Toxic Releases to be disclosed
Openness returns in time for Earth Day
Unlike the mindless chatter from the Right that Progressives ooh and aah over everything President Obama does, there are serious misgivings about some of his decisions, such as appointing Timothy Geitner as Treasury Secretary and sending 17,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. But at least this White House accepts criticism without threatening dissenters, and it’s making moves toward transparency that show up the last eight years as dark days indeed.
Weeks ago, for instance, Obama restored the requirement that U.S. industry keep close track of toxic materials released into the environment – reversing Bush’s 2006 relaxation of the main reports letting communities know what’s in their soil, water and air. The omnibus spending bill signed by Obama on March 11 included language restoring the previous reporting rules for the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), the successful program giving the public information on pollution released in neighborhoods and the nation.
The action came about a week after hundreds of national, state and local groups and individuals called on Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson to reverse a 2006 EPA rule that limited public access to information about toxic chemical releases. Finalized in December 2006, the Bush de-regulation let industries withhold information on what and where toxic chemicals were released, information previously reported to the TRI.
“The Bush Administration’s rollbacks set a dangerous precedent undermining two decades of public access to toxic pollution data,” said U.S. PIRG Public Health Advocate Liz Hitchcock. “Congress established the TRI program to serve the public by providing information about toxic releases in our communities.”
Illinois was one of 13 states that sued the rule change as a violation of the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986, which created TRI, and other groups objecting to the de-regulation ranged from the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the U.S. House of Representatives to the EPA’s own Science Advisory Board and the General Accounting Office.
“The TRI reporting changes will likely have a significant impact on information available to the public about dozens of toxic chemicals from thousands of facilities in states and communities across the country,” the GAO protested in 2006.
Now, TRI is back, and new information is expected to be disclosed by July 1.
This month Americans observe Earth Day on April 22, a time to reflect on the environment in which we all live. Launched in 1970 with help from U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisc.), Earth Day has become a combination celebration and teach-in, touching on issues ranging from recycling and sustainable agriculture to preventing long-term climate change and short-term pollution.
Not all pollution is illegal; some is somewhat inevitable. But the TRI kept people informed and indirectly encouraged polluters to control and reduce releases of toxic materials – sometimes saving companies money as they cleaned up.
In Peoria, the Top Ten companies releasing toxins, according to the EPA’s most recent TRI (2006), and the amounts in pounds were:
Peoria Disposal – 20.7 million lbs.
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) – 854,000 lbs.
Keystone Steel & Wire – 784,000 lbs.
Ameren – 319,000 lbs.
Caterpillar (Mapleton & Mossville) – 376,000 lbs.
Degussa/Goldschmidt Chemical Co. – 140,000 lbs.
PMP Fermentation Products – 94,000 lbs.
AAA Galvanizing – 52,000 lbs.
Lonza, Inc. – 24,000 lbs.
Chemtura Corp. – 6,000 lbs.
Together, the top ten chemicals Peoria endured were releases of zinc compounds, manganese compounds, lead compounds, chromium compounds, hydrochloric acid, methanol, sulfuric acid, acetaldehyde, hydrogen fluoride and copper compounds, the EPA reports.
Three of those companies are listed as having allegedly committed serious violations, according to EPA’s Enforcement & Compliance History Online (ECHO) reports: ADM, Degussa and Keystone, all for Air Facility System infractions of the Clean Air Act over three years.
For other online TRI data searchable by zip code, go to www.epa.gov/triexplorer/
For details on compliance with federal environmental laws, go to the searchable data base at www.epa-echo.gov/echo/
For ideas on how you might observe Earth Day, check out:http://earthday.envirolink.org/
After all, people no longer can afford to be bystanders on Spaceship Earth, complaining of one captain or another. We’re all crew.
Bill Knight is an award-winning Peoria journalist who teaches at Western Illinois University. Contact at: bill.knight@hotmail.com
