The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has removed one database from its public website and slightly altered another due to a Data Quality Act (DQA) challenge submitted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber submitted the request May 26, 2004, asserting that physical and chemical property information in several EPA databases was erroneous because the data was inconsistent and contradictory between the different databases. The differing information leads to vastly different cleanup cost estimates for contaminated sites, according to the Chamber.

Since 1989, the Working Group on Community Right-to-Know has helped people defend and improve our right-to-know about environmental and public health concerns. As of January 2005, the Working Group was merged into OMB Watch and will focus on outreach activities.

A proposed rule in New Jersey would keep important health and safety information secret, possibly endangering residents that live near chemical plants, or workers that are employed at a number of different facilities.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently held a public meeting to announce two plans for reducing the burden of reporting for the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). The first, scheduled for sometime in December, would propose simple changes to the TRI reporting forms in an effort to streamline the process. The second rulemaking, scheduled for June 2005, would contain a more substantial programmatic change, although EPA has not yet determined the exact nature of the change.