Environmental Right to Know

Environmental Right to Know: News Background Analysis Gov Docs Links

Subtopics

TAKE ACTION: Stop EPA's Rollback of Toxic Pollution Reporting

TAKE ACTION: Promote Necessary Chemical Security Legislation

Read OMB Watch's comments on EPA's first TRI burden reduction rule.

The public has a right to know (RTK) about human health and environmental issues that affect it; it should never have to demonstrate a need to know information. Environmental right-to-know encompasses a number of issues dealing with environmental information initiatives and laws, and RTK language appears in many of these. The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), a database of chemical releases and some chemical uses, is one of the most well known depositories for environmental toxics information, although EPA maintains a number of other databases. OMB Watch monitors access that the government provides to environmental information, as well as how it disseminates and uses such information.

News

Report Documents Political Meddling with Science at EPA 04/29/2008
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists are faced with widespread political interference that has significantly increased under the Bush administration, a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) shows. Hundreds of the scientists surveyed (60 percent) reported some degree of political meddling, ranging from unnecessary delays to forced resignations. Read More

EPA Submits Plan for Re-Opening Libraries 04/15/2008
Responding to congressional demands, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is re-opening libraries that the agency closed over the past several years. However, it appears that the content of the libraries will be more limited, and the facilities will be subject to stricter central supervision, raising concerns from critics about the role politics will play. Read More

EPA Blasted for Library Closings 03/18/2008
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was blasted in both judicial and congressional forums for closing seven of its libraries over the past several years. In a Feb. 15 ruling, a federal arbitrator found EPA guilty of unfair labor practices with respect to the closings. One month later, Congress heard testimony from several sources, including the Government Accountability Office (GAO), that EPA's library restructuring plan was poorly conceived, planned, and implemented. Read More

EPA Releases 2006 TRI Data 03/04/2008
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the 2006 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data on Feb. 21. This is the fastest data release in the history of the program, although it still constitutes more than a year of lag time from the period the data refers to, and it still takes four months longer than Canada's National Pollutant Release Inventory. The 2006 data, which marks the first year that facilities are allowed to stop detailed reporting on chemical waste of less than 5,000 pounds, indicates that nationwide, 4.25 billion pounds of toxic pollution were released, which was a two percent decrease from 2005. Read More

EPA Bucks White House and Plans for Registry on Greenhouse Gases 02/20/2008
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has started work on a draft rule creating mandatory greenhouse gas reporting requirements, even though President Bush's proposed FY 2009 budget does not provide funding for the rulemaking. Read More

CDC Watering Down Great Lakes Report on Toxics 02/20/2008
After significantly delaying the release of a report that identifies alarming toxic health risks for the Great Lakes region, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now reportedly planning to release a substantially modified document. Read More

Government Offers Refunds for Katrina Trailers 02/05/2008
On Jan. 17, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced refunds for potentially toxic trailers purchased between July 2006 and July 2007, the period trailers manufactured in response to Hurricane Katrina were sold. Read More

Polar Bears Get Their Day in Congress 02/05/2008
At a Jan. 17 hearing, the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming questioned the true motives behind the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) delay in deciding whether to list the polar bear as a threatened species. Read More

Big Farms to Get Free Pass in Reporting Air Pollution from Animal Waste 01/08/2008
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Dec. 28, 2007, proposal in a second attempt to exempt farms from reporting air pollution caused by animal waste and to reduce information available about toxins at the local level. Read More

States Sue EPA for Reduced Reporting on Toxics 12/04/2007
Twelve states are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the December 2006 regulation that weakened the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, leading the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Nov. 28. Joining the suit are attorneys general from Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey and Vermont, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Read More

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