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Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Hilda L. Solis (D-CA) and U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) today introduced companion bills in their respected chambers that will undo U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations weakening toxic reporting requirements that have been in place nearly two decades. They announced the legislation at a news conference today on Capitol Hill. In the Senate, the bill is co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and Robert Menendez (D-NJ). The House bill has 47 additional cosponsors.
In December 2006, the EPA announced final rules that loosen reporting requirements for the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). With these rules, the Bush administration has undermined this critical program by: eliminating detailed reports from more than 5,000 facilities that release up to 2,000 pounds of chemicals every year; and eliminating detailed reports from nearly 2,000 facilities that manage up to 500 pounds of chemicals known to pose some of the worst threats to human health, including lead and mercury.
The Toxic Right-to-Know-Protection Act codifies the stronger reporting requirements that were in place before the Bush administration weakened them late last year. By codifying these requirements, neither the current administration nor future administrations could again change the guidelines without the approval of Congress.
"The Toxics Release Inventory program is based on the simple idea that communities have the right to know what toxic chemicals are being dumped in their backyards. It has also been a great tool in getting plants to voluntarily reduce their chemical releases," Pallone said. "Last year, we repeatedly tried to show the Bush administration how important this program is, but once again they sided with corporate polluters over the health of the American people. Our legislation reverses this ill-advised action."
“In 1986, I wrote the law creating the EPA’s Public Right-to-Know program, which provides Americans with information about toxic chemicals stored and released in their communities. In 1990, I expanded the program to provide the public with even more information, but last December, President Bush’s EPA weakened the rules to let companies report less—and tell the public less. In other words - it was a gift to the chemical industry. That’s wrong,” said Lautenberg. “People have a right to know about the toxic chemicals bordering their backyards, and we are here to restore that right.”
“While communities of color make up 32 percent of the U.S. population as a whole, they make up nearly 44 percent of the population within one mile of the polluting facilities that would have fewer protections and less information of toxic chemicals as a result of the Administration’s proposal. As a result of the Administration action, Californians will lose information from nearly 300 polluting facilities, including many in Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley,” Solis said. “Our message to the Bush Administration is simple – minority and low-income communities deserve adequate protection, not a cold shoulder. The legislation we are introducing today is a valuable step toward protecting the health and welfare of these minority and low-income communities and I look forward to its consideration.”
"I am pleased to cosponsor Senator Lautenberg's bill to ensure that the public has the right to know about pollution in their neighborhoods," Boxer said.
TRI was authored by Lautenberg and passed into law in 1986 as part of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) in 1986 after a tragic disaster at a Union Carbide facility in Bhopal, India killed thousands of people. Congress passed EPCRA to ensure that communities know how much of the most dangerous industrial chemicals are being released into the air, water and the ground.
Scientists have developed a large body of evidence indicating that exposure to industrial chemicals is widespread among Americans. A study by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found over 100 chemicals present in blood and urine samples of average Americans. Furthermore, a National Academies of Science panel found that 25 percent of developmental and neurological problems in children were due to the interplay between exposure to chemicals and genetic factors, and a full 3 percent of the problems were due to chemical exposure alone. |
