National Clothesline

Several drycleaning industry representatives and members of the Pennsylvania and Delaware Cleaners Association met with regulators at a May meeting in Dover to discuss the subject of permit fees for cleaners.

The Clean Air Act, passed in 1990, contains a section that pertains to permits for perc cleaners. However, cleaners were given a deferment from paying any such fees until December of 2004.

Unless that deferment is extended again or made permanent, drycleaners will face fees that will take effect by December of 2005.

If that is the case, the amount of permit fees will vary since each state will set its own fees.

PDCA’s primary goal is to retain the fee deferment and make it permanent. According to the law, the administrator — now Christie Whitman — has the authority to use her discretion to exempt any stationary source, such as drycleaners, if compliance would be “impractical, infeasible, or unnecessarily burdensome.”

If the deferment is lifted, on the other hand, PDCA will work to ensure a fair fee is enacted, especially in Delaware where the current lowest fee is $4,000.

In Pennsylvania, projected fees have been estimated to be much lower — somewhere between $250 and $650.

Many PDCA members displayed a unified front at the recent meeting in Dover, including: Andrew Berger of Seymour’s Cleaners; Mark Peters of North Hills Cleaners; Michael Straus of The Superior Cleaner; Joe Bockrath of Adjust A Drape, and Stuart Outten of Capitol Cleaners, who acted as facilitator. They were joined by Jai Choi from Dun Rite Cleaners, PDCA Executive Director Carol Memberg, PDCA Field Representative Bob McBride, and IFI’s Vice President of Membership John Meijer.

On the regulator side, three members of the state’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control were present: staff member Jim Snead, Small Business Ombudsmen Kim Finch, and Craig Koska from Air Quality Management. They were joined by Rep. Joseph Booth and Rep. Gerald Hocker, as well as Danielle Catarell, who is secretary to Rep. George Quillen, the chairman of the legislature’s environmental committee.

The regulators and legislators were told that cleaners have been diligent in meeting the requirements of the Clean Air Act and have made large investments in new equipment upgrades to comply with new standards. Industry representatives also noted that cleaners are struggling financially now and only seek a fair fee.

The Central Pennsylvania Dry Cleaners Association will be hosting its annual golf outing this year on Thursday, August 28. The association has hosted the event for the last 11 years.

As usual, the proceeds will go to benefit the York County Special Olympics.

This year, the event will move to the Heritage Hills Golf Resort. The shotgun start for the golf tournament will be at noon.

For more information on the event, contact Carl Gardner at (717) 495-1796; Paula Kostick of Classic Cleaners at (717) 730-6777; or Dale Kaplan of Kaplan’s Careful Cleaners at (717) 737-0572.