National Clothesline

As we reported last month, the Environmental Protection Agency is in the process of revising the rules that apply to drycleaners under the Clean Air Act. Now it is crunch time for cleaners — and anyone else — wanting to have a say in proposed changes in the regulations. The deadline for submitting comments is February 6.

Should drycleaners be concerned about EPA’s plans? Anytime the government announces plans to further regulate the industry, it should get everyone’s attention, but many cleaners may not view the new regulations as odious. They would be required to spend a couple hundred dollars on equipment to detect perc leaks to augment the existing leak detection program under the Clean Air Act rules.

For cleaners whose plants are located in buildings that also house residences, the new rules may be more dramatic. EPA is considering options that could either lead to a phase-out of perc use in these plants or require tighter controls on their perc emissions. The latter option is similar to the current status of regulations in New York, so cleaners there, as well as the relative handful of cleaners in other states who are “co-located,” would do well to encourage EPA to adopt the controls options as opposed to any kind of a phase-out.

If EPA follows that course, the new regulations would be do-able, at least, and not threaten the livelihood of cleaners. But are they necessary? As we stated in an editorial last month, we don’t believe further regulation is required in view of the industry’s stellar performance in reducing perc consumption and emissions. IFI goes a step further and questions whether EPA even has the authority to revise the regulations for any but the very largest cleaners. Nonetheless, EPA is pressing ahead, so cleaners need to step up and voice their concerns now or live with the consequences.

With Pennsylvania lawmakers recently proposing to expand the state’s sales tax to include drycleaning services, the industry got an unexpected boost from The Hershey Co., the leading snack food company and the largest North American manufacturer of candy. The company, which brings in annual revenues of more than $4 billion, is leading the charge against the sales tax, which was designed to raise an estimated $650 million annually for property tax cuts.

The bad news is that the House of Representatives already has voted in favor of extending the state sales tax to cover drycleaning, as well as 18 other industries and services — including advertising and direct mail, clothing repair, management consultation and candy and gum. The good news is that the initiative is losing a little of its flavor in the Senate (SB 854).

Making the most noise against the measure so far is Hershey, which raised a ruckus at a Senate hearing claiming that such an expansion would give other snack foods “an immediate competitive advantage in Pennsylvania.” Of course, while the 112-year old candy king company has been a welcome friend for cleaners, many from the industry have made a bit of noise on their own accord.

The Pennsylvania and Delaware Cleaners Association and its members have combined efforts to stop the proposed legislation. In fact, PDCA’s vice president for government relations — Dale Kaplan — organized a writing campaign of cleaners letting lawmakers know that the drycleaning industry stands to suffer greatly if SB 854 goes into law. Kaplan has also worked alongside other business groups to form a united front in the battle, which is always a good idea. After all, many times an individual voice may go unheard; but collectively, the resulting sound is impossible to ignore.

Already, Lebanon County Sen. David J. Brightbill, the Senate majority leader, has stated that there is no “appetite” in the Senate for expanding sales tax to cover anything new. Instead, an alternative solution of raising the rate of the state’s sales tax to 6.5 percent has been discussed. While the issue remains unresolved for now, at least there is hope for Pennsylvania drycleaners that they won’t have to start charging their customers sales tax. Furthermore, there is also evidence that the industry has some “sweet” friends (at least on this occasion) and cleaners now know they can make regulators think twice on issues important to the industry.