Environmental Right to Know

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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EPA Launches Online System for Reporting Violations

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently launched a pilot program to allow companies to electronically self-disclose violations of environmental laws. The new voluntary program, called eDisclosure, is designed to speed the processing times and reduce transaction costs for voluntary disclosures of violations under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA).

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Fisheries Rule Cuts Public Participation

A Commerce Department proposed rule governing fisheries management threatens to curb public participation in environmental reviews and give greater control to the fishing industry. The public comment period for the proposed rule ended on Aug. 12.

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Pesticide Problems Go Unnoticed by EPA

The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) has discovered that two groups of common pesticides, generally considered to be "safer" chemicals, are responsible for one quarter of reported human pesticide poisonings, based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) own data. CPI spent several years demanding the release of the data through repeated Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. A trade association representing the interests of the consumer specialty products industry denounced the report.

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White House Climate Change Policy -- Delay, Delete, and Deny

The Bush administration continues its strong efforts to censor climate change information that reaches the public and Congress. Recent reports indicate that the White House pressured the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make changes to its regulatory process regarding climate change and that Vice President Dick Cheney's office was responsible for suppressing key sections of the congressional testimony of a high-level official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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EPA and Union Agree on Process for Reopening Libraries

In response to a federal arbitrator's decision in February, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) establishing procedures for the reopening of recently closed EPA libraries and bringing the union to the planning table for any future changes to the library network.

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EPA Asks Public, "What Do You Want to Know?"

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has invited the public to participate in a week of online dialogue to develop ideas to improve access to environmental information.

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Committee Passes Sewage Right-to-Know Bill

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved the Raw Sewage Community Right-to-Know Act (H.R. 2452) May 15, bringing the American public one step closer to knowing when it is safe to swim in local waters. The bill amends the Clean Water Act to provide stricter standards for public notification of sewage overflows.

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USDA Dropping Shroud over Pesticide Use Data

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced May 21 that it is eliminating the only program that tracks pesticide use in the United States. The USDA claimed it can no longer afford the program, known as the Agricultural Chemical Usage Reports. Consumers, environmental organizations, scientists, and farmers oppose the move.

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Report Documents Political Meddling with Science at EPA

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists are faced with widespread political interference that has significantly increased under the Bush administration, a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) shows. Hundreds of the scientists surveyed (60 percent) reported some degree of political meddling, ranging from unnecessary delays to forced resignations.

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EPA Submits Plan for Re-Opening Libraries

Responding to congressional demands, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is re-opening libraries that the agency closed over the past several years. However, it appears that the content of the libraries will be more limited, and the facilities will be subject to stricter central supervision, raising concerns from critics about the role politics will play.

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