State News:

Md. Attorney General Joins Other State AGs in Backing Public's Right to Know About Toxic Chemicals

"The Toxics Release Inventory puts chemical release information in the hands of the public and allows communities to engage in an educated dialogue with their industrial neighbors, and this kind of communication is beneficial to us all," said Curran in a prepared statement to the press.

After the 1984 deadly release of toxic chemicals at the Union Carbide facility in Bhopal, India, Congress responded by establishing the Toxics Release Inventory. TRI is a federal computerized database that provides information on the type and quantity of toxic chemicals released into the air, water and soil. The bill was signed into law by President Reagan and data has been collected and made available to the public since 1987. Industrial facilities are required to report information to the EPA annually, which is then compiled into a public report.

Disclosure of public information about toxic releases has brought about significant reductions in the release of toxic chemicals across the nation. For example, the Boeing Company reduced its toxic chemical releases by more than 82 percent since 1991; Monsanto reduced its toxic air emissions by more than 90 percent between 1988 and 1992. The Eastman Chemical Company of Tennessee has reduced its releases of TRI chemicals by 83 percent since 1988.

The EPA, however, is now proposing changes that would, according to the state attorneys general, significantly weaken the TRI in the following ways:

• It would raise the baseline reporting threshold for chemical releases from the current 500 pounds to 5,000 pounds.
  
  
• It would reduce the reporting for some of the most dangerous toxic chemicals --those that are persistent, bio-accumulative and toxic, a category that includes lead, mercury and PCBs.
  
  
• It would consider cutting the requirement to report toxic chemical releases from once a year to once every two years.