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Executive Summary
Since
1987, the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program has been the nation’s
premiere pollution disclosure program. By requiring companies to
disclose the pollution they release to our air, water, and land,
transfer off site, or dispose in a waste dump, the TRI program has
ensured the public’s right-to-know about toxic pollution in
communities.
The
TRI program is under attack. The Bush administration has issued a
series of proposed changes over the past few years, some of which would
weaken the program by reducing the amount or quality of information
available to the public. In the fall of 2005, however, the Bush
administration proposed the most significant changes yet. These changes
to the TRI are threefold:
• A rule to allow companies to release 10 times as much toxic pollution before they are required to report their releases;
• A rule to allow companies to withhold information about some of the most dangerous chemicals, such as lead and mercury; and
• A notification to Congress that Environmental Protection Agency
Administrator Stephen Johnson intends to release a rule changing the
frequency of reporting to the program from every year to every other
year.
Local
communities would feel the greatest impact of these proposed changes.
Grassroots Connection analyzed the local impact of these proposed rules
and found the following:
• 3,849 facilities across the country would no longer be required to report their releases to the TRI.
• Many communities would be severely affected. For example, people
living in 922 zip codes would lose one hundred percent of the pollution
information reported in their area.
In
order to protect the publics right-to-know about pollution in their
neighborhoods, the Toxics Release Inventory should be strengthened, not
weakened. The Bush administration should drop this proposed rule, and
instead look for ways to strengthen and expand this successful
pollution disclosure program.
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