On Feb. 14, Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Reps. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Hilda Solis (D-CA) announced companion bills to restore the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and undo the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) recently finalized reporting rollbacks. At the same time, President George W. Bush issued an executive order which may exempt all federal facilities from reporting requirements, resulting in another severe attack on the TRI program.

Toxic Right-To-Know Protection Act

The Toxic Right-to-Know Protection Act will legislatively restore the stronger reporting thresholds that were in place for almost twenty years. The bill would remove EPA's authority to alter the program's reporting requirements without the approval of Congress.

EPA finalized rules in December 2006 that weaken toxic reporting under the TRI program, despite enormous opposition to the changes. The changes will allow facilities to avoid detailed reporting of toxic pollution less than 5,000 pounds as long as less than 2,000 pounds are released to the environment. The EPA is also permitting facilities that manage up to 500 pounds of persistent bioaccumulative chemicals such as lead and mercury to avoid detailed reporting of the waste.

The proposed changes have been met with stiff resistance throughout the rulemaking process. Over 122,000 public comments were submitted in response to EPA's plans to cut TRI reporting, and more than 99.9 percent opposed the agency's proposals. During the previous session of Congress, Pallone and Solis introduced and passed an appropriations amendment that would have blocked EPA from moving forward with the reporting changes. Unfortunately, the Senate never had the opportunity to discuss a similar amendment since the Senate never acted on the EPA appropriations bill.

The House and Senate bills are identical. In the Senate, the bill (S. 595) is co-sponsored by Sens. Lautenberg, Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Robert Menendez (D-NJ). The House bill (H.R. 1055) has 47 additional cosponsors beyond Pallone and Solis.

Exemption of Federal Facilities from TRI

As members of Congress moved to repair the damage done to the TRI program, Bush issued an Executive Order that may exempt hundreds of federal facilities from reporting toxic pollution under the TRI program.

Federal facilities are not required by law to report to the TRI program; that requirement was established by President Bill Clinton in 1993 with E.O. 12856, "Federal Compliance With Right-to-Know Laws and Pollution Prevention Requirements". In 2000, Clinton issued E.O. 13148, "Greening the Government Through Leadership in Environmental Management", which set a series of environmental goals and requirements for federal agencies, including a reiteration of the requirement that federal facilities report under TRI. Because of this requirement, the earlier order (E.O. 12856) was deemed redundant and revoked, leaving E.O. 13148 as the sole order requiring federal facilities to report to TRI.

On Jan. 26, Bush issued E.O. 13423, "Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management", which establishes goals for increased energy efficiency, reduced toxic waste, and other environmental improvements. However, the final section of Bush's new EO rescinds several previous executive orders, including Clinton's E.O. 13148, without reiterating that federal facilities must report under TRI.

Given that E.O. 13148 was the only order still in place requiring federal facilities to report under the TRI program, Bush's new order may exempt all federal facilities from reporting to TRI in the future. The exact impacts will also depend on what guidance the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issues to agencies on implementing E.O. 13423. In 2004, the most recent year of TRI data, 313 federal facilities reported 90 million pounds of toxic chemicals released to the air, water and land.

The Toxic Right-to-Know-Protection Act would not establish a legislative requirement that federal facilities report under the TRI program. However, if the CEQ implementation guidance on E.O. 13423 does not maintain the reporting requirement for federal facilities, the legislation could be amended to undo that change as well.