Washington State Budgets $1.6 Million for Study and Removal of Toxic Lights
https://www.propublica.org/article/washington-state-budgets-1-6-million-for-study-and-removal-of-toxic-lights
Washington state lawmakers are set to dedicate $1.5 million to removing toxic fluorescent lights from schools and another $125,000 to studying environmental hazards and creating new standards to protect students from exposure to harmful substances.
In requesting the funding, lawmakers cited an investigation by The Seattle Times and ProPublica into a Seattle-area campus where children and staff were exposed to a combination of harmful conditions, including elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, a banned chemical that the Environmental Protection Agency has linked to cancer and other illnesses.
The school district knew as early as 2014 that PCBs were leaking into classrooms from aging fluorescent lights but were slow to respond to the unfolding crisis, The Times and ProPublica reported.
Pollet acknowledged that the proposed budget’s $1.5 million won’t cover the full cost of removing the toxic materials from schools. But he called the funding an “urgent, easy Band-Aid” and the first of many steps.
In addition to the funding, lawmakers proposed giving the Washington State Board of Health power to take action on classroom contamination.