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Undisclosed Pollution: Local Impacts of the Bush Administration’s Attack on the Toxics Release Inventory Program 12/2/2005 Undisclosed_Pollution.pdf NJ_Facilities.pdf News Release

Executive Summary

As the new home of NJPIRG's environmental work, Environment New Jersey can be contacted regarding this report.

Since 1987, the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program has been the nation’s premiere pollution disclosure program. By requiring companies to disclose the pollution they release to our air, water, and land, transfer off site, or dispose in a waste dump, the TRI program has ensured the public’s right-to-know about toxic pollution in communities.

The TRI program is under attack. The Bush Administration has issued a series of proposed changes over the past few years, some of which would weaken the program by reducing the amount or quality of information available to the public. In the fall of 2005, however, the Bush Administration proposed the most significant changes yet. These changes to the TRI are threefold:

• A rule to allow companies to release 10 times as much toxic pollution before they are required to report their releases;
• A rule to allow companies to withhold information about some of the most dangerous chemicals, such as lead and mercury;
• A notification to Congress that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson intends to release a rule changing the frequency of reporting to the program from every year to every other year.

Local communities would feel the greatest impact of these proposed changes. Grassroots Connection analyzed the local impact of these proposed rules and found the following:

• 90 facilities in New Jersey would no longer be required to report their releases to the TRI.
• New Jersey would lose one hundred percent of the reporting for arsenic compounds. This chemical is a suspected carcinogen, and one of the most hazardous chemicals for human health.
• Many communities in New Jersey would be severely affected. For example, people living in 27 zip codes would lose one hundred percent of the pollution information reported in their area.

In order to protect the publics right-to-know about pollution in their neighborhoods, the Toxics Release Inventory should be strengthened, not weakened. The Bush Administration should drop this proposed rule, and instead look for ways to strengthen and expand this successful pollution disclosure program.