Download Background on Western States MOU Meeting in Sacramento

CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
Department of Toxic Substances Control
Informational Release
T – 01 – 15
Barbara A. Lee, Director
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION
[February 2, 2016]
Contact: [Ben Edokpayi]
[916 322 4799]
Background on Western States MOU Meeting in Sacramento
SACRAMENTO -The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) reached last year between California’s
Department of Toxic Substances Control with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the
Washington State Department of Ecology, gained some traction with a meeting this week in Sacramento
between officials of the three states. Also in attendance at the meeting were staff from the U.S. EPA’s
Region 9 office in San Francisco and the Western Sustainability & Pollution Prevention Network (WSPPN).
The two day meeting at the CalEPA headquarters was aimed at advancing, developing and implementing
green chemistry and safer consumer products programs in the three Western states. Areas of collaboration
outlined in last year’s MOU, include the development of tools and training, exchange of data on chemicals
and products and outreach and engagement on toxics in products, and stimulating innovation in green
chemistry and safer products.
CalEPA Secretary Matt Rodriquez addressed the opening session. “We owe it to the public to make our
products safer,” he said, adding “I am just pleased that we have been able to start that process by providing a
model and also comforting that other states are doing the same thing, and I appreciate the willingness of
everybody to work together to take on this daunting task. In many ways we are on the cusp of starting some
very important programs.”
Representing DTSC at the meeting which ended on Feb. 2, were Karl Palmer, Branch Chief of the Safer
Products and Workplaces Program; Meredith Williams Safer Products and Workplaces Program Deputy
Director; and Relly Briones of the Safer Consumer Products program. Others in attendance were Kevin
Masterson and Saskia van Bergen from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Ken Zarker, P2
Section manager from the WSPPN; Chris Lynch and Tabitha Aspling from the Western Sustainability &
Pollution Prevention Network. Also in attendance from the U.S. EPA’s Region 9 office were John Katz,
Eileen Sheehan and Zoe Heller.
###
FOR GENERAL INQUIRIES: Contact the Department of Toxic Substances Control by phone at
(800) 728-6942 or visit www.dtsc.ca.gov. To report illegal handling, discharge, or disposal of
hazardous waste, call the Waste Alert Hotline at (800) 698-6942.
The mission of DTSC is to protect California’s people and environment from harmful effects of
toxic substances by restoring contaminated resources, enforcing hazardous waste laws, reducing
hazardous waste generation, and encouraging the manufacture of chemically safer products.