Lawmakers hear bill to enact statewide ban on coal-tar sealants

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Lawmakers heard public testimony Thursday on a bill that would ban the use on Wisconsin roadways of all coal-tar sealants, a material linked to cancer and pollution.

The legislation is reintroducing its proposed ban on the sealing product after a similar bill failed to reach the governor’s desk in the last legislative session.

The proposal took a step forward Thursday with a public hearing before the Assembly’s Committee on Transportation. The bill, named Assembly Bill 151, has attracted bipartisan support and would prevent the use of materials containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which are known to cause health troubles and environmental damage.

“The way I look at it, if our job isn’t to protect kids, what is our job?” said Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Green Bay, an author of the bill. “The studies are there that this is harmful for kids. We want to keep this out of the way of kids. Why wouldn’t we do this and minimize health problems and cost problems going forward?”

The proposed statewide ban on coal-tar-based asphalt sealants comes after various municipalities throughout Wisconsin decided on their own to ban the product. Dane County was the first to outlaw the sealants back in 2007, and the cities of Sheboygan, Milwaukee and Green Bay have since have followed suit.

During the state’s previous legislative session, lawmakers introduced their proposed ban on coal tar-based sealants as part of a dozen bills that came out of a task force charged with examining water quality in Wisconsin.

One big source of concern is the sealants’ environmental effects. The state of Minnesota outlawed coal tar-based sealants after learning that cleaning up PAHs in Minneapolis-area waterways could cost as much as $1 billion.

Milwaukee officials also outlawed the sealant after learning it was a primary source of water pollution. Coal tar-based sealants are responsible for about 77% of PAH pollution in the Milwaukee area. PAH contamination is separately a priority in an emerging cleanup of Milwaukee’s estuaries, led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, work that’s expected to cost $300 million.

Coal tar sealants have largely been replaced by asphalt-based sealants, which don’t carry the same risks. Retailers such as Lowe’s and Home Depot, for instance, have stopped carrying coal tar products.

Rep. Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, said the bill is supported by the Menomonee Falls-based company SealMaster, the largest manufacturer of coal tar-based sealants in the U.S.

“The largest coal tar based sealant manufacturer in the nation is based in Wisconsin and he supports the ban,” Kitchens said. “So I don’t think this will have a big impact on business.”

The bill is supported by a variety of environmental and public health groups, as well as the Wisconsin League of Municipalities and the Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin. The American Chemistry Council and the Wisconsin Counties Association — which did not testify at Thursday’s hearing — stand opposed to the bill.