|
A recent proposal by the Bush administration would significantly decrease the information that state and local officials and the public would have about harmful chemicals being discharged by industrial facilities in our neighborhoods under the federal Toxic Release Inventory Program (TRI).
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson proposed changes to the TRI Program in October 2005 that would reduce the information made available to the public about harmful chemicals released into Pennsylvania’s water, air, and land.
“On the anniversary of the deadliest chemical accident in history in Bhopal, India, Administrator Johnson wants to help corporate polluters hide toxic pollution,” stated PennEnvironment Director David Masur. “The Bush administration’s proposal puts corporations first and communities last.”
In Pennsylvania, the local impact could be widespread. Analysis of the 2003 Toxics Release Inventory by Grassroots Connections and the National Environmental Trust showed that:
• 216 facilities in Pennsylvania would no longer be required to report toxic chemical releases to the public; this is the fourth highest number of facilities no
longer required to report under the TRI in the nation, following California (297), Ohio (261), and Texas (217).
• Pennsylvania would lose all information about releases, transfers, and disposal of chloroethene, which is a known carcinogen.
• Specific communities in Pennsylvania will be most affected. Communities in
fifty-one Pennsylvania zip codes will lose all the pollution information about
chemical releases in their neighborhoods.
To see if your neighborhood would lose reporting information, visit the Penn-
Environment website at www.PennEnvironment.org/reports.
In October 2005, EPA Administrator Johnson proposed to cut the amount of
pollution information that companies are required to disclose. These changes to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) wouldhave multiple effects on how dangerous chemical emissions are reported to the public.
First, the Bush administration is proposing a rule that would allow companies to release 10 times more pollution before they are required to report their releases. Second, EPA is promoting a rule that would allow companies to withhold information about some of the most dangerous chemicals, such as lead and mercury, from reporting—even though the health threat of these chemicals is well known to the public and health officials in the U.S. Lastly, Administrator Johnson is expected to notify Congress that the EPA intends to release a rule in the fall of 2006 that would change the frequency of toxic chemical emission reporting from polluting facilities to the program from
every year to every other year.
For Pennsylvania residents, the lack of reporting of chemicals that are known to have a variety of potential health effects is substantial. Under the Bush EPA proposal, more than 320,000 pounds of manganese and over 205,000 pounds of ammonia would no longer be reported, among reduced reporting for over 100 chemicals. These toxic chemicals are known and suspected neurotoxins, reproductive toxins, carcinogens and respiratory toxins.
The TRI program is a pollution disclosure program. Since 1987, companies have been required to report toxic releases to air, land and water, and toxic waste that is treated, burned, recycled or disposed of. Approximately 26,000 industrial facilities report information about any of the 650 chemicals in the program.
The TRI program was established in 1986, following a devastating chemical accident in Bhopal, India. December 4, 2005 marked the 26th anniversary of this accident, where thousands of people immediately lost their lives from exposure to chemicals, and tens of thousands have since died from continued contamination. Soon thereafter, Congress passed, and President Reagan signed, the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, which established the Toxics Release Inventory.
The Toxics Release Inventory has been credited with a wide range of successes. Since the TRI program began, disposals or releases of the original 299 chemicals tracked have dropped nearly 60 percent. A PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center analysis showed that releases of chemicals linked to health effects have decreased as well. Between 1995 and 2000, releases to air and water of chemicals known to cause cancer declined by 41 percent.
EPA’s own research has shown that public, companies, governments, academics, and investment groups have all used the TRI program. A May 2003 report by EPA highlighted 20 different state governments that use the TRI program for environmental targeting, risk assessments, regulations, legislation, quality assurance and control, and other uses.
“The TRI program has proved that requiring polluters to report their emissions
creates an incentive for these facilities to reduce their pollution,” said Masur. “But the Bush administration wants to take this spotlight off polluters and leave the public and our communities in the dark about pollution in our state.”
|
