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U.S. PIRG Consumer Blog
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November 29, 2007
States sue EPA over Toxic Right to Know
 As we say on U.S. PIRG's Right to know pages in the caption under this photo:
Without the Toxic Release Inventory Regulations, industrial facilities in or near our communities like this refinery could put toxic waste into our environment and even drinking water without informing the public. From the New York Times story E.P.A. Is Sued by 12 States Over Reports on Chemicals by Anthony DePalma: Twelve states, including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, sued the Environmental Protection Agency yesterday for weakening regulations that for two decades have required businesses and industries to report the toxic chemicals they use, store and release. The state PIRGs (San Jose Mercury News story quoting CALPIRG's Emily Rusch (full release)) have been longtime backers of the right-to-know law Toxics Release Inventory as a mechanism to help protect the safety of plant workers, first responders and people living near chemical plants and also secondarily as a way to cajole companies to use fewer dangerous, toxic chemicals in the first place. As the New York Times story continues: Community groups across the country have used the program to track the amounts of hazardous chemicals in local neighborhoods. Under the program, companies must provide information about the types of toxic chemicals stored at plants and factories in each state, as well as the quantities discharged from each plant.
Posted by Ed Mierzwinski at November 29, 2007 05:55 AM
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