Bill > SB5369

This bill directs the Washington Department of Ecology to petition the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reassess its regulations on the allowable levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in manufacturing processes that are currently excluded from prohibitions on the production and use of PCBs. The bill highlights concerns that the current EPA regulations on inadvertent PCB generation do not reflect the latest scientific evidence on the health and environmental risks posed by PCBs, which are a hazardous and persistent chemical. The bill argues that safer alternatives to PCB-containing products are now available, and that the continued use of manufacturing processes that result in PCB by-products should not be considered "inadvertent" but rather a deliberate use of the chemical.