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Second Regular Session

Sixty-first General Assembly

LLS NO. R98­0816.01 MCV

STATE OF COLORADO

BY SENATORS Norton, Arnold, Chlouber, and Powers;

also REPRESENTATIVES Adkins, Entz, Lawrence, Miller, Owen, Paschall, Swenson, and Young.

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 98-007

CONCERNING A REQUEST FOR ACTION TO DEFEND SENATE BILL 94­139 AND TO ALLOW THE STATE TO IMPLEMENT THAT LAW WITHOUT INTERFERENCE FROM THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY.

WHEREAS, The General Assembly of the State of Colorado enacted Senate Bill 94­139 in May of 1994 to benefit the environment by encouraging regulated entities to perform voluntary environmental self­audits in order to ascertain the entities' compliance with environmental requirements and voluntarily disclose violations discovered in the audits; and

WHEREAS, The environmental self­audit law has encouraged companies to perform self­audits and to correct violations found in those audits, thus resulting in a positive environmental gain for the State; and

WHEREAS, The Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") is attempting to undermine Colorado's audit law by using its authorities to force amendments to the audit law and to discourage companies from utilizing the law by threatening enforcement actions; and

WHEREAS, The Attorney General of the State of Colorado has issued an opinion, contained in a thirty­nine­page letter to the EPA dated November 18, 1997, finding that Senate Bill 94­139 does not adversely impact the State's ability to implement the Clean Water Act; and

WHEREAS, The EPA response to the Attorney General's letter was a three­page letter demanding that the State amend Senate Bill 94­139 or face revocation of the delegation of the Clean Water Act program; and

WHEREAS, The EPA's concerns about the effect of Colorado's audit law on delegated programs reflect a policy difference between the State and the EPA, rather than a legitimate legal disagreement; and

WHEREAS, The EPA is further discouraging companies from utilizing the audit law by increasing its rate of overfiling in state enforcement actions and by requiring burdensome information submissions from companies utilizing the audit law; and

WHEREAS, While Colorado government and regulated industries have formed a true partnership to protect and enhance the state's environment, the EPA's actions now undermine that partnership by once again creating an adversarial relationship between regulators and business; and

WHEREAS, The federal Congress, the President's Administration, and the EPA have repeatedly affirmed their commitment to state primacy in administering programs under federal environmental statutes; and

WHEREAS, The General Assembly, the Attorney General's Office, and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment strongly support Senate Bill 94­139 and do not believe that changes to the law are necessary; now, therefore,

Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Sixty­first General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the House of Representatives concurring herein:

That we, the members of the Colorado General Assembly, hereby request the Attorney General and the Executive Branch of the State of Colorado to take whatever steps are necessary to defend and fully implement Senate Bill 94­139.

Be it further resolved, That we, the members of the Colorado General Assembly, hereby request the Congress of the United States to take actions necessary, including federal legislation, to ensure that Colorado can carry out its audit law without interference from the EPA.

Be it further resolved, That copies of this resolution be sent to each member of Colorado's Congressional delegation and to the administrator of the EPA.