Kudos to Governor Deval Patrick!  In a step forward towards a victory for the public health and the environment, Patrick restored funding for the agencies involved in implementing the Toxics Use Reduction Act (TURA) program in his proposed fiscal year 2011 budget issued January 27th 2010.

Particularly important is that in Patrick’s budget, money from fees paid by companies that use toxic chemicals, would be spent on funding the program to help them use and release fewer toxic chemicals.  That’s what the TURA law intended (though it’s not what’s been done in recent years), Clean Water Action's partner Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow has pushed for this, and it is exactly what the Governor has proposed to do.

The budget included level funding for the Toxics Use Reduction Institute, TURI, housed at UMass Lowell. TURI has been successfully working with businesses for two decades to reduce their toxic chemical use and exposure.  It's an internationally acclaimed resource that we have here in the state and has saved businesses millions of dollars over the years as well as protecting public health and the environment.

The Governor's budget also included funding for the Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) that has successfully provided direct technical assistance to businesses to reduce their toxic chemical use, and to the Department of Environmental Protection to run the TURA program.

Those of you who have followed this tale of woe may remember that last year, when the FY2010 budget was being debated, TURI's line item was eliminated from the state budget (see article on this on the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow's website).  And earlier in the budget crisis, OTA's budget had also been cut.

TURI started handing out pink slips to its employees and it looked like it was going to have to close its doors.  Thankfully, it was saved that fate for one more year through some funding from the federal stimulus package and has continued to provide its much needed services to the Commonwealth throughout the past year.

Federal stimulus money is not a long term solution, however, and the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow and other supporters of TURI have been working since then to get the Institute's funding restored. The Governor's inclusion of that funding in his proposal for the FY 2011 budget is a necessary step in the right direction.

Next the Massachusetts House of Representatives drafts its version of the budget, followed by the Senate, so the funding is far from guaranteed.  Stay tuned for how you can help, we'll most certainly be asking you to call on your legislators soon.  But so far, the news is good because the Governor has done the right thing.

If you like the nitty gritty, you can read the line item yourself here.