HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 2021-80 RESOLUTION NO. 2021-80
A RESOLUTION OF TI-IE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY 017 HUNfINGTON 13EACF1
SUPPORTING FEDERAL PER AND POLYFLOUROALKLY SUBSTANCES (PFAS)
LEGISLA'CION '1'1-IAT PRO'1'EC'I'S RATEPAYERS AND WATER/WASTEWATER
AGENCIES
WHEREAS, PFAS are a group of chemicals developed by chemical manufacturers that
Would otherwise not exist naturally and despite playing no role in releasing PFAS into the
environment, cities and water agencies must find Ways to remove them from local Water
supplies; and.
WHEREAS. PFAS have been detected in the Orange County Groundwater Basin, managed
by Orange County Water District, and arc estimated to cost Orange County communities more
than $l billion, over 30 vears—a cost that Will likely increase; and.
WHEREAS, Ratepayers are at risk from pending PFAS legislation and associated HAS
costs and Water agencies and stakeholders must take action to inform members of Congress of
these devastating impacts; and,
THEREFORE, All PFAS-related legislation must exempt water and wastewater agencies
from any liability for PI-AS cleanup costs; and,
WHEREAS, A water utility that complies with applicable and appropriate federal
management and treatment standards must not be responsible for current and future costs
associated with a PFAS cleanup; and,
WHEREAS. Given the potential for federal legislation, such as the HAS Action Act of
2021 (1 .R. 2467), to expose water agencies that simply receive and treat water supplies with
across-the-board liability for PFAS-related cleanups when they have no responsibility for the
presence of PFAS, an explicit exemption from Superfund clean-up liability must be made for
water and Wastewater agencies; and,
WHEREAS, Under existing law (Safe Drinking Water Act), the USEPA ensures that
public health benefits of new drinking water standards are reasonably balanced with the
compliance costs that water system ratepayers will ultimately incur and eliminating this analysis
would burden ratepayers of all income levels with astronomical costs to comply with drinking
%vater standards: and,
WHEREAS, When setting drinking water standards for PFOA and PFOS, We advocate for
the USEPA to use this longstanding methodology; and,
NOW. THEREFORE, the City Council of the Cite of Huntington Beach does hereby
resolve as follows:
1. We hereby support these federal PFAS policy principles to protect water/wastewater
agencies and their ratepayers: and
21-10767/273732
RESOLUTION NO. 2021-80
2. We call upon the Orange County Congressional Delegation and California Senatorial
Delegation to cast votes implementing these public policy positions.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Huntington Beach at a
regular meeting held on the 22 day of December, 2021.
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Mayor
REVIEWED ND APPROVED: INITIATED AND APPROVED:
City anager Assistant City anger
APPROVED AST RM:
7%tyll tomey
2
Res. No. 2021-80
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
COUNTY OF ORANGE ss:
CITY OF HUNTINGTON BEACH
I, ROBIN ESTANISLAU, the duly elected, qualified City Clerk of the
City of Huntington Beach, and ex-officio Clerk of the City Council of said City, do
hereby certify that the whole number of members of the City Council of the City of
Huntington Beach is seven; that the foregoing resolution was passed and adopted
by the affirmative vote of at least a majority of all the members of said City Council
at a Regular meeting thereof held on December 21, 2021 by the following vote:
AYES: Peterson, Bolton, Posey, Delgleize, Carr, Moser, Kalmick
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
RECUSE: None
City Clerk and ex-officio Clerk of the
City Council of the City of
Huntington Beach, California