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Toxic Right-to-Know-Protection Act

<< from an email >>

I recently cosponsored the Toxic Right-to-Know-Protection Act, S.595, a bill introduced by U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ). This bill would restore the public’s right to know about toxic pollution in their communities by reversing a Bush Administration rule that weakened these nearly two-decade-old safeguards.

In December 2006, EPA announced that it would weaken the rules for the Toxic Release Inventory program, rules that simply require facilities to tell the public how much pollution they put into the environment. EPA’s actions allowed facilities to quadruple the amount of pollution they release, up to 2,000 pounds, without having the tell the public the amount of pollution emitted into our air, land or water or how the facility managed this waste. EPA also reversed an earlier decision and allowed facilities that use up to 500 pounds of a toxic substance, such as mercury and lead, to simply acknowledged that they used the chemical without telling the public if they put these substances into their products or otherwise recycled them on site.

The Bush Administration undercut the public’s right to know despite opposition from state agencies and attorneys general from 23 states. The EPA’s own scientific advisory board expressed significant concern over weakening the program because it would help hide the amount of chemicals released by facilities, harm researchers’ abilities to use program data to conduct health studies, and reduce needed data that is available on nationwide chemical releases.

A representative of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) testified before a recent Senate hearing before my Committee that EPA failed to follow its own rulemaking process. The GAO found that senior government officials directed EPA staff to include the option of weakening protections late in the rulemaking process, and that EPA reviewed this option on an expedited schedule that did not allow the agency sufficient time to properly analyze its decision. The GAO concluded that public information could be drastically reduced under the rule change. For example, in California, the change would eliminate information on the pounds of toxic emissions for dozens of chemicals and similarly eliminate reporting requirements for 20 percent of all facilities that are currently required to publicly report their emissions.

The Toxic Right-to-Know Protection Act codifies the original, stronger reporting requirements that were in place before the Bush Administration weakened them in December. By codifying these requirements, neither the current administration nor future administrations could again change the guidelines without the approval of Congress.

Community right-to-know protections give people the ability to gain information on the chemicals released into their communities. I am a strong supporter of giving communities the information they need. I am pleased to support this legislation and will be working in the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, which I chair, to see that it is enacted.

Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

For more information on Senator Boxer's record and other information, please go to: http://www.boxer.senate.gov