The business of America is giving us the business
From the Eugene Register-Guard:
The federal government is retreating from a right-to-know program that allowed residents in neighborhoods all across the country to look up the pollutants emitted by nearby factories.
About one-third of 20,000 major industrial plants nationwide will get relief from paperwork if the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopts the proposed rules.
Instead of requiring companies to report their chemical releases to the federal government annually, the schedule would be changed to every other year.
Also, companies would be allowed to emit 10 times more chemicals - up to 5,000 pounds per year - before they reach the threshold where detailed reports are required, compared with 500 pounds under the current rules.
As a result, the federal Toxics Release Inventory - which is available online in an easy-to-use form - would have less detail and more out-of-date information.
EPA officials say the “Burden Reduction Rule” was spurred by business complaints that the reporting requirement was too cumbersome.
Yes, “too cumbersome”. And the extra 4500 pounds of toxics per year each newly unencumbered business can emit, will not be a burden on our lungs, thyroids and other innards. Our greatest wealth, it’s claimed, is our good health. But it’s apparently disposable when poor widdle businesses whine to the Yellowphants.
This, from the folks who claim to be pro-life.
October 31st, 2005 at 8:20 pm
TRI was instrumental in changing the way many companies thought about toxics. Up until the point where TRI went into effect, most companies did not know how much they released and what it consisted of. I have heard EHS guys talk about the effect such information had on CEOs and plant managers. It was eye-opening and, in many cases, extremely salutary.
However, I have also been in meetings where security people - years before 9/11 - have questioned aspects of TRI as security risks. This is not an excuse but a reality that could be fixed without doubling the time between reporting periods or allowing more toxic materials to be released.
The thrust of the Republican corporatists is to relieve corporations of all liability. The only citizens that count are corporate citizens. All the rest of us are expendable and without standing.