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Health & Fitness

Bag Monster to Senator DeLeon: Not going away until you do right

This week, notorious defender of polluting plastic bags Senator Kevin De Leon called on local residents to let him know what we think of his work in Sacramento. I led a diverse group of community leaders, including some from Eagle Rock, who want action for a cleaner environment and good local jobs. We took him up on the offer.

What did I wear for my meeting with the senator? I dressed as Bag Monster. Bag Monster wears 500 single-use plastic bags, which is what the average American throws away each year. The senator won his date with Bag Monster because of his support from and for polluters. 

In May, Senator De Leon voted to kill the state bill, SB 405, to ban single-use plastic bags in California. The bill, sponsored by Senator Alex Padilla, an L.A. Democrat, builds on the successful drive by L.A. County Senator Gloria Molina to ban such polluting bags in the county. Bag bans work. Since 2012 when that measure took effect, the L.A. Times and others have found that consumption and disposal of polluting single-use bags has dropped by more than 90 percent.

More than 80 places in California have banned single-use bags, including L.A. city and county. Many other American cities have also banned them amid evidence they fill landfills, pollute waterways, kill sea creatures, and do not biodegrade. More than 30 percent of California sea turtles have ingested plastic. And more than 10 percent of fish have plastic in them, including those humans eat. A 2013 report by the Natural Resources Defense Council found that California cities spend nearly $500 million annually to retrieve and prevent trash in waterways, more than $36 million in L.A. alone.

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To justify his vote to defend polluting bags, Senator De Leon claimed that “more than a thousand jobs” of immigrant Latinas at “several bag plants” would be lost from bans. But extensive research by the City of Los Angeles and others has found both claims by De Leon are false. Only one plant near Los Angeles that has refused to adapt its product line to changing demand still makes bags that would be banned. And only 15 jobs might be at risk. In contrast, the L.A. area stands to gain hundreds of good, sustainable jobs from growth in the production of reusable bags. De Leon overstates the risk of the state bag ban. And he denies the jobs Angelenos need. Even most plastic makers have evolved. But not the senator.

De Leon’s current campaign for reelection is fueled in part by donations from polluting bags. Hilex Poly, the nation’s largest fabricator of single-use bags based in South Carolina, is among those donating generously to De Leon. Hilex Poly has nine plants, but none in California, the biggest market for its polluting product. The company is a well-known corporate bully. It has filed suit against bans on single-use bags and nuisance lawsuits to shut down advocates and makers of reusable bags in California.

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De Leon’s political godfather, Fabian Nunez, has a very intimate relationship with polluting plastic bags. State disclosure records indicate that fabricators of single-use bags are among his very most lucrative clients at his lobbying firm, Mercury Public Affairs.

Since DeLeon's vote in May, millions more bags have made their way into the waste stream and the Los Angeles River. De Leon represents the longest stretch of the L.A. River of any lawmaker in Sacramento. 

Is Senator DeLeon in the bag for polluters? People in my community are asking that question. He can still crawl out and come clean. I asked the senator if he really wants the Bag Monster following him around. And I told him when SB 405 comes up again in 2014, he should change his vote. 

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