Clean It Up, Now!

BETWEEN 1940 AND 1975, industries have dumped 500 million gallons of hazardous waste all over Massachusetts, according to the estimates of the public interest groups that have been pushing the state to accelerate the clean-up of toxic waste dumps. That is enough waste to make more than 100 Love Canals. These poisons are distributed at an estimated one to two thousand sites throughout the state--the exact number is not even known yet. And at the current rate of public and private clean-up efforts it will be 50 to 100 years before these hazardous waste dumps are cleaned up. That's why Question 4 could be the most important on your ballot next week.

The referendum will give Massachusetts voters the chance to get the clean-up effort off the ground. It is an opportunity we can not afford to miss. If passed, the referendum will require testing of all public water supplies by 1988, investigation of 2000 potentially hazardous sites in the next four years and clean-up or control of the toxins at any site within four years after it is investigated. Already an estimated 20 people contract cancers related to environmental hazards every day in Massachusetts, and 41 communities have been forced to close their drinking water supplies. There is no time to lose.

Despite the renewal of the federal Superfund program, the clean-up effort will be expensive. Some of the cost of cleanup will be borne by polluters, and the Superfund will help with the most urgent and expensive projects. The bulk of the cost, however, will fall on state taxpayers in the form of increased taxes and bond issues. That's why voting for the tax ceiling proposed in Question 3 would be serious mistake. According to a recent poll, almost two-thirds of Massachusetts voters were willing to pay an extra $100 in taxes to fund the clean-up effort, and almost 70 percent said they thought standards for protecting the environment could not be too high "regardless of the cost."

Unfortunately, while taxes in Massachussetts are below the national average, 67 percent of voters support Question 3, which would repeal a seven-and-a-half percent surtax on income and limit the growth of state revenues. That would threaten existing programs, not to mention an expensive clean-up effort. Vote yes on 4 and no on 3. It's time to face the problem and the cost.