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By Kenneth R. Weiss
Los Angeles Times
February 9, 2006
Disgusted
by pictures of trash-strewn coasts, the California Ocean
Protection Council on Thursday called for an aggressive
crackdown on plastic fast-food containers, a ban of those
containing toxic chemicals and a program to reimburse police
for vigorous enforcement of littering laws.
Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, a member of the council, also
instructed the staff to find money to deploy "nurdle"
police to prosecute plastic manufacturers that allow plastic
pellets to spill off industrial lots.
The tiny pellets, nicknamed nurdles, are the most prevalent
plastic trash found in coastal waters and the state's beaches.
The council plans to work with local law enforcement officers,
state legislators and agency directors to turn its
recommendations into laws and regulations.
The governor's Ocean Protection Council was founded two years
ago to set the state's overall ocean policy and coordinate the
actions of dozens of disjointed agencies.
The voters gave the council $90 million by passing Proposition
84 in November, supporting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's
interest in protecting a body of water that generates an
estimated $46 billion from coastal tourism in California and
other ocean-related industries.
Thursday's action came as a surprise when the three-member
council amended a less ambitious staff-prepared plan with a
set of 10 resolutions written by the nonprofit Santa
Monica-based environmental group Heal the Bay. The resolutions
sought to reduce beach trash and marine debris and encourage
fast-food restaurants to switch from plastic to biodegradable
materials.
"This is a complete reversal," said Tim Shestek,
Western regional director of the American Chemistry Council,
which represents companies that turn petroleum into plastics.
He suggested it was not an appropriate way for the council to
set public policy. "It hasn't been reviewed by the
business community."
Moreover, Shestek said he was disturbed by the council's focus
on plastics. If restaurants switch to cardboard or other
materials for take-out containers, he contended, they also can
end up on the beach or in the water.
The daylong meeting included testimony from state officials,
environmental representatives and scientific experts about how
plastics are extremely slow to degrade in the marine
environment. Discarded plastic fishing gear and other plastic
marine debris kill more than 1 million seabirds and 100,000
marine mammals and sea turtles every year, as well as sullying
coastlines worldwide.
At one point during the meeting, a council staff member left
the staff table to take the microphone during public comment
to complain that her favorite Northern California beach was
being "carpeted" with plastic trash after
rainstorms.
The tenor of the meeting was set by Garamendi, who showed
little patience with industry suggestions that more study was
needed, calling it "paralysis by analysis."
Garamendi urged the adoption of all of Heal the Bay's
recommendations, a motion ultimately supported by the two
other council members, state Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman
and California EPA Secretary Linda Adams.
Under direction from the council, state workers have until
December to prepare a plan to phase out the most toxic and
damaging types of plastic packaging by 2015. In addition to
curtailing the use of Styrofoam cups and other items, the plan
would target plastics that can "leak" chemicals,
such as cancer-causing vinyl chloride and bisphenol-A, which
is linked to prostate cancer in humans and reproductive
problems in wildlife.
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ken.weiss@latimes.com
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