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 Releases Status Report on Chemical Information Program

Health and environmental data on thousands of highly produced chemicals will be publicly available as early as next year, according to a status report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The agency has enlisted industry and environmental organizations to help collect the data as part of the High Production Volume (HPV) Challenge.

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Jersey to Withhold Hazardous Waste Records

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.

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CSX Refuses to Disclose Hazardous Waste Re-Routing

Rail companies that operate in and around Washington, DC, refuse to reveal whether or not hazardous chemicals are being re-routed around the city. Rail companies may be voluntarily re-routing trains, but the public will not be informed.

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EPA Plans for TRI Burden Reduction

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.

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Highlights from the Right to Know Resource Center

Homeland security is the hot issue of the day. So what could be better than to highlight in one place the many resources and groups working to represent the public's interests in homeland security debates? The Right to Know Resource Center, coordinated by OMB Watch for OpenTheGovernment.org, introduces the many facets of homeland security policies, explains the impacts on efforts to undermine the Freedom of Information Act and summarizes restrictions on the free flow of information in our open society that give the biggest opportunities for abuse.

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House Resolution on Energy Task Force Fails

The House Energy and Commerce Committee rejected a resolution last Wednesday that would have sought information on Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force. The resolution sparked a rowdy and highly partisan committee session in which no debate was allowed before the vote. Reps. John Dingell (D-MI), Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Edward Markey (D-MA) introduced House Resolution 745 on July 22. If passed, it would have asked President Bush to provide the House with specified task force information within two weeks. The information would include:

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Health Effects and Misinformation Drive 9/11 Suit

Leaseholders of the World Trader Center now face a suit from recovery workers, after hundreds of thousands of people were exposed to toxics immediately after the 9/11 attacks. This comes at the same time that a report reveals the government has not monitored or studied people suffering adverse health effects from 9/11.

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Lawmakers Attack Science of Endangered Species Act

Conservative lawmakers are using peer review and data quality language to obscure what amounts to an attack on the Endangered Species Act. Two new bills would require the Fish and Wildlife Service to establish minimum criteria for scientific studies used as the basis for listing species, and to conduct restrictive independent peer reviews on all data used.

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OMB Watch Comments on DHS's NEPA Exemptions

OMB Watch submitted comments Aug. 16 on the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) draft management directive on National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) provisions. OMB Watch found the directive severely threatened public access to information under the law, particularly in the proposed Categorical Exclusions and information shielded from NEPA review.

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DHS Extends Comment Period through August 16 for Environmental Directive

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reopened its comment period for its draft directive containing policy and procedures for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act, after several public interest groups requested an extension. The new deadline for comments is August 16.

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