California Attorney General Jerry Brown joined a
twelve-state lawsuit today challenging a recent Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) rule that limits public access to information about toxic chemical
releases. The rule, finalized in December 2006, allows industries to withhold
information on the quantities and locations of toxic chemical releases
previously reported to the Toxic Release Inventory
(TRI).
The TRI makes public information about toxic chemical
releases by requiring industrial facilities to disclose their toxic pollution
and waste management activities. This information empowers communities, workers
and individuals to protect their health and local environment.
“We applaud Attorney General Jerry
Brown for holding the EPA accountable for notifying the public about local toxic
pollution.EPA’s rollbacks
set a dangerous precedent that undermines two decades of public access to toxic
pollution data,” said CALPIRG Advocate Emily Rusch. “Congress established the
TRI program to serve the public by providing toxic release information, and the
lawsuit is a welcome action to compel EPA to comply with the law.”
The twelve-state lawsuit, filed in federal district
court, challenges EPA’s rule as a violation of the Emergency Planning and
Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 – the law that created the TRI. The suit
alleges that EPA violated the Act by eliminating a substantial majority of the
toxic chemical information, by arbitrarily reversing a previous policy on
collecting data for a dangerous class of persistent and bioaccumulative toxics,
and for improperly attempting to limit the public disclosure of information.
The lawsuit follows a California law, AB 833 (Ruskin), enacted this
year in response to EPA’s rule. The law requires California facilities to continue full TRI
reporting as if EPA’s rule did not exist. EPA’s right-to-know restrictions have
also been opposed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the U.S. House of
Representatives, more than 122,000 public commentors, and the EPA’s own Science
Advisory Board. In congressional testimony, the Government Accountability
Office stated, “The TRI reporting changes will likely have
a significant impact on information available to the public about dozens of
toxic chemicals from thousands of facilities in states and communities across
the country.”
CALPIRG supports the Toxic
Right-to-Know Protection Act (S. 595, H.R. 1055), federal legislation introduced
by Senator Lautenberg (New Jersey) and
Representatives Pallone (New Jersey) and Solis
(California)
to reverse EPA’s assault on the public’s right-to-know about toxic chemicals in
communities.
The parties to the lawsuit are: Arizona, California,
Connecticut, Illinois, Maine,
Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire,
New Jersey, New
York, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
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