Congress is expected to vote on an amendment this week that would save the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) from changes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed in September 2005 and expects to finalize this December. The Pallone-Solis Toxics Right to Know Amendment to the Interior Appropriations Bill would prevent the EPA from spending money to finalize the proposals. The amendment is welcome news to environmental, public health, first responder, and labor groups, who have mounted a campaign to compel the EPA to drop its plans to reduce information on toxic pollution.

Reps. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Hilda Solis (D-CA) will introduce the Toxic Right-to-Know amendment to prevent the EPA from spending money on implementing the changes. The agency has proposed rules that would change the reporting frequency and increase the threshold amount of TRI chemical releases under which industry need not submit detailed reportd to the EPA. The agency has also proposed collecting TRI pollution reports every other year, instead of the annual submissions that have occurred for nearly 20 years. The Pallone-Solis amendment would essentially force the process of implementing the proposed changes to grind to a halt, at least until the next budget cycle.

Stakeholders across the country use TRI data to monitor the storage, release, transfer, and disposal of toxic chemicals. First responders use the TRI to plan for emergencies and disasters. Public health officials rely on TRI data in their research on cancer, Parkinson's disease, respiratory diseases, and other ailments associated with chemical exposures.

Just last week, the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts used data drawn from sources including the TRI to identify the top one hundred corporate polluters in the United States in its Toxic 100. The study goes beyond exclusively analyzing TRI data that reveals total pounds of pollution released by a facility and totals for geographic areas. The study seeks answers to the larger question of 'which company's pollution contributes most to harming people and the environment?' The report also analyzes census and toxicity weight data, and matches individual facilities to their corporate parent.

The top ten corporate air polluters according to the study are:

1. E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co.
2. United States Steel Corp.
3. ConocoPhillips
4. General Electric Co.
5. Eastman Kodak Co.
6. Exxon Mobil Corp.
7. Ford Motor Co.
8. Tyson Foods Inc.
9. Alcoa Inc.
10. Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM).

Table of all 100 companies

According to the report, while providing vital data, TRI also has several limitations:

• The data for each chemical release is reported in total pounds without taking into account differences in toxicity. Some chemicals are much more hazardous than others.

   

• Neither does it include information on the number of people affected.

   

• The data is reported on a facility-by-facility basis, without combining data for plants owned by one corporation in order to get a picture of overall corporate performance.

   

The Toxic 100 index analyzes TRI data along side other information to overcome these three limitations.

If the EPA implements the changes it proposed last year, reports like the Toxic 100 will become more difficult to produce and less reliable. The Pallone-Solis Toxics Right to Know Amendment, by stopping these changes in their tracks, will help preserve the TRI program and this important informational resource it provides.

OMB Watch has an online action alert that allows users to send messages to their Representatives on this issue.