ADVISORY COMMITTEE WORKS TO REFINE MTCA BY DAN BALLBACH and PAT SERIE Special to the Journal The Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) is the state's hazardous substance clean-up law. It was adopted by voter initiative in 1988 and became effective in March 1989. Since that time there have been some amendments addressing important issues, but no comprehensive evaluation or modification. In 1995 the state Dept. of Ecology set up a policy advisory committee to advise the Legislature and Ecology on administrative and legislative actions that would make MTCA more effective. The MTCA Policy Advisory Committee, commonly referred to as the PAC, has 22 members representing legislators, environmental organizations, businesses, local government, the Science Advisory Board, three at-large members representing the agricultural community and the financial/insurance community, and representatives from Ecology and the Department of Health. The Legislature specified several subjects for the PAC to consider "at a minimum," including: Clean-up standards and clean-up levels; Policies regarding the selection of clean-up remedies; How Ecology carries out MTCA, including training and accountability for its decisions; Improvements to the clean-up process to fund cleanups more fully and expeditiously; The need for ecologically based clean-up standards; and A review of the independent clean-up program's effectiveness. The PAC has been meeting since Aug. 1, 1995. Subcommittees were formed including a Risk Assessment Subcommittee, Independent Cleanup Subcommittee, Remedy Selection Subcommittee and Implementation Subcommittee. The PAC selected two pilot projects in September 1995 from a list of pilot project sites proposed by Ecology. The criteria for selection included sites that would allow alternative methods to be evaluated for doing faster, less expensive but effective cleanups at complex sites. The two project sites are the L-Bar site in the Ecology eastern region and the U-Haul site (Yakima Valley Spray) in the Ecology central region. For 1996 the PAC identified a number of priority issues to be considered including: Should site-specific risk assessment be used to set clean-up levels and to make remedial action decisions under MTCA? Should an alternative method for evaluating risk be used in setting clean-up levels for petroleum? Is there a need for ecologically based clean-up standards? Should Ecology have a "remedies czar" or someone who can perform dispute resolution for remedy selection? What can be done to encourage redevelopment of contaminated "brownfields" (industrial properties), agricultural properties and other areas while ensuring that the cleanup complies with MTCA's fundamental requirements? How can we best leverage limited Ecology resources to provide greater technical assistance for independent cleanups? Should we institute a program for random Ecology audits or spot-checks of independent cleanups on an ongoing basis? Should we change our existing tax policy to create financial clean-up incentives? How should public participation be provided for in connection with risk assessment, remedy selection, independent cleanups and other elements of MTCA? Are adequate resources being distributed to the Toxic Cleanup Program, relative to other agencies and programs that receive money from the Toxic Control Accounts? For the most part, amendments to MTCA have occurred through broad support among a variety of interest groups. This consensus approach and the support that amendments to MTCA have had to date reflects the attitude of people who experienced the difficult, divisive campaign which led to the enactment of MTCA by initiative. MTCA is different from and in some respects more successful than the federal hazardous substance clean-up program, which is perhaps the result of diverse groups resolving to work together and make the program function despite strong individual objection to major elements. Clearly, there is room for improvement, and the Legislature recognized this in setting up the review committee. The PAC, its alternate members, Ecology, and those who have participated in the public meetings of the PAC have demonstrated a very strong interest in improving MTCA. Ecology has had a somewhat unique role with respect to the PAC. While Ecology established the committee under direction of the Legislature, it is a committee that reports to the Legislature and to Ecology and to that extent is not controlled by Ecology. Ecology provides staffing and other assistance and responds to information requests from the committee. But Ecology is willing to subject its program to detailed scrutiny by the PAC. Similarly, the Attorney General's Office has supported the PAC's efforts and from time to time has provided legal advice when requested by the PAC. The PAC's initial report to the Legislature on issues and priorities was a consensus report. In January of this year the PAC began the tougher stage of decisionmaking. Its ability to achieve and maintain consensus is being tested but all of the interest groups are approaching the issues with a problem-solving attitude and a willingness to compromise for the sake of having an effective clean-up program. The problem-solving process has involved extensive study and discussion at the subcommittee level, with issues being analyzed and potential solutions evaluated by PAC members, supported by inputs from other interested parties. A case study approach looked at several hypothetical cleanup sites as a way of testing the results of several priority issues. In the case of site-specific risk assessment, for example, the case studies underwent several different types of risk assessment ranging from MTCA as it is currently implemented through extensive variations in site-specific parameters. These activities, conducted by volunteer risk assessors and reviewed within the MTCA-regulated community and Ecology, provided illuminating results for consideration of the issues. As issues are processed by the subcommittees, the results are documented in what are called issue resolution templates. Those templates present the issue and background, identify potential solutions, analyze options and make recommendations for PAC to consider. Most of the priority issues are proceeding this summer toward a recommended resolution. All consensus decisions are conditional until the final set of recommendations is considered this fall, but PAC members are moving through the long list of issues. The pilot projects are under way, and information is beginning to come forward to help with PAC's work. Many members of the interested community also participate in subcommittee and work group meetings, attend PAC meetings and contribute their perspectives and analytical support. The PAC meets in locations ranging from Olympia to Wenatchee. An evening session was held in June 1996 in Everett to get citizen input on how to improve MTCA's public involvement requirements. The July 1996 meeting, in Wenatchee, focused on a study session about contaminated orchard lands and the ability to meet MTCA requirements. To expand citizen participation, Ecology maintains a mailing list for notifications about PAC meetings and results. An update on the process and the ongoing issue analyses will be distributed this month, and a public meeting is planned for September to allow the public to learn more about the PAC process and make contributions. The hours of work and the many long meetings of the PAC, along with the complexity of the issues being considered, mean that the group has a formidable task in completing its work by the end of 1996, as mandated by the Legislature. Some issues have already been decided at a preliminary level. Consensus decisionmaking is slow and sometimes frustrating, but when successful it provides a solid foundation for policy decisions on critical issues. Because of the PAC's progress so far and contributions being made by other interested parties, we are confident that substantial progress will be made in recommending refinements in MTCA at the statutory, regulatory and policy levels. Participants want to refine MTCA in ways that will encourage prompt, effective cleanups of contaminated sites statewide, and to make that process faster, less expensive and easier to achieve while still protecting the human health and environment of Washington. Dan Ballbach, is Chief Operating Office of Landau Associates and Pat Serie, is president of EnviroIssues. They are the presiding officer and facilitator, respectively, for Washington's Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) Policy Advisory Committee (PAC). The views and comments expressed in this article are theirs and do not necessarily reflect the views or conclusions of the PAC.