The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) is taking steps to shield ratepayers from potential increases in utility rates due to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent designation of hazardous substances.
The public utilities commission has sent a letter to Congress and Arizona’s congressional delegation, advocating for federal legislation that would exempt water and wastewater utilities from liability for hazardous substance disposal under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as Superfund.
Republican Commissioner Nick Myers, who proposed the letter in July, said utility companies are receivers of these substances and not the manufacturers of them.
“This designation as it stands right now, subjects those utilities and the customers, potentially to CERCLA violations and lawsuits and higher disposal fees,” Myers said.
In a unanimous and bipartisan decision earlier this month, the ACC approved sending the letter.
Myers added that he wants to shift the cost back onto the responsible parties that caused pollution in the first place.
Earlier this year, the EPA classified PFOA and PFOS– two widely used per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances known as PFAS, under CERCLA.
While CERCLA aims to hold polluters accountable, Myers argued that this action has left water and wastewater utilities vulnerable to significant cleanup costs and natural resource damages.
“We’re doing everything we can to try to mitigate the costs of that,” Myers said. “There are some utilities where we project the cost could quadruple in Arizona.”
Myers noted that utility companies in rural areas could potentially be hit the hardest by rising costs.