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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TRI Restored

Mar 11, 2009 by Brian Turnbaugh*

The weakening of the cornerstone of environmental right-to-know laws by former President Bush was finally reversed today. The omnibus spending bill signed by Obama includes language that restores the previous reporting rules for the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), the highly successful program that provides the public with information on pollution released in communities nationwide.

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Industry Secrecy Still Hindering Protection from Toxics

The excessive use of confidential business information claims is a major factor preventing the government from safe, effective management of thousands of industrial chemicals, according to several experts who recently presented their views to a congressional panel. The witnesses asserted that when information about potentially dangerous chemicals is labeled as trade secrets, government agencies and the public are denied the opportunity to evaluate the risks of chemicals and take action to protect public health and the environment.

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Hundreds Call on EPA to Restore Public Access to Toxic Pollution Information

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2009—Hundreds of national, state, and local groups and individual signers today called on EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to reverse a 2006 Environmental Protection Agency rule that limits public access to information about toxic chemical releases. The rule, finalized in December 2006, allows industries to withhold information on the quantities and locations of toxic chemical releases previously reported to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).

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EPA Looking to Settle on TRI

Feb 27, 2009 by Brian Turnbaugh*

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reportedly negotiating a settlement in the multi-state lawsuit seeking to overturn the current reporting rules to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), according to Inside EPA (subscription required). The agency has requested and received a 60-day extension on the deadline for its response to the states' motion to throw out the current TRI reporting rules.

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House Spending Bill Would Restore Toxics Reporting

Feb 25, 2009 by Brian Turnbaugh*

The recently introduced House omnibus appropriations bill includes a provision to reverse the Bush-era change that weakened the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), one of the nation's most successful pollution prevention programs. Buried deep within the 1122-page document, sandwiched among the hundreds of earmarks, lies a welcome sight.

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EPA Inspector General Rips Program on Chemical Risks in Communities

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in need of significant improvements in the implementation of the agency's Risk Management Program, according to a new report from the EPA Office of Inspector General (OIG). The OIG report highlights the need for greater accountability for the Clean Air Act program. However, EPA has refused to provide program data online, reducing the public's ability to ensure the safety of vulnerable communities.

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Nada Known about Nano – Reporting Requirement Inches Forward

As the nanotechnology industry continues to grow, government policies are slowly being developed to gather basic information on potential threats to the environment and public health. For years, the federal government has promoted the nanotech industry, even though little has been known about the environmental and public health impacts of the materials. Recent actions by California, Canada, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will require companies to report data on potential threats from the use of nanotechnology.

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Climate Change Rules Among Obama's First

Feb 13, 2009 by Matthew Madia

The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to issue two climate change proposals in the near future. EPA has sent the White House two draft proposed rules: one that would mandate an increase in the proportion of biofuels in the national gasoline supply and another that would create a registry for greenhouse gas emissions.

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Congress Again Sets Sights on Toxics Right to Know

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) recently reintroduced the Toxic Right-to-Know Protection Act (H.R. 776), which would restore the thresholds for reporting of toxic pollution under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program. A 2006 rule from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) raised the thresholds significantly. An identical version of the bill failed to move out of committee in 2008.

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Congress takes on toxics...again

Feb 5, 2009 by Brian Turnbaugh*

Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) has introduced a bill to reverse the rollback to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) set in place in 2006 by the Bush administration. The introduction of legislation to strengthen the rule coincides with the continuing lawsuit brought by thirteen states against EPA to restore the old reporting rules. Regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit, legislation to strengthen the TRI reporting process would be a welcome improvement.

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