost consumers, McMorris said.
“This creates an enormous and expensive problem,” she said.
If the bill passes, Washington would become the second state to defy a federal ban on CFCs, formerly used in refrigerants, aerosol cans and insulation.
Arizona legislators passed a similar bill last year. Republican Gov. Fife Symington signed it, saying the ozone hole was based on “hokey science.”
Republican Rep. Ralph Gines of Boise recently introduced similar legislation in the Idaho Legislature.
Democrats, environmentalists, and an internationally-famous scientist are shaking their heads at the trend.
“It’s worrisome that this is being tried at a state government level,” said Mario Molina of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Molina was one of three scientists who won the 1995 Nobel Prize for chemistry for pioneering work on CFCs and ozone depletion.
“I’m appalled at this. It’s basic ignorance,” Molina said from Boston on Tuesday.
Other Eastern Washington Republicans - including Gary Chandler of Moses Lake, Steve Fuhrman of Kettle Falls and Mark Schoesler of Ritzville - are backing the legislation.
House Democrats are mobilizing in opposition.
“This bill lacks all common sense,” said Rep. Dave Chappell, D-Centralia, ranking Democrat on the Agriculture and Ecology committee.
“Scientists across the world have agreed CFCs are significantly contributing to the destruction of the ozone layer,” Chappell said.
McMorris says the CFC ban was based on “unreliable and unsubstantiated studies.”
She cited astrophysicist Sallie Baliunas, who says CFC dangers are exaggerated and who testified against the CFC ban in Arizona.
The bill’s misleading, said a lobbyist for the Washington State Plumbers and Pipefitters Association.
“It has nothing to do with the ozone hole. It’s an effort to get around federal regulations requiring certified people to handle CFCs,” said lobbyist Dan Sexton.
This week, Chappell obtained reports by Molina and other leading scientists who’ve studied ozone depletion. “I gave the members this to show there is good science” to support the ban, Chappell said.
“The Republicans have a strong majority on the committee. They may pass this in spite of the Montreal Protocol and despite the federal laws” banning CFCs, he said.
, DataTimes