HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution 4119
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RESOLUTION NO. 4119
CITY OF MOUNDS VIEW
COUNTY OE RAMSEY
STATE OF MINNESOTA
RESOLUTION URGING CONGRESSIONAL RELIEF
FROM APPLICATION OF SUPERFUND STATUTE
WHEREAS, the City of Mounds View, Minnesota, strongly
supports the general concept of the Superfund statute
(Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability
Act) which makes parties who have created, transported, managed
or disposed of hazardous waste liable for the cost of hazardous
waste cleanup; and
WHEREAS, under the Superfund statute, hazardous waste
site polluters acquire the right to sue fellow polluters to share
the cleanup expense; and
WHEREAS, polluters have discovered a means of
attempting to shift the costs of hazardous waste site cleanup to
taxpayers of the nation by suing only governments for their
volume of municipal solid waste placed in landfills, thereby
causing enormous legal costs and potentially unfair economic
effects on city governments throughout the nation; and
WHEREAS, the Superfund statute does not and should not
focus on municipal solid waste; and
WHEREAS, the Environmental Protection Policy recently
adopted an Interim Municipal Settlement Policy that it would not
routinely pursue local governments under Superfund, acknowledging
that only a tiny fraction of municipal solid waste may be toxic;
and
WHEREAS, the policy does nothing to stop polluters from
launching expensive and often frivolous lawsuits against city
governments, many of whom have only arranged for or licensed the
pickup and hauling of municipal solid waste from within their
respective borders; and
WHEREAS, such lawsuits are beginning to yield results
whereby the nation's cities, school districts, very small
businesses and potentially citizens are prospects to be sued by
polluters; and
WHEREAS, the City of Mounds View has recently been
targeted by polluters under the Superfund statute as a
potentially responsible party; and
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RESOLUTION NO. 4119
PAGE TWO OF TWO
WHEREAS, the 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act and its amendments, along with EPA's regulations thereunder,
treat household hazardous wastes according to non-hazardous solid
waste standards.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of
the City of Mounds View, Minnesota, urge its congressional
representatives to support:
1. Amending the Superfund statute to clearly provide
that municipal solid waste is not a hazardous
substance in the same fashion as provided under
the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
2. Empowering only the Federal Government to sue
local governments for cost-sharing under the
Superfund statute if local governments may
have handled any truly hazardous waste.
Clearly defining that the degree of toxicity, not
the volume of waste, should be the prime factor
in assessing any liabilities under the Superfund
statute.
3.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City Administrator be
authorized to vigorously pursue relief from the attempts to
transfer the costs of toxic waste cleanup from polluters to
household taxpayers.
Adopted this 9th day of September, 1991.
(SEAL)
ATTEST: