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* Proponents of SB1852, the Sterigenics bill, described it as the toughest ethylene oxide regulation in the nation. Business groups claimed it was the toughest in the world. But the biz folks may have been blowing a bit of smoke…
Yet industry documents obtained by the Chicago Tribune show the state’s business community privately concluded the regulations are less stringent than they had feared.
Shortly after lawmakers close to the Pritzker administration unveiled their legislation during the spring, one of the state’s top business lobbyists assured colleagues it contained the “least concerning language to date,” according to notes from an April 30 meeting.
Donovan Griffith, director of governmental affairs at the Illinois Manufacturers Association, stressed that Pritzker and lawmakers had backed away from earlier versions fiercely opposed by business interests, according to a summary by another industry official at the meeting. Griffith’s presentation noted lawmakers had dropped plans to reconsider permits allowing companies to emit ethylene oxide. They also had scrapped what opponents considered “arbitrary emissions limits.”
The measure later approved unanimously by legislators and signed into law by Pritzker is largely identical to the draft Griffith described, a Tribune review found. Discovery of the lobbyist’s behind-the-scenes assessment comes as community groups demand a more aggressive response to elevated cancer risks faced by more than 67,000 Illinoisans living near facilities that use ethylene oxide.
Even so, the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois both registered in opposition to the final bill. The Environmental Law and Policy Center and the Illinois Environmental Council both filed witness slips in support.
Laws are never perfect and some are ridiculously weak. But bills won’t become laws without clearing two chambers and getting signed by the governor. And that means compromise.
With that being said, there’s an old saying about how there’s an inverse relationship to what a bill actually accomplishes and how many votes it gets. Bills with unanimous support often do little. That bill passed without a single dissenting vote.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Oct 16, 19 @ 2:40 pm
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Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Oct 16, 19 @ 4:34 pm
Once Sterigenics decided to pull out of Willowbrook, it seems the urgency has waned to a point where it’s back to the legislative processes that may come into play for the next call to arms.
If opponents of Sterigenics aren’t careful, the whole idea of what is trying to be accomplished overall will fall away…
60/30 signature.
Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Oct 16, 19 @ 4:48 pm