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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more news

EPA Back in the "Fishbowl"

In a recent memorandum to employees, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) outlined broad principles of transparency that will govern the agency's interactions with the public. By promising to operate EPA as if it were "in a fishbowl," Administrator Lisa Jackson reinstated a principle many considered ignored by the previous administration. Jackson also announced measures to promote transparency in EPA's economic stimulus activities.

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Redesigned Right-to-Know Website Now Live

May 5, 2009 by Brian Turnbaugh*

The newly redesigned Right-to-Know Network (RTK NET) website is up and running.

Interested in what toxic chemicals are being released into your town's air and water? Need information on how much hazardous waste is generated at the plant down the street? Want to know what events are impacting your right to know about environmental threats?

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OMB Watch Unveils Redesigned, Expanded Environmental Right-to-Know Website

WASHINGTON, May 5, 2009—OMB Watch today launched a redesigned and expanded website for the Right-to-Know Network (RTK NET) at www.rtknet.org. The website serves as a source for information about environmental and public health threats and opportunities for public engagement with environmental policy, and it offers news, data, and analysis of environmental right-to-know issues.

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EPA Moves to Require Greenhouse Gas Reporting

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken the first crucial step toward creating a transparent and accountable climate change program by proposing a greenhouse gas registry. The registry would require thousands of facilities from a broad range of industries to record and report their annual emissions of greenhouse gases. A comprehensive registry is a prerequisite for any future efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Takin’ TRI to the Next Level: First Path - Expanding Information Tracked

Apr 10, 2009 by Sean Moulton

On April 9 I introduced the need for improving the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and suggested three broad paths for achieving this. Here I discuss one path – expanding information. We always want more information. And for a while TRI was a program regularly searching for new data to report with new industries being added, new chemicals, lowering the threshold for some chemicals, and adding federal facilities. But recently we have gone backwards with an effort by the agency to raise the reporting thresholds and have fewer detailed reports filed.

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Takin' TRI to the Next Level

Apr 9, 2009 by Sean Moulton

Recently the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) invited me to speak at the National TRI Conference about my ideas for where the new administration might take the Toxic Releases Inventory (TRI) program. I thought some people who missed the conference might be interested in the ideas so I’m posting them here in a series of blog posts.

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New Energy on TRI at National Conference

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking steps toward improving public access to pollution information and is seeking ideas from the public for improving the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program. During a national conference on TRI the week of March 30, the EPA presented several new tools for accessing and analyzing pollution data that will soon be available to the public. The TRI, a bedrock right-to-know program, has not been expanded since 2000, and EPA has been heavily criticized for its management of the program in recent years.

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The Toxics Release Inventory is Back

On March 11, President Barack Obama signed into law a restoration of the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), reversing changes made by the Bush administration that had weakened the program. The measure was included deep within the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 and restored the rules that existed before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) weakened them in December 2006.

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TRI Fix is Already Here

Mar 17, 2009 by Brian Turnbaugh*

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will begin immediately implementing the restored rules for companies to report toxic pollution through the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). According to an announcement on the EPA website, "These changes affect TRI reports due July 1, 2009," thus covering toxic release data from 2008.

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EPA proposes greenhouse gas registry – A first step for climate policy

Mar 11, 2009 by Brian Turnbaugh*

On March 10 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it will propose a new rule to require greenhouse gas emissions reporting from thousands of businesses nationwide – a prerequisite for any effective climate change program. A greenhouse gas registry is a database for collecting, verifying, and tracking emissions from specific industrial sources.

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