PRESS RELEASE
-For Immediate Release-
March 23, 2007

Contact: Brian Gumm, (202) 234-8494, bgumm@ombwatch.org

RTK NET Publishes 2005 Toxics Release Inventory Data

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2007—The Right-to-Know Network (RTK NET) published the 2005 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data on March 23, 2007, providing public access to important U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data on the release and transfer of toxic chemicals in the United States. This is EPA's earliest release of the annual TRI data in the history of the program.

Individual facilities report TRI data by sending reports to the EPA every year. RTK NET allows the public to search the data, enabling them to learn about the toxic chemicals in their local communities, states, regions, and the entire nation. Users can search by location, individual facility, parent company, industry type, and offsite waste transfer data tailored to fit their specific requirements. Updates over this past year include more comprehensive search results and additional cross-referencing options that allow for simultaneous sewage plant and offsite transfer searches. RTK NET is also using a new indexing protocol, called sitemaps, which will allow key results to be found via popular Internet search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Unfortunately, in December 2006, EPA changed the TRI rules in a way that drastically reduces the amount of data collected on toxic pollution throughout the country, severely diminishing the usefulness of the TRI program for users. Amid huge opposition, the agency raised the threshold for detailed reporting for most of the 650 TRI chemicals from 500 pounds to 5,000 pounds, and up to 2,000 pounds can be released directly to the environment. The reporting changes will also allow facilities to withhold details on low-level waste generation of persistent bioaccumulative toxins (PBTs) such as mercury and lead.

"We are pleased that EPA got the data out faster this year, but their efforts to chip away the amount of toxic pollution tracked in TRI raises doubts about the usefulness of the program to individuals and communities," said Sean Moulton, Director of Federal Information Policy at OMB Watch. "EPA has insisted on viewing TRI as a tool for national totals and trends, which means the details that are so important at the local level are paying the price."

We urge RTK NET users to weigh in so we can continue to provide useful environmental information on chemical releases. See http://www.crtk.org/subscribe.cfm to sign up for updates. Citizens concerned about the TRI rollbacks can contact Congress by visiting http://ga6.org/campaign/TRI.

OMB Watch created RTK NET in 1989 in support of the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA), which mandated public access to TRI information. You can visit RTK NET at http://www.rtknet.org.

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