EPA – What You Don’t Know Won’t Hurt You

“In 2004, U.S. facilities released almost 1.5 billion pounds of suspected respiratory toxicants to the air, with electric utilities accounting for almost half of the pollution. Ohio, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Pennsylvania ranked highest for respiratory toxicant releases to air.”

A new report, "Toxic Pollution and Health," released by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, uses information from the federal Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) to analyze toxic pollution linked to serious health problems such as cancer, birth defects or neurological damage. Due to a recent EPA action restricting the public’s right-to-know, this report may provide one of the last complete pictures of toxic pollution.

In one year these facilities released more than 70 million pounds of known carcinogens and 826 million pounds of neurotoxins to the air and water. The report analyzes these dangerous releases by state, country and zip code to provide a detailed toxic pollution picture.

“This report confirms that the health of many communities across the country is routinely put at risk by toxic pollution,” said U.S. PIRG staff attorney Alex Fidis. “Unfortunately, EPA’s attack on the public’s right-to-know means that many communities will be left in the dark about this risk. EPA’s rollbacks take communities from the information age back to the stone age.”

The federal Toxic Release Inventory is a public right-to-know program that requires industrial facilities to publicly disclose their toxic releases. In 2004, EPA reported that the TRI has helped to reduce toxic pollution by 57% nationwide since its inception in 1988. Despite this success, the EPA recently weakened the program by authorizing industrial facilities to withhold previously reported pollution information.

To address the potential health threats from toxic pollution, we need complete information about what toxics are being released, where, and in what amounts,” said Fidis. “These toxics are the worst of the worst and pose tangible threats to public health that must be addressed.”

Representatives Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Hilda L. Solis (D-CA), and Senators Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Boxer (D-CA), recently challenged EPA’s rollbacks by introducing the Toxic Right-to-Know Protection Act (H.R. 1055 and S. 595). This legislation would reverse the rollbacks to restore the lost data and to ensure that communities have the full and complete toxic pollution information they deserve.

From “Dismantling the Public’s Right to Know”

WHAT IS TRI?
The Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) tracks the amount and types of toxic chemicals released into the environment, stored at facilities, or transferred in between facilities.

The program’s authority comes from the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), enacted in 1986. Later, in 1990, Congress passed the Pollution Prevention Act, which added waste management and source reduction activities to TRI reporting. The primary purpose of the TRI is to allow citizens access to information on chemical hazards in their communities. By empowering citizens with this information, the TRI enables them to make choices to protect their families’ health and safety. Facilities must report under the TRI if they are within a specific industry, have over 10 full-time employees, and manufacture or process one or more of 667 chemicals over a certain threshold.

See the Source:
U.S. PIRG
Toxic Pollution and Health
Dismantling the Public’s Right to Know