ENVIRONMENT--Help Stop EPA's Dangerous Plan
From OMB Watch:
Just Four Days Left to Make Your Voice Heard
Regardless of where you work or live, the changes affect you and your community--this is about knowing what's in the air we breathe and water we drink.
Organizations: Please sign the TRI Letter to Congress below. Simply contact Clay Northouse, (202) 234-8494, to sign on to the letter that has already been signed by more than 150 organizations, including the Sierra Club, AFL-CIO and American Lung Association.
Individuals: If you haven't already, take action and submit comments to the EPA through our easy-to-use web tool. Hurry--the public comment period closes on Friday, January 13th.
Progress So Far
If you and your organization are already involved in fighting these dangerous rollbacks, I thank you.
Yours truly,
Gary D. Bass
Executive Director
OMB Watch
1742 Connecticut Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20009
TEL: (202) 234-8494
FAX: (202) 234-8584
http://www.ombwatch.org
Dear Members of Congress:
On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we are writing to urge Congress to stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from moving forward with a set of proposed changes to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). The changes will make it more difficult for citizens to track toxic pollution in their neighborhoods and take steps to reduce the impact on their family's health.
In 1986, Congress created TRI in response to the catastrophic release of toxic chemicals at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India that killed thousands of people. For nearly 20 years, TRI has been an essential tool in alerting communities, workers, first responders, and public health officials to the presence of chemicals and has provided critical assistance in dealing with highly hazardous situations. The EPA's proposed TRI cutbacks are especially troubling in light of the essential role that TRI played in identifying toxic chemicals in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
To preserve this important program, we, the undersigned, oppose the EPA's recent proposals to reduce the amount of information collected and made public under the Toxic Release Inventory. We urge Congress to call for the EPA to immediately withdraw these proposals.
Handicapping the TRI program, the EPA plans to:
In a randomized survey of 60 companies, the average time to complete a TRI form was 18 hours. Many companies have stated that TRI reporting is not a burden. "We're set up to do it annually," says Kirk Thomson, Director of Environmental Affairs at the Boeing Company. "It's just a good business practice to track your hazardous materials." Edwin L. Mongan III, Director of Energy and Environment at DuPont, states that DuPont will probably continue to collect and release toxic information, because DuPont uses this information internally and is "committed to being transparent about its environmental performance."
The TRI program has undoubtedly prevented many dangerous, and even deadly, chemical exposures and accidents. Emergency responders, researchers, workers, public health officials, environmentalists, community residents, and federal and state officials routinely rely on TRI. Publication of TRI data has motivated companies to cut pollution. >From 1998 to 2003, TRI documented a 2.8 billion pound reduction in the annual release and disposal of toxic chemicals.
We urge you to stop the EPA from undermining a successful and cost-effective public health and safety resource. To follow up on this letter, please contact Sean Moulton, OMB Watch, at 202-234-8494 or smoulton@ombwatch.org. We look forward to working with you to ensure that people have the information they need to protect their health, their families and their environment.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
[Your organization's signature]
[Full List of Participating Organizations]
(UPDATE 01-11-06)
From Bush Greenwatch:
Just Four Days Left to Make Your Voice Heard
I am contacting you again to urge you to take action. Tell the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to abandon its plans to rollback the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). Organizations and individuals have spoken out resoundingly against EPA's proposal to reduce the amount of information made public about toxic pollution, but if the agency hasn't heard from you yet--either through your organization or as an individual--now's the time!
Regardless of where you work or live, the changes affect you and your community--this is about knowing what's in the air we breathe and water we drink.
Organizations: Please sign the TRI Letter to Congress below. Simply contact Clay Northouse, (202) 234-8494, to sign on to the letter that has already been signed by more than 150 organizations, including the Sierra Club, AFL-CIO and American Lung Association.
Individuals: If you haven't already, take action and submit comments to the EPA through our easy-to-use web tool. Hurry--the public comment period closes on Friday, January 13th.
Progress So Far
- More than 150 organizations have signed on to the TRI Letter to Congress.
- Over 100 TRI news stories have been written around the country.
- Member of both the House and Senate have written EPA expressing concerns.
- More than 50,000 public comments have been sent to the EPA.
If you and your organization are already involved in fighting these dangerous rollbacks, I thank you.
Yours truly,
Gary D. Bass
Executive Director
OMB Watch
1742 Connecticut Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20009
TEL: (202) 234-8494
FAX: (202) 234-8584
http://www.ombwatch.org
TRI Sign-On Letter to Congress
150 organizations already on board
150 organizations already on board
Dear Members of Congress:
On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we are writing to urge Congress to stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from moving forward with a set of proposed changes to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). The changes will make it more difficult for citizens to track toxic pollution in their neighborhoods and take steps to reduce the impact on their family's health.
In 1986, Congress created TRI in response to the catastrophic release of toxic chemicals at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India that killed thousands of people. For nearly 20 years, TRI has been an essential tool in alerting communities, workers, first responders, and public health officials to the presence of chemicals and has provided critical assistance in dealing with highly hazardous situations. The EPA's proposed TRI cutbacks are especially troubling in light of the essential role that TRI played in identifying toxic chemicals in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
To preserve this important program, we, the undersigned, oppose the EPA's recent proposals to reduce the amount of information collected and made public under the Toxic Release Inventory. We urge Congress to call for the EPA to immediately withdraw these proposals.
Handicapping the TRI program, the EPA plans to:
- 1. Move from annual to biennial reporting, leaving a gap every other year during which companies could pollute as much as they want without reporting.
- 2. Allow companies to release ten times the amount of toxics before detailed reporting is required.
- 3. Create a first-ever exemption on reporting the most dangerous class of chemicals—Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins (PBTs).
In a randomized survey of 60 companies, the average time to complete a TRI form was 18 hours. Many companies have stated that TRI reporting is not a burden. "We're set up to do it annually," says Kirk Thomson, Director of Environmental Affairs at the Boeing Company. "It's just a good business practice to track your hazardous materials." Edwin L. Mongan III, Director of Energy and Environment at DuPont, states that DuPont will probably continue to collect and release toxic information, because DuPont uses this information internally and is "committed to being transparent about its environmental performance."
The TRI program has undoubtedly prevented many dangerous, and even deadly, chemical exposures and accidents. Emergency responders, researchers, workers, public health officials, environmentalists, community residents, and federal and state officials routinely rely on TRI. Publication of TRI data has motivated companies to cut pollution. >From 1998 to 2003, TRI documented a 2.8 billion pound reduction in the annual release and disposal of toxic chemicals.
We urge you to stop the EPA from undermining a successful and cost-effective public health and safety resource. To follow up on this letter, please contact Sean Moulton, OMB Watch, at 202-234-8494 or smoulton@ombwatch.org. We look forward to working with you to ensure that people have the information they need to protect their health, their families and their environment.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
[Your organization's signature]
[Full List of Participating Organizations]
(UPDATE 01-11-06)
From Bush Greenwatch:
OMB Watch, which has been tracking the response and working with other groups to generate opposition, noted this week that Kim Nelson, EPA's chief information officer and a champion of the cutbacks, has resigned from the agency amidst the growing backlash to the proposal.--snip--
Cancer researchers have expressed particular concern. "To reduce the amount of information available to cancer researchers is just plain terrible," said Dr. Michael Harbut, of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, at a press briefing last month. [1].More info...
OMB Watch reports that opposition to the EPA cutback has rolled in from almost every sector, including doctors, first responders, workers, state officials, investor groups, community and environmental groups. The Social Investment Forum Foundation (SIFF) and EIP have launched a website, www.saveTRI.org, to help focus public opposition.
Opposition to the TRI rollback is gaining traction in Congress as well. Five U.S. Senators, including Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and John McCain (R-AZ), sent a letter to EPA expressing their concern over the proposals.[2] The Senators noted that TRI information proved critical recently during the response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita as first responders relied upon TRI data to pinpoint the facilities of highest concern for toxic releases.
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