House Spending Bill Would Restore Toxics Reporting

The recently introduced House omnibus appropriations bill includes a provision to reverse the Bush-era change that weakened the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), one of the nation's most successful pollution prevention programs. Buried deep within the 1122-page document [1], sandwiched among the hundreds of earmarks, lies a welcome sight. The language in the bill prevents the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from spending funds to continue implementation of the new rule, which took effect in December 2006. It also eliminates the 2006 rule change and restores the rules that existed prior to the change.

The TRI program has provided the public with crucial information on types and amounts of pollution and toxic waste generated at facilities nationwide since the late 1980s. The 2006 rule, which allows facilities to release more pollution into the environment before they need to report what they are doing, is currently being challenged by a lawsuit brought by thirteen states.

Additionally, OMB Watch and U.S. PIRG are preparing to send a letter [2] to the new administrator of the EPA, Lisa Jackson, urging her to restore the TRI program to the original reporting standards. So far, hundreds of organizations and individuals have signed on to this letter in support of returning to strong pollution reporting rules.

The rule change was vigorously opposed by a diverse section of the public, generating [3] more than 122,000 comments in opposition and only about 34 in support of the change – yet the EPA, under former administrator Stephen Johnson, went forward anyway. Advocates of the public's right to know about pollution have been pushing for a restoration of the old reporting rules ever since.

Language in a previous appropriations bill [4] similarly would have prevented the EPA from spending funds to implement the rule, but the measure was not adopted before the rule became final. The House will likely vote on the new omnibus bill this week, but the Senate's schedule is less clear. A continuing resolution that is now funding the federal government expires March 6.

With the combination of the lawsuit, a separately introduced House bill [5] restoring the program, increased public pressure on the new EPA administrator, and now the appropriations language, the prospects for returning to the original TRI reporting rules keep improving.