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| Immaculate, well-lit stores with cheery signs and sharply dressed staff members characterize the cleaning plants that IFI CEO Bill Fisher visited while in Japan. |
On a recent trek to Tokyo, International Fabricare Institute CEO Bill Fisher spoke to Japan's top drycleaners about the past, present and future of the industry.
During three separate discussions, Fisher discussed the history of IFI and drycleaning, the current work being done at IFI, and his strategic view for the future of the industry.
"I tried to focus a major part of my talk on some of the trends that we see happening that might transfer to Japan," Fisher said. "For example, the rising consumerism and the emergence of dot-com cleaning companies, which may or may not make it, but the fact is it has happened."
While Fisher had an opportunity to educate Japanese drycleaners on a variety of drycleaning trends, the trip also afforded an excellent opportunity for learning.
"There is a lot to be learned," Fisher concluded. "In particular, I have to admit that I am impressed with the way the Japanese drycleaners and their counter people set an example for good dress. That's something that we could all take a hard look at."
Though Japan boasts a variety of dress levels similar to the U.S., Fisher noted that the country has a much higher tendency to dress in formal wear, especially people in the drycleaning industry.
Upon touring a variety of plants and speaking with their operators, Fisher recalled, "I didn't meet one that didn't have a suit or wear a sport coat/slacks and a tie in all of the plants that we visited -- from large central plants, to package plants, to drop stores."
He also added, "The counter people were all in uniforms and looked good. Similarly, the stores themselves were immaculate -- clean, well lit, cheery, and with a limited number of freshly-done tasteful signs."
Japan's population is approximately 135 million people, about half of that of the United States, yet, the country has roughly the same geographic area as California. Interestingly enough, Japan is thickly mountainous, which causes its population to live in a space that comprises about 20 percent of the country's area.
Despite this, JRFC President Yoshimichi Mituishi reported to Fisher that Japan has an estimated number of 50,000 drycleaning plants and 100,000 dry stores -- figures that suggest one operating plant per 2,700 people in Japan compared to one operating plant per 7,700 people in the US.
While Japan's stores generally run smaller in size, Fisher noticed that volume seems to run "relatively high," something he attributes to the Japanese ability to "think outside the box" in order to come up with different ideas to achieve success.
For example, almost every single plant used plastic hangers because they offer more specialization and customers are far more apt to return them for recycled use.
Fisher also recalled another plant, Tokyo Wholesale Co., which had a central plant offering retail work for 250 employees. The company had a few unique methods of diversifying its business, including: cleaning, refurbishing, and re-dyeing shoes; cleaning stuffed animals and toys; cleaning and hand ironing kimonos; and offering short-term (one to two years) garment preservation in bags filled with nitrogen.
Accompanying Fisher on the trip, which was sponsored by the Japan Fabricare Research Center, was Deborah Rechnitz, the executive director of the Northwest Drycleaners Association and managing director of the Methods for Management consulting firm. Rechnitz gave presentations on management and business issues.
Following his visit to Japan, Fisher also flew to China to speak at the Chinese Convention and Exhibition and to meet with IFI's affiliate, the China Fabricare Institute.
During a day of information sharing, about 40 cleaners and association leaders scrutinized programs in a dozen states that try to help drycleaners deal with solvent clean-ups that could be financially ruinous.
The "State Fund Summit" was organized by the International Fabricare Institute and held at a Baltimore-area hotel. The participants, mostly from states where clean-up funds have been enacted, were asked to bring their "war stories" to the table -- their successes, failures, regrets and hopes for the future.
Campaigns to establish state-level programs took off about seven years ago when it became apparent that a proposal for a federal drycleaning site remediation program was not going to get through Congress. In general, the state funds are modeled on that proposal -- cleaners pay into a cleanup fund which can be used in the event they become liable for cleaning up solvent contamination. Most of the funds, like the federal proposal, also stipulate operational practices that would help prevent contamination from occurring in the future.
In 1994, Florida and Connecticut were the first states to adopt programs. Several other states -- Kansas, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee and South Carolina -- enacted programs the following year. By the end of 1997, three more states joined in -- Wisconsin, Illinois and North Carolina -- and Arizona adopted a unique program that offers protection for all small businesses, not just drycleaners. After a two-year hiatus, two more states, Alabama and Missouri, passed clean-up laws this year.
Details of the programs vary from state to state. Money for the funds is usually raised through some combination of annual site fees, surcharges on solvent purposes and taxes on gross receipts. Some programs include only drycleaners who use perc and petroleum; others extend the program to other cleaning solvents. In some states, participation is voluntary; in most it is mandatory. Some programs cover abandoned sites; others do not. Some, but not all, include dry stores. Distributors are included in some, but not others.
All of these details were laid out by representatives of the states during the summit. (Each state's program is summarized in the following article). But the first step for each state was getting a program passed by the legislature and that was a major topic of discussion at the meeting.
Getting through the legislative process requires support from three groups: the legislators, state environmental officials, and the rank and file of drycleaners. Some states hired a lobbyist for expert guidance through the ins and outs of the legislature, and that takes money. But money and a good lobbyist probably are not enough. Grassroots support from the cleaners in the state is needed to convince legislators that the program is both needed and wanted.
The legislative process
In Florida for example, not only did leaders of the drive to pass legislation spend many hours at the state capitol, legislators themselves were inundated with faxes, phone calls and letters from drycleaner constituents asking for support.
Since most drycleaners are neither politicians or lobbyists, they need assistance in making those contacts and in knowing what to say when the contact is made.
Another key element for the success of a legislative effort is getting support from the state environmental department. In many states, the environmental officials have the power to say "no" to any such program, so working with them and getting them on board is important in the early stages, as well as later on when the program begins operating.
Passing legislation is not the end of the process. The rule-making stage is critical, as is continued vigilance in the legislature to see that the law goes into effect as intended and isn't torpedoed by subsequent legislative action. Six years after passage, the Florida Drycleaners Coalition still keeps its lobbyist on the payroll to watch over developments in the statehouse.
How large a fund?
How much money should be in the fund and how to raise it has been a sticking point for many state programs. It would seem simple enough to multiply the number of drycleaning sites in the state by the amount it takes to clean-up a site to find out how much the cleanups will cost. Then, divide that amount by the number of years the program will be working and you'll know how much money needs to be raised annually.
But how many drycleaning sites are there in any given state? And how much does a cleanup cost? Suddenly the equation is not so simple.
Many states have fallen short in the revenue projections due to either overestimating the number of drycleaners who would be participating or the amount of solvent they use, or both.
In Oregon, for example, the goal was to raise $1 million a year, primarily through a surcharge on solvent purchases. The surcharge started at $10 a gallon on perc and has been raised repeatedly to more than $20 a gallon today-- and still $1 million has yet to be raised in any year since the law was passed in 1995.
With solvent consumption continuing to decline, funds that rely heavily on surcharges seem to be more prone to shortfalls than those that rely on gross receipts taxes.
Other states funds have caps on cleanup costs that may be too restrictive. Connecticut, for example, allows a maximum of $50,000 a year and a total of $150,000 for any one site. Since the heaviest costs usually come in the first year, this schedule may not be practical.
Who is covered
Another question that has no clear answer is who should be covered by the funds. Some funds include solvent distributors, for example, but others do not, fearing that one cleanup of a distributor facility would use a disproportionate amount of the fund.
Most of the funds require participation of all drycleaners, but Alabama's is completely voluntary and South Carolina lets petroleum cleaners opt out of the program. None of the funds include institutional laundries or hospitals and only two, Kansas and Illinois, cover hotels. Most of the funds allow coverage for abandoned drycleaning sites provided the property owner contributes to the fund.
Three states -- South Carolina, Tennessee and Illinois -- require some form of drycleaner certification to be eligible for the program.
Since the meeting was designed primarily to exchange information among drycleaners, no final decisions or course of future action was decided, except a general agreement to have another meeting at a time and place as yet undecided.
IFI also offered to make its web site available as a resource for ongoing exchange of ideas and discussion. The site, www.ifi.org, is being revamped and a chat room or message board feature could be set up to continue the dialogue.
At the same time, another group, one made up mainly of environmental officials from states that have clean-up funds, is continuing holding similar discussions about state programs. The State Coalition for Remediation of Drycleaners (SCRD), works under the auspices of EPA. Much information has been compiled and posted on the SCRD web site: www.clu-in.org/programs/dryclean.
In Wisconsin, at least one drycleaner believes there are 188,000 reasons why the Drycleaner Environmental Response Fund program works.
On Sept. 13, a check for $188,115.81 was presented to Greg and Izzy Roth, owners of Cedarburg Village Investment Co., marking the first payment delivered under Wisconsin's DERF program.
Another check for over $56,000 was given to Aubrey Fowler of Northern Properties in Middleton.
Wisconsin Fabricare Institute's Executive Director Joe Phillips estimates that over $600,000 has already been rewarded in all.
The DERF program is financed by state licensed drycleaners who pay 1.8% of their gross receipts to the fund. Additional revenue is based on solvent usage.
Roth's plant, which is located just north of Milwaukee, recently underwent a lengthy clean-up operation that he estimated to cost more than $250,000. The check for over $188,000 represented a substantial reimbursement for the operation.
Noting that he was "extremely pleased and excited" with the settlement, Roth applauded the actions of WFI for its efforts. "WFI's staff, legal counsel and Board of Directors, despite sometimes difficult opposition, held to their belief that this program would ultimately serve the best interests of small entrepreneurs like myself and the many others that will likely follow. Their persistence was truly remarkable and I'm eternally grateful for it."
Present at the event were many officials who had worked hard to ensure that the DERF program would be successful, including Department of Natural Resources Secretary George Meyer, WFI Executive Director Joe Phillips and Dan Martino, who currently serves on both the IFI and WFI Board of Directors.
Martino, a past president of WFI, lobbied to gain passage of the DERF law back in 1994. In 1998, Wisconsin lawmakers finally approved the measure.
Over the course of the last 18 months, the DNR has been working with an Industry Advisory Council appointed by the governor to develop the administrative rules to implement the program.
Phillips is working closely with the DNR to resolve some current problems with the program, which has been forced to deny some drycleaners any reimbursement funds.
New legislation is expected to be proposed in 2001 to make the program more responsive to all drycleaners, as it was originally intended.
For additional information, contact Joe Phillips at WFI, (414) 529-4707.
PICTURE CAPTION: Greg and Izzy Roth (center), owners of the drycleaning plant Cedarburg Village Investment Co., received a reimbursement check for over $188,000 from Wisconsin's DERF program. Also present were: Joe Phillips (far left), executive director of the WFI; Dan Martino (second from left), a former WFI president and now on the IFI Board of Directors; and George Myer (right), secretary of the Department of Natural Resources.
Alabama Arizona Connecticut Florida Illinois Kansas Minnesota Missouri North Carolina Oregon South Carolina Tennessee Wisconsin
A voluntary program
Alabama's Drycleaning Environmental Response Trust Fund was enacted this year. The program is voluntary and cleaners have 12 months from the effective date of the act to decide whether to participate.
The fund must generate $1 million within two years or it will be declared null and void and the money paid in by those cleaners who wanted to participate will be refunded, less administrative expenses. More than 50 cleaners have already elected to participate in the fund.
The fund derives its revenue from a 2 percent tax on gross sales with a maximum of $25,000 per year per company. Payments are made quarterly.
The fund will pay all costs involved in the assessment or clean-up of contamination -- past, present or future -- at any drycleaning facility, abandoned drycleaning site, wholesale distribution facility or real property of an impacted third party, provided the owner of the property or abandoned facility has registered the site. Payments are subject to a deductible of $10,000. Payments are limited to $250,000 per year per site.
Environmental performance standards are required of all drycleaners whether or not they are registered.
The standards, which cover waste and wastewater disposal, air emissions, spill containment and reporting and delivery of all drycleaning solvents by closed system, will be phased in over five-years for existing drycleaners; they are effective immediately for all new drycleaning locations.
The Alabama Department of Environmental Management is currently working on regulations and forms. Payments into the fund are to begin in the first quarter of next year.
All small businesses are covered
Arizona's program is unique in that it is not drycleaning-specific. The Small Business Settlement Act, which was adopted in early 1997, covers all small businesses with liability for cleanups of a number of industrial chemicals, including perchloroethylene.
Unlike drycleaning-specific programs in other states, there is no annual site fee, gross receipts tax or surcharge on solvent purchases.
Under a qualified business settlement, an applicant can pay 10 percent of its average gross annual income for the two years preceding the date of settlement application. If that amount is paid to ADEQ in five years, no interest payment will be required. Payments can be spread over 10 years with interest. The rest of the clean-up costs are covered by the state.
First in the nation
Connecticut enacted its legislation in 1994, making it the first state to adopt a clean-up program specifically for drycleaning sites.
The fund is derived from a 1 percent tax on gross receipts which yields $800,000 to $1 million per year; the current fund balance is $1.5 million.
In addition to perc and petroleum, Rynex and GreenEarth are also covered. The fund is available only to drycleaners; there are about 200 in the state, so the average annual cost per plant is about $5,000.
Through 1999, cleanups have been done on 18 sites. The maximum expenditure allowed per site is $150,000.
Quantifying the costs
Florida's program is the second oldest, enacted in June 1994, and it is by far the largest with more than 1,400 drycleaning sites covered. A $5 per gallon surcharge on perc and a 2 percent gross receipts tax raise approximately $8 to $10 million a year.
Florida's program is "closed," which is to say that only those cleaners who signed up for it by the Dec. 31, 1998, deadline can participate. New cleaning plants, and those who did not sign up, are not eligible for the fund.
Of those accepted into the program, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has found that the "vast majority of drycleaning sites have contaminated groundwater." This is a major concern in a state where aquifers are generally shallow and where 92 percent of the drinking water is collected from groundwater sources.
However, assessment of sites to date indicates that some need no further action and a significant portion of the others can make do with monitored natural attenuation.
During the assessment progress, Risk Based Correction Action (RCBA) worksheets are used to help score sites on their potential to adversely impact human health or the environment.
As of this summer, the Florida DEP had instituted work on 204 sites. Assessment is taking place at 43 sites, 80 are undergoing remedial design work, 12 are under construction, 13 are under active cleanup and 37 are in monitored natural attenuation. Cleanup has been completed at 19 sites.
Of the sites that have been assessed, the DEP determined that 17 percent required no further action; monitored attenuation was chosen for 45 percent. The remaining 38 percent will have active remedial systems.
Because of the size of the program and the number of years it has been operating, more data is available on cleanup technologies and costs.
Florida's statute specifies that innovative technologies must be considered during the process of selecting a remedy. Some of the technologies selected for site cleanup have been conventional, but others are innovative.
For example, recirculating wells were used in one pilot study where, in two to three months of operation, perc concentration was reduced from 1,600 parts per billion (ppb) to about 300 to 400 ppb. Pilot studies using in situ flushing and in situ bioremediation have also been successful at removing perc contamination in a relatively short time, the DEP has said.
Cleanup costs vary from site to site, but on average an assessment costs $85,000 to $90,000. The average cost for natural attenuation monitoring is $20,000 per year.
Where active remedial measures are needed, the cost of designing the system averages $57,000, the cost of construction is $160,000 and the average operation and maintenance is $40,000 per year.
Since the program is "closed" and has been operating for several years, it is possible to make some projections based on the numbers so far.
Of the 1,400 sites in the program, Florida can expect approximately 869 to need no further action or only monitoring; 534 would need active remediation. The total cost of cleanup can be estimated at $175 to $210 million, well within the fund's projected resources over the next 30 years.
Unlike many other state programs, Florida does not reimburse drycleaners for these costs. Rather, the program is "state lead," which means the work is performed by state-approved contractors under monitoring and cost control by DEP personnel.
Increase stirs protest
Illinois's Drycleaner Environmental Response Trust Fund went into effect in January, 1998. In addition to site fees and a solvent surcharge, the program requires purchasing pollution liability insurance and licensing of cleaners in order to buy solvent. Cleaners can be fined for not obtaining a license and distributors can be fined for selling solvent to cleaners who do not have licenses.
Cleaners had a deadline of July 1 of this year to apply to the program.
Originally the solvent surcharges were set at $3.50 a gallon for perc and 35 cents a gallon for petroleum. However, when it became clear this summer that the fund was falling short of its goal, the seven-member council that governs the program voted to double the fees on solvent purchases, as well as the per site fees. The site fees are based on annual revenue with stores taking in $140,000 or less a year paying $500; stores in the $141,000 to $359,000 paying $1,000 and stores taking on over $359,000 paying $1,500.
The proposal to double those fees set off a firestorm of protest within the industry in Illinois. See accompanying story Opponents of the increases have formed a group called Drycleaners Environmental Emergency Response (DEER) who want to amend the law. Meanwhile, the proposed increases have been put on hold. And now, before a single site has been cleaned up under the program, a question about the law's constitutionality has been raised.
Seeking outside help
Since Kansas began its program in 1995, 31 sites have been cleaned up at an average cost of $120,645 per site. About 200 Kansas drycleaning plants are covered under the program which has an annual site registration fee of $100.
Taxes on perc and petroleum solvent started at $4.75 and $.475 per gallon, respectively, and are incrementally raised each year until they reach a maximum of $5.50 on perc and 55 cents on petroleum.
Kansas cleaners also pay 2.5 percent of gross receipts into the cleanup fund. Total revenue coming into the fund is $1.4 to $1.5 million a year. The average annual cost per plant comes to $6,700.
Under the program three remedial systems have been installed at municipal sites with the costs divided between the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and other entities.
An attempt last year to supplement the fund with direct state funding was unsuccessful. The current level of funding needs to be at least doubled to address the 57 sites which have been identified. Meanwhile the program has been trying to maximize its resources by experimenting with various technologies, prioritizing sites based on the threat to human health and seeking municipal contributions to share the long-term costs of operating clean-up systems.
Perc usage way down
Minnesota's program has been in effect since July 1995. It derives revenue for its cleanup fund from solvent fees of $6.50 a gallon on perc and $1.26 a gallon on other solvents, plus a facility fee of $900 to $2,700 depending on the number of employees.
Minnesota recently lowered the annual revenue projections for its fund to $650,000 from $800,000, even though the solvent fees had been raised to the maximum allowable amounts.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency believes the lower revenue is due to dramatically decreased solvent usage because of three factors: 1) more efficient drycleaning machines; 2) stockpiling of perc supplies by cleaners before the fees went into effect; and 3) Minnesota cleaners losing business to cleaners in North and South Dakota who in some cases drive up to 100 miles into Minnesota, pick up clothes, drive back to their shops, then return cleaned clothes to the Minnesota locations. There are no cleanup fund fees in the Dakotas.
There are about 300 cleaners in Minnesota. Since 1995, 11 sites requiring cleanup have received payments from the fund. About 40 drycleaners have applied to the Voluntary Investigation and Cleanup program. For the most part, conventional technologies have been used, but other processes might be considered in the future.
New law just took effect
Missouri's Dry Cleaning Solvent Environmental Trust fund went into effect Aug. 28. The state Hazardous Waste Management Commission will administer the funds, which will be raised through site and solvent fees.
Operators of active facilities must register annually with the Department of Natural Re-sources, paying a fee to the fund of $500 for small facilities, $1000 for medium-sized facilities and $1,500 for large facilities.
Sellers of drycleaning solvents will pay a quarterly surcharge of $8 per gallon for chlorinated solvents, i.e., perchloroethylene. Non-chlorinated solvents, such as petroleum, Rynex and GreenEarth, have a mandatory surcharge of $.40 cents per gallon. All surcharges will be subject to a late fee of 15 percent plus 10 percent per annual interest on balances that are not paid.
In the event that the fund surpasses $5 million in unobligated funds, the facility registration and solvent surcharges will not be collected again until it dips below the $2 million mark.
Payments from the fund will not be disbursed until July 1, 2002. At that point, a $25,000 deductible will be set for contaminated sites. No site will be eligible for fund payments greater than $1 million.
Under the law, a site can be prohibited from receiving fund payments if the owner or operator does not act in compliance with the law; causes contamination through illegal operating practices; obstructs actions by the DNR; or does not promptly make all payments to the fund.
If a site is taken out of operation before July 1, 2004, and it is not documented or reported by that date, no payments can be received, either.
The law also requires the Hazardous Waste Management Commission to establish a set of rules to implement the drycleaning provisions by July 1, 2002.
Sales tax augments solvent fees
North Carolina recently amended its clean-up law which had been on the books for several years. Cleaners who had been paying a surcharge of $5.85 per gallon on perc now pay $10 per gallon. The tax on petroleum solvent rose to $1.35 a gallon from 80 cents a gallon.
Money raised by the solvent taxes will be augmented by the four percent state sales tax and will be earmarked for the cleanup fund beginning in July, 2003, continuing throughout the life of the program. The sales tax is estimated to produce $64 million over the next 10 years. With the solvent taxes added to that, up to $77 million should be available for the fund to do cleanups. North Carolina has about 650 drycleaners.
Eliminated in the new law are pollution liability insurance requirements, since the required insurance had become unavailable, proving to be a major stumbling block to the clean-up approach contemplated by the original legislation.
When a cleanup is necessary the property/drycleaners will pay an up-front deductible ranging from $5,000 to $25,000. For the smallest plants the co-pay would be one percent of the cleanup cost over $200,000 but less than $1 million. For an abandoned site, the deductible is $25,000 and 3 percent of the cost between $200,000 and $500,000 and one percent of the cost over $500,000 to $1 million.
There is no co-pay on cleanup costs over $1 million per site.
The program is now "state-lead," like Florida's, which means that rather than each cleaner having to find his or her own consultant to evaluate and clean up a site with the state providing reimbursement, the state will now manage the project and pay the bills.
Perc surcharge exceeds $20 per gallon
When Oregon's program began in 1995, the solvent surcharge was set at $12 a gallon with the stipulation that it be raised $4 per gallon in any year that it fails to raise $1 million.
Five years later the surcharge has surged to over $20 per gallon for perc with petroleum solvent at $10.50 a gallon. Rising solvent fees have caused consternation among state environmental officials, not to mention the state's 350-some cleaners, and efforts have been underway to find a funding mechanism that meets the goals without such high solvent surcharges.
Six cleanup have been done to date at an average cost of $56,000. Unlike Florida, which has a "closed" program, there is no deadline by which Oregon cleaners must apply; about seven have applied each year, usually when a lease expires or property is transferred.
The DEQ reported last spring that of sites that had been assessed to that date, four required no further action; eight more were expected to receive that status by the end of this year.
The DEQ has been monitoring compliance with the waste management requirements of the law. Site inspections of 331 perc-based drycleaners found that all had ceased operating transfer-type equipment and about 94 percent were receiving solvent deliveries through a closed direct-coupled system.
Containment pans were found under the drycleaning machines at 97 percent of the facilities, but only 36 percent had pans under all items -- buckets, waster treatment units) that contained solvent. The pans in use were not always adequate. DEQ advises cleaners to make sure their pans are impervious, labeled with hazardous waste stickers, covered and capable of holding 110 percent of the equipment's volume.
Compliance with paperwork requirements has been lacking with only one in five cleaner keeping required logs of perc use, refrigerator condenser temperatures and equipment leaks.
An opt out for petroleum
Since South Carolina's program began in June 1995, five sites have been cleaned up. A solvent fee of $10 per gallon on perc and $2 per gallon on petroleum, along with site fees of $750 to $2,250, raises about $2 million a year.
A unique feature of South Carolina program provides petroleum cleaners with the option of not participating. As a result, only 10 percent of the cleaners covered by the fund use petroleum solvent. However the state Department of Health and Environmental Control says they represent about 50 percent of the fund program's highest priority sites. Some of the petroleum sites are over 50 years old and are located near public supply wells in small towns.
DHEC would like to change the law so petroleum users can't opt out of the fund program.
Another proposed change has South Carolina drycleaners dedicating 2 percent of their gross to the fund. If a lawsuit against the state to overturn the 5 percent sales tax on drycleaning prevails, $18 million in back taxes would need to be returned. This, too, could be dedicated to the cleanup fund.
Revenue could also be increased if the Department of Revenue pursued unregistered drycleaners and collected back fees from them.
The South Carolina program requires cleaners to obtain certification. Cleaners can do this by passing examinations offered by the International Fabricare Institute or the Neighborhood Cleaners Association-International.
Certification required
The Tennessee program, adopted in 1995, is funded by a $10 per gallon tax on perc and a $1 per gallon tax on petroleum along with site fees ranging from $500 to $1,500 for cleaning plants and $5,500 for distribution facilities.
To be eligible for the Fund, a cleaner must pass the Certified Environmental Drycleaner exam administered by IFI.
There is no application deadline for the fund; to date about 45 facilities out of more than 500 active sites are in the program with two or three sites added every month.
16 cleanups completed
Wisconsin's Drycleaners Environmental Response Fund was enacted in 1997 and has undergone a few modifications since then. All cleaners pay a 1.8 percent gross receipts tax; perc cleaners pay a $5 per gallon solvent surcharge and petroleum cleaners pay 75 cents per gallon. There are no site fees in Wisconsin.
The fund collects an estimated $1.3 million a year from the state's 335 drycleaners. Sixteen sites have been cleaned up to date at an average cost of $100,000 per site.
The program reimburses cleaners for remediation costs. To obtain reimbursement for past costs -- those incurred between 1991 and 1997 -- cleaners had to apply to the program by March 31 of this year. About 14 applied for reimbursement before that deadline, requesting a total of $653,000. The DNR said about $250,000 of those costs would be denied because the cleaners weren't eligible for the program's benefits.
A group of Illinois cleaners is organizing to seek changes in the Illinois Drycleaner Environmental Trust Fund. The group plans to meet in Springfield, IL, on Nov. 17 where they hope to convene a panel of representatives from the governors office, the Department of Revenue, the attorney general's office, and he EPA.
The impetus for forming the group, the Drycleaners Environmental Emergency Response (DEER), is opposition to the doubling of solvent and site fees for drycleaning plants in the program. An organizational meeting of the group took place in September.
"We are trying to coordinate events and people in order to still be environmentally responsible, but not at the expense of putting many of us out of business," the group said in a letter explaining its plans.
David Franke III of Paris Fabricare Specialists in Springfield said Assistant Majority Leader Charles Hartkey has promised he will try to bring the issue to the General Assembly.
"We do not object to environmental compliance nor do we oppose paying the monies, but we as drycleaners want a fair and equitable law that will insure that no Illinois drycleaner will be forced out of business for compliance," Franke said.
In addition to the fee increases -- which have been put on hold for now -- DEER is also concerned about management of the fund by an out-of-state entity which they say received $500,00 last year from the fund for administrative expenses.
The meeting will be at the Hilton Hotel in Springfield, IL, on Friday, November 17 from 1 to 3 p.m. Anyone interested in attending, or who wants more information about DEER, can call Franke at (217) 522-3313 or Steve In at (773) 745-9011.
Sponsors of a bill that would give a tax credit to cleaners who purchase certain types of cleaning equipment appealed to House Speaker Dennis Hastert last month to help move the legislation.
The tax credit would amount to 20 percent of the purchase price of any equipment that "does not use any hazardous solvent as the primary process solvent."
Supporters say the credit would apply to machines using liquid carbon dioxide and to wetcleaning equipment. Other new cleaning solvents, like GreenEarth and Rynex, might be included if they meet the requirements, but perchloroethylene and petroleum solvent equipment is specifically excluded.
A hearing on the bill was conducted in July before the House Small Business Subcommittee on Tax, Finance and Exports. There has been no further action since then, but the House bill has added cosponsors, bringing the total to 46.
A companion measure introduced in the Senate late last year by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) has two cosponsors.
Rep. Don Manzullo (R-IL) who chairs the subcommittee, delivered a letter on October 4 to Hastert asking the House Speaker to find a legislative vehicle for the tax credit measure to proceed this year.
"We believe that this legislation would be a good fit in either the American Community Renewal Act or any other legislative initiative going through Congress, Hastert wrote in the letter, which was signed by 20 of his congressional colleagues.
Manzullo said that the Joint Tax Committee has determined that the credit would cost the U.S. Treasury $146 million over five years, but that "is a small price compared to the potential billions of taxpayer dollars in clean-up and health expenditures from the tens of thousands of contaminated sites caused by the continued use of perc."
The tax credit, he said, would use a "market-driven incentive rather than a mandate or increased regulation" to encourage cleaners to adopt safer cleaning technologies.
In his letter to Hastert, Manzullo referred to perc as a "known animal carcinogen and a probable human carcinogen."
"Cleaners on nearly every street corner use this toxic solvent to clean our garments," he wrote.
Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), who introduced the bill in March, 1999, said that in addition to support from House and Senate members, the legislation is also supported by numerous environmental groups as well as some industry companies with an interest in the development of liquid carbon dioxide and wetcleaning.
Official hotel line-ups for Clean '01 in New Orleans, Louisiana, July 19-22, have been announced.
Twenty-four hotels have committed rooms. Prices range from $79 to $165 a night, exclusive of local taxes, for single or double occupancy.
All hotels are within 1 1Ž2 miles of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center where Clean '01 will be held. Free shuttle buses will transport attendees between official hotels and the convention center mornings and afternoons. Shuttles will pick up directly at most hotels and within one-and-one-half blocks of others.
Each of the sponsoring associations has selected a headquarters hotel. The Textile Care Allied Trades Association (TCATA) will headquarter at the New Orleans Marriott while the International Fabricare Institute (IFI) will be at the Monteleone.
The Coin Laundry Association (CLA) will convene at the Fairmont and also has rooms at the Royal Sonesta. The National Association of Institutional Linen Management (NAILM) selected Embassy Suites. The Textile Rental Services Association of America (TRSA) will be at the Hilton Riverside and the Uniform & Textile Service Association (UTSA) selected the Hyatt Regency.
IFI and TRSA have set aside rooms specifically for their members at the Monteleone and Hilton Riverside, respectively. Reservations at these hotels require a special booking code that members obtain from their association. IFI members should contact Mary Scalco; TRSA members should contact Leslie Melvin.
For Monteleone reservations, IFI members should obtain their booking code and then call the hotel directly at (800) 535-9595 (toll free) or (504) 523-3341, or fax to (504) 528-1019.
Seventeen other hotels make up the general housing package. Reservations for all Clean '01 hotels except the Monteleone must be made through the Clean '01 Housing Bureau to receive the special rates. Numbers for the Clean '01 Housing Bureau are (800) 424-5250 or (international) (847) 940-2153. By fax it is (800) 521-6017 or (international) (847) 940-2386.
Seven airlines and three car rental companies offer discounts to people attending the show. Travel and car rental arrangements can be made through Clean '01's official travel desk at Boehm Travel, (888) 383-5816 or by fax (770) 931-5556.
Reservation forms and other show information is available from the show management firm, Riddle & Associates, 1874 Piedmont Road, Suite 360-C, Atlanta, GA 30324; phone (404) 876-1988, fax (404) 876-5121; e-mail info@cleanshow.com , or visit the web site at www.cleanshow.com.
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