MASSPIRG: It was 20 years ago today…

With apologies to the Beatles, it was actually twenty years ago this month, in July of 1989, when Massachusetts’ landmark Toxics Use Reduction Act (TURA) was passed into law and signed by Governor Michael Dukakis. After the disastrous Love Canal episode in upstate New York in the late 1970’s, where thousands lost their homes and health as a result of the wanton use and disposal of toxics by a company called Hooker Chemical, a major national effort began to identify and clean up toxic waste and to reduce the use of toxic chemicals.

Yesterday. It wasn’t that long ago that Massachusetts companies were using more than a billion pounds of toxics every year. Those chemicals were ending up here, there, and everywhere, in the air, water, land, and even in our bodies.

Revolution. In 1989, Massachusetts became a model for the nation when the Legislature passed TURA, a law designed to get the state to work with businesses to reduce toxics use. This first-of-its-kind law required companies to disclose what toxic chemicals they were using and in what amounts, to prepare plans to reduce their use of chemicals, and to pay fees to the state to support its efforts to reduce chemical hazards. The Toxics Use Reduction Institute was founded at UMass Lowell to research innovative ways to reduce society’s reliance on toxic chemicals.

The Two of Us. Twenty years ago we were, respectively, the director of a public interest advocacy organization and a state environmental official in the Dukakis administration. We both advocated for the passage of TURA.

Getting Better. Thanks to laws like TURA and the federal Superfund, the toxics picture in Massachusetts has been steadily improving. Manufacturers in Massachusetts have reduced their use of toxic chemicals by 41%. These reductions make us all safer, reduce the costs of disposing of hazardous materials, and make goods produced here more competitive internationally.

The End? Unfortunately, faster than you can say “Polythene Pam,” the TURA program has been placed in jeopardy. The recently enacted state budget eliminates the $1.4 million line item for the Toxic Use Reduction Institute.

Fixing a Hole. Massachusetts’ budget has been thrown out of balance by the slumping economy, and as a result, many painful and difficult choices and cuts are being made everyday to personal, business, and governmental budgets. But do you want to know a secret? Zeroing out the TURA budget was unnecessary, because the $3.3 million in fees paid by companies under TURA last year are more than sufficient to fully fund the Institute’s budget.

Let it Be. TURA is an important program that works and that more than pays for itself. The governor and legislature should have known better than to put it at risk. Unless they act to restore the program, it won’t be long until toxics use and waste get back to where they once were.

We Can Work It Out.  If state leaders will simply come together to retain a highly successful program that more than pays for itself, Massachusetts will not have to carry the weight of increased toxics use. With a little help from our friends in the legislature and the Patrick administration, this successful national model can continue to work for the benefit of all of us for many years, long after we’re sixty-four.

Janet Domenitz is the Executive Director of MASSPIRG. Jim Gomes is Director of the Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise at Clark University.