Protect Your Access to Data on Toxics

Since 1986, the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) has informed communities, activists, and social investors about poisons released to the environment. Created by the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, the Toxics Release Inventory came in response to the Bhopal disaster, when chemicals released from a Union Carbide plant in India killed thousands of people. Your help is needed to preserve the integrity of the TRI.

The TRI requires manufacturers, chemical users, and others to report their emissions of more than 600 toxic chemicals annually. This data is made available to the public on the website of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It has been an important tool for concerned citizens, regulators, insurers, and socially responsible investors pressing companies to reduce their pollution. With the help of the data, social researchers can determine which companies are responsible for substantial emissions, and track trends and patterns across companies and industry sectors.

The EPA has proposed changes to the TRI that will threaten the usefulness of this critical corporate accountability tool.

There are two proposals that are of concern. First, the EPA has proposed requiring facilities to report their toxic emissions only once every other year instead of every year. Companies would not be required to produce a report covering two years of data — they would simply get a pass every other year. The second proposal would allow facilities to release ten times as much pollution before triggering requirements to report on the quantity of toxic chemicals released.

Senator Jim Jeffords (I-VT), the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said, “EPA is launching a frontal assault on the Toxics Release Inventory by proposing to convert the annual reporting requirement to alternate-year reporting. The Community Right-to-Know Act will become the Community Right-to-Know-Every-Other-Year Act.”

How can you help? Please send the customizable letter below before December 5 to help ensure that the Toxics Release Inventory remains effective. Your prompt action can make a difference!

1. Click “send message” below to send your message to the EPA.

2. Visit http://www.congress.org to contact your Senator and Representative by email. Feel free to copy and paste the appropriate text from the prepared message below.

Your email address:

Dear Sir or Madam: I am writing in support of the Toxics Release Inventory, a critical tool for providing communities and investors with reliable data on corporate toxic emissions. The EPA recently proposed changes to the Toxics Release Inventory that I believe would make it less effective in providing detailed, timely data on toxic pollution. As a socially responsible investor, I believe that this information is essential in monitoring the environmental performance of U.S. companies. TRI data allows investors to identify those companies that are the worst polluters, and to compare corporate performance within and across industry sectors. This data has helped investors to make informed decisions, and to identify both risks and opportunities presented by corporate environmental performance. I am writing to ask you to keep the requirement that facilities must report their toxic releases annually, rather than once every two years. I also ask that the EPA withdraw its proposal to revise the reporting threshold on certain chemicals, which would allow facilities to release ten times as much pollution before triggering requirements to report on the quantity of toxic chemicals released. The Toxics Release Inventory has been an important tool for socially responsible investors since it was created. I urge you to help ensure that it continues to be effective. Please let me know what actions you propose to take. Yours sincerely,

Your name: