Healthy Communities News

Washington DC – Included in the Omnibus Appropriations Act sent to the White House today is a measure to reinstate the public’s right to know about toxic pollution in their communities.     The provision, sponsored by Senator Frank Lautenberg (NJ), overturns a Bush Administration rule finalized in December 2006 that allowed industries to withhold information on the quantities and locations of toxic chemical releases previously reported to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). 

 “Congress established the TRI program to provide the public with critical information about toxic pollution in our communities,” said U.S. PIRG Public Health Advocate Liz Hitchcock.  “We applaud Sen. Lautenberg for his leadership in restoring the public’s right to know.” 

The TRI makes public information about toxic chemical releases by requiring industrial facilities to disclose their toxic pollution and waste management activities. This information empowers communities, workers and individuals to protect their health and local environment.

A pending lawsuit filed by thirteen states (Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont) challenges EPA’s rule as a violation of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 – the law that created the TRI.  The suit alleges that EPA violated the Act by eliminating a substantial majority of the toxic chemical information, by arbitrarily reversing a previous policy on collecting data for a dangerous class of persistent and bioaccumulative toxics, and for improperly attempting to limit the public disclosure of information.   

Last week, U.S. PIRG delivered a letter signed by 238 state, local and national organizations, along with nearly 1300 individual signers, urging the EPA to invalidate the Toxics Release Inventory Burden Reduction Final Rule (71 Federal Register 76932-45).

The lawsuit followed a California law enacted in response to EPA’s rule. The law requires California facilities to continue full TRI reporting as if EPA’s rule did not exist.  EPA’s right-to-know restrictions have also been opposed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the U.S. House of Representatives, more than 122,000 public commentors, and the EPA’s own Science Advisory Board.  In congressional testimony, the Government Accountability Office stated, “The TRI reporting changes will likely have a significant impact on information available to the public about dozens of toxic chemicals from thousands of facilities in states and communities across the country.”

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U.S. PIRG is the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups.  State PIRGs are non-profit, non-partisan public interest advocacy organizations.