Groups Applaud Call for Changes to Reporting of Toxic Releases

Sean Multon (OMB Watch) 202 234-8494

Jeremiah Baumann (U.S. PIRG) 202 546-9707

Environmental Defense, OMB Watch and U.S. PIRG today joined together in supporting the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to improve the public’s access to key environmental information.

In a letter to EPA sent this week, OMB’s John Graham urged the agency to begin utilizing a single identification number for industrial facilities that report pollution information to EPA’s multiple databases. Graham also called for expediting the availability to the public of Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) data.

“While TRI has proven to be a powerful and popular environmental tool, the usefulness of this data is undercut by the length of time it takes for the information to be made public,” said Environmental Defense Economic Development Specialist Carol Andress. “Moving to electronic reporting as OMB has suggested will speed up TRI reporting, reduce errors and require that companies get the data right the first time.”

“Right-to-know advocates have been pushing for a facility identification system in TRI for years.

And while the EPA began developing such system in 1995, its efforts in this area seem to have fallen behind other priorities. Hopefully this additional push from OMB will spur the EPA to make the system a reality more quickly,” noted Sean Moulton, Senior Policy Analyst on Environmental Information Policy at OMB Watch

“These are the kinds of basic changes that support the public’s right to know about what is being released into the local environment by improving access to information about pollution,” said Jeremiah Baumann, Environmental Health Advocate for U.S. PIRG. “We know that public access to information about toxic pollution can lead to significant reductions in sources of that pollution.”

Under current EPA reporting requirements, data on pollution from industrial facilities is maintained in different databases, making it difficult for individuals to get information on the total environmental impact of a nearby facility. Creating a single identification system will enable users to more easily review the entire scope of pollution from a single facility.

“Under the current reporting system, it is difficult for someone living next to an industrial facility to fully assess its impact on the environment. Instituting a single identification system will make it possible to get immediate on-line access to all environmental information reported by that facility, including the various types of pollution produced,” Andress said.