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SALT LAKE CITY — Twin air pollution bills aired before a legislative committee Wednesday raised more questions than answers, leaving them to languish without moving on for additional consideration.
However, Senate Assistant Minority Whip Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, may revive SB66, which deals with increasing criminal fines for polluters, as well as SB49, which would extend the statute of limitations from one year to five years for the state to bring action against a violator.
Many lawmakers on the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee expressed concern over the ability for the Utah Department of Environmental Quality to "retroactively" bring charges against companies caught violating state environmental codes, giving rise to uncertainty over monitoring and compliance with the law, and when a violation would prompt action.
Manufacturing representatives and the Utah Petroleum Association said the bill is a solution in search of a problem, and if state regulators had time constraints investigating violators, it should be addressed with staffing adjustments instead to better handle workloads.
Escamilla was willing to have the time frame reduced — and the bill was modified from five years to three years for the state to bring an action — but it did not survive the committee vote. Some committee members indicated they would possibly be in favor of a two-year limitation.
Her other measure — inceasing criminal penalties she said had not been adjusted since 1981 — raised other questions about the discretionary nature of the fines, the appropriateness of the penalties and how they compared with other states.
The committee did not vote on the bill.
Clean air advocacy groups such as Utah Moms for Clean Air and HEAL Utah spoke in favor of both bills.
"A willingness to allow the fines to increase demonstrates the willingness to be a good actor within the community," said Utah Moms' Ingrid Griffey, urging support for SB66. "To be concerned about it draws a certain cautious suspicion on the person's motives."
Escamilla said the bill was not patterned after what fines other states imposed, but was only adjusted for inflation to 2016 from 1981 — when the fines were last modified. Email: amyjoi@deseretnews.com Twitter: amyjoi16
