Environmental Health News

California Would Lose Pollution Data from 297 Chemical Facilities

LOS ANGELES—A new Environment California analysis of a proposed Bush administration rule reveals that residents of California would lose valuable information about the amounts and type of harmful chemicals discharged by industrial facilities in their neighborhoods if the rule is finalized.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson proposed changes to the Toxics Release Inventory Program (TRI) in October 2005 that would significantly decrease the information that the public and state and local officials have about harmful chemicals released into California’s water, air, and land.

“On the anniversary of the deadliest chemical accident in history in Bhopal, India, Administrator Johnson wants to help corporate polluters hide toxic pollution,” stated Moira Chapin, field organizer for Environment California. “The Bush administration’s proposal puts corporations first and communities last.”

In California, the local impact could be widespread. Analysis of the 2003 Toxics Release Inventory by Grassroots Connections and the National Environmental Trust showed that:

• 297 facilities in California—the most of any state in the country—would no longer be required to report toxic chemical releases to the public;
• California would lose all information about releases, transfers, and disposal of toluene, which is a known carcinogen.
• Specific communities in Los Angeles will be most affected. Communities in more than 90 zip codes in LA County, from Long Beach to the West Side to San Bernardino will lose some or all of the pollution information about chemical releases in their neighborhoods.

“Clearly the EPA has not taken into consideration how this proposal will impact public health in local communities, specifically communities of color where other sources of pollution already threaten public health,” said Luis Cabrales, California Organizer at the National Environmental Trust.

In October 2005, EPA Administrator Johnson proposed to cut the amount of pollution information that companies are required to disclose. These changes to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) would be three-fold:

• A rule to propose that companies be allowed to release ten times as much pollution before they are required to report their releases;
• A rule that would allow companies to withhold information about some of the most dangerous chemicals, such as lead and mercury;
• A notification to Congress that Administrator Johnson intends to release a rule next fall to change the frequency of reporting to the program from every year to every other year.

The TRI program is a pollution disclosure program. Since 1987, companies have been required to report toxic releases to air, land, and water, as well as toxic waste that is treated, burned, recycled, or disposed of. Approximately 26,000 industrial facilities report information about any of the 650 chemicals in the program.

The TRI program was established in 1986, following a devastating chemical accident in Bhopal, India. December 4th marks the twenty-sixth anniversary of this accident, where thousands of people immediately lost their lives from exposure to chemicals, and tens of thousands have since died from continued contamination. Soon thereafter, Congress passed and President Reagan signed the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, which established the Toxics Release Inventory.

The Toxics Release Inventory has been credited with a wide range of successes. Since the TRI program began, disposals or releases of the original 299 chemicals tracked have dropped nearly 60 percent. A U.S. PIRG Education Fund analysis showed that releases of chemicals linked to health effects have decreased as well. Between 1995 and 2000, releases to air and water of chemicals known to cause cancer declined by 41 percent.

EPA’s own research has shown that the public, companies, governments, academics, and investment groups have all used the TRI program. A May 2003 report by EPA highlighted 20 different state governments that use the TRI program for environmental targeting, risk assessments, regulations, legislation, quality assurance and control, and other uses. California has used TRI data to pass strong state level environmental protections.

“The TRI program has proved that requiring polluters to report their pollution creates an incentive for these facilities to reduce their pollution,” said Chapin. “But the Bush administration wants to take this spotlight off polluters and leave the public and our communities in the dark about pollution in our state.”

Environment California is a non-profit, non-partisan statewide environmental group with 77,000 citizen members across California.