Environmental Priorities Coalition

An introduction to the Environmental Priorities Coalition

Washington State Capitol Building

This year, the Environmental Priorities Coalition has chosen three priority proposals to support during this legislative session, which together support healthy communities and sustainable green jobs. Our 2010 Priorities focus on ensuring clean water, reducing the threat of toxic chemicals, and maintaining core environmental protections in a time of slashed budgets.

Working for Clean Water

The Working for Clean Water bill, HB1614, is about creating jobs, rebuilding our local economy, and cleaning up polluted waterways like Puget Sound and the Spokane River. Each year millions of gallons of petroleum pollute our water through storm runoff, a serious threat to our health and environment. This bill is a fee on polluters that will fund shovel-ready, local projects all over the state to stop this contamination. Now is the time to put Washington back to work by building storm water infrastructure that we’ll be proud of for generations.

Safe Baby Bottles Act

More and more evidence shows that the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) is harmful to children’s health. Laboratory studies have linked BPA to cancer, miscarriage, obesity, reproductive problems, and hyperactivity. Yet manufacturers can still legally use BPA in products such as baby bottles, infant formula cans, and other food containers.

The Safe Baby Bottle Act would address this problem by phasing out BPA in baby bottles, food and beverage cans, and other consumer products. Learn more about the bill here.

Unfortunately, opposition from chemical companies and Wal-Mart blocked the Safe Baby Bottle Act of 2009 from becoming law in 2009. The legislation will be put forward again in the 2010 legislative session. We will work hard to generate even more support for the legislation to pass in 2010 and to protect children's health.

Sustain Environmental Protections in the Budget

Our state is in the midst of an economic recession that threatens safeguards we all depend on, including core environmental protections. Washingtonians rely on protections that keep our families healthy: clean water to drink, unpolluted air to breathe, and the clean-up of toxic contaminations. Maintaining Washington’s clean environment also attracts business and qualified workers to our state, making us a driver in the new green economy.

While environmental protection programs are a small part of the state budget, they are critical in terms of public health, economic opportunity, and quality of life in Washington. Last year, the budget decimated many environmental programs, and we cannot afford to further impair these critical protections. The Environmental Priorities Coalition will work to ensure that our state budget sustains the core environmental protections we depend on to keep our communities healthy and safe.

Click here to read about how the 2009 Priorities fared in Olympia
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The Environmental Priorities Coalition is a collaborative effort of leading groups in the state pushing for improved protections for the health of people, land, air and water of the state. The following organizations make up the 2009 Environmental Priorities Coalition.

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