Controversial POPs Legislation Blocked

Working with partner groups in Washington D.C. and around the country, PAN helped block yet another attempt by Republicans on Capitol Hill to undermine the Stockholm Convention (POPs treaty). The controversial “Gillmor POPs bill” came dangerously close to becoming law. It is designed to weaken U.S. participation in the agreement to phase out hazardous persistent chemicals.

The U.S. has not yet ratified the POPs treaty, and must amend federal laws governing industrial chemicals and pesticides before it can join the 132 other countries that have already adopted it. The bill, named for its author, Representative Paul Gillmor (R-OH), includes a preemption clause undermining states’ rights to protect their citizens from POPs chemicals and undermines the health-based standards for decision making under the POPs treaty.

In a national coalition effort led by the Center for International Environmental Law, PAN worked to generate widespread opposition to the bill, including protests from United Steelworkers, AFL-CIO, California and American Nurses Associations and California Association of Sanitation Agencies. Eleven state attorneys general also went on record opposing the bill. PAN and other members of the coalition met with staffers at key legislative offices to highlight concerns. The coalition worked together to produce this full-page advertisement that appeared in Congressional Daily.

Although it was poised for a House vote in September, the national outcry generated by our coalition kept the bill from coming to the floor. The ­reactionary Gillmor bill may rise again in a post-election session, but our recent efforts mean that Capitol Hill awareness and opposition to a bad bill will be much stronger, and any effort to weaken U.S. participation in the POPs treaty is much less likely to succeed.