[greenyes] Sierra Club Criticizes CIWMB Board Appointment 3.3.05

[Ann Schneider <schneiderann@no.address>]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:    Bill Magavern

Thursday, March 3, 2005
916-557-1100, x102



Sierra Club Criticizes Appointment of Former Industry Lobbyist to Waste
Board

Statement by Bill Magavern, Senior Legislative Representative


Governor Schwarzenegger has appointed Scott Harvey to the California
Integrated Waste Management Board, and has failed to reappoint Michael
Paparian to the seat reserved for a representative from the
environmental community.


Sierra Club California issued the following statement on the decisions:


"Governor Schwarzenegger's choices on membership of the Integrated Waste
Management Board will harm our environment and benefit special
interests. The decision to appoint a former waste industry lobbyist to a
'public' seat, while leaving empty the only environmental seat on the
Board, is biased, illogical, and inconsistent. In addition, the
appointment of former industry lobbyist Scott Harvey violates the spirit
- and possibly the letter - of the law. 


Section 40402 of the Public Resources Code provides that board members,
with the exception of the industry representative, shall not have
received more than 10% of their income from 'a person or entity subject
to regulation by the board.' The IWMB regulates the solid waste hauling,
disposal and recycling industries. Within the last two years, Harvey
served as the paid Executive Director of the San Diego County Disposal
Association. The association represents and is funded exclusively by
three San Diego based waste hauling, disposal and recycling firms: Waste
Management, Allied Waste and EDCO, and their respective subsidiaries. 


The administration evidently intends to argue that Harvey was paid by a
non-profit trade association, and not directly by the waste haulers, and
therefore the income prohibition does not apply. This interpretation is
legally suspect and ethically bankrupt, as the law was obviously written
to preclude people like waste industry lobbyists from serving in public
seats. Whether or not Harvey's income from the waste industry passed the
10% threshold should be investigated by the Senate Rules Committee, but
his appointment clearly tilts the Board toward the waste hauling
industry.


Environmental groups had urged the reappointment of Board Member
Paparian, who has done a fine job over the last 5 years. Having decided
to let Paparian's term lapse, the administration reportedly intends to
now belatedly search for a new environmental representative, a search
that will be greatly hindered by the Governor's announced intention to
eliminate the Board entirely. In the meantime the environmental voice
has been stilled at the board responsible for most of California's solid
waste and recycling programs, while the industry's voice has been
amplified."



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