Swooning gas prices are a boon for consumers but they’re creating a huge shortfall in state tax collections used to clean up hazardous waste dumps, prevent pollution and give citizens a voice in chemical-waste cleanups.

“We’re very worried,” lobbyist Doug Levy, representing the cities of Everett and Puyallup, told the Senate Ways and Means Committee this week as it took up a bill (SB 6660) to partially make up the shortfall.

The problem is that when gas prices drop, so do state collections of a tax on oil and other chemicals designed to help protect people from hazardous chemicals.