Blumenthal Challenging EPA On Toxins Reporting

Hartford — Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and 11 other state attorneys general have filed comments challenging an Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal that would greatly reduce the amount of information available to the public about the release of toxic chemicals, such as lead and mercury.

The EPA wants to drastically scale back reporting required under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), a program established by Congress after the deadly release of toxic chemicals in Bhopal, India, in 1984.

Under EPA’s proposed changes, companies would only have to report releases when they exceed 5,000 pounds, ten times the current reporting threshold, and submit the information just once every two years instead of every year. The changes would also slash reporting of certain highly dangerous chemicals, such as lead, mercury, and PCS.

“Reducing the flow of public information will increase the flow of deadly toxic chemicals, like lead and mercury,” Mr Blumenthal said. “The Public Inventory has provided a powerful incentive for polluters to cut use of toxic chemicals, and a potent means of raising public awareness — key public health and environmental protection goals sacrificed by the EPA. This steep public health compromise will have only bad consequences, for industry as well as the public, by undercutting the best business practices and encouraging the worst.”

TRI is a federal computerized database that provides information on the type and quantity of toxic chemicals released into the air, water, and soil. The bill was signed into law by President Reagan, and data has been collected and made available to the public since 1987. Industrial facilities are required to report information to the EPA annually, which is then compiled into a public report.

Disclosure of public information about toxic releases has prompted significant reductions in the release of toxic chemicals across the nation. For example: the Boeing Company reduced its toxic chemical releases by more than 82 percent since 1991; Monsanto reduced its toxic air emissions by more than 90 percent between 1988 and 1992; and the Eastman Chemical Company of Tennessee has reduced its releases of TRI chemicals by 83 percent since 1988.

The attorneys general of California, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Vermont, and Wisconsin also signed the comments challenging the proposed changes.