Cuomo Leads Coalition of 12 States to Overturn EPA’s New Restrictions

[Guest guest]

Cuomo Leads Coalition of 12 States to Overturn EPA's New

Restrictions; Lack of Transparency Increases Risk to Workers,

Community Members, and the Environment

All American Patriots (press release) - Taeby,NA,Sweden*

http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/48738126_new-york-ag-sues-epa-

denying-public-access-information-toxic-chemicals-their-neighborhoods

NEW YORK, NY (November 28, 2007) - New York Attorney General

M. Cuomo today announced that New York and eleven other states are

suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over new

regulations denying the public access to information about toxic

chemicals in their communities.

The EPA will allow thousands of companies to avoid disclosing

information to the public about the toxic chemicals they use, store,

and release into the environment by rolling back chemical reporting

requirements. The suit seeks to overturn the weakened reporting

requirements and provide the public with the access they had in the

past.

" The EPA's new regulations rob New Yorkers - and people across the

country - of their right to know about toxic dangers in their own

backyards, " said Attorney General Cuomo. " Along with eleven other

states throughout the nation, we will restore the public's right to

information about chemical hazards, despite the Bush

administration's best attempts to hide it. "

The changes to the reporting requirements affect the EPA's Toxics

Release Inventory (TRI) program. The TRI is the only comprehensive,

publicly-available database of toxic chemical use, storage, and

release in the United States. Under the TRI, companies are required

to provide the EPA and the states in which the company's facilities

are located with information critical to public health and safety,

and the environment. This information includes the types and amounts

of toxic chemicals stored at the company's facilities and the

quantities they release into the environment.

In December 2006, the EPA issued revised regulations that

significantly weakened the TRI by reducing the amount of information

companies must report for most of the toxic chemicals covered by the

program. For most toxic chemicals, the EPA's new regulations

increased by 10-fold the quantity of chemical waste a facility can

generate without providing detailed TRI reports. The EPA also

weakened TRI reporting requirements for the vast majority of the

most dangerous toxic chemicals - those that are persistent and

bioaccumulative - including chemicals such as lead and mercury. As a

result, thousands of companies can now avoid filing a complete

report on harmful chemicals.

Under the former regulations, TRI information became a powerful tool

used by communities to protect public health and safety, and the

environment:

* Citizen groups used TRI data to monitor companies in their

communities;

* State and local government entities used TRI data to track toxic

chemicals;

* Labor organizations used TRI data to ensure the safety of their

workers;

* Companies used the TRI program to learn of the toxic pollution

they had created; this resulted in companies voluntarily reducing

their toxic chemical releases by billions of pounds nationwide.

The EPA's rollback of TRI regulations now limits the ability of

labor organizations, environmental and public health advocates,

community groups, and individuals to effectively monitor and respond

to the presence of toxins in their communities. The EPA's rollback

particularly impacts low-income communities and communities of

color, many of which are burdened with the siting of industrial

facilities.

Attorney General Cuomo said, " The Toxics Release Inventory program

empowers communities, workers, and individuals to protect their own

environment. The EPA's rollback of TRI requirements only benefits

the companies that bring hazardous chemicals into our communities,

while putting citizens at greater risk. My office will continue to

fight against such blatant attacks on New Yorkers' right to know

about the toxic dangers in their communities. "

" It is clear there are no public benefits in the EPA's rollback of

reporting requirements, " said Department of Environmental

Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis. " The EPA has estimated that

the rollback affects approximately one-third of the facilities that

had been subject to the Toxics Release Inventory requirements. That

represents a significant amount of data no longer available to the

public. "

Peg Seminario, Safety and Health Director of the American Federation

of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)

said, " For two decades, the Toxics Release Inventory has been a

vital and powerful tool to help workers and citizens identify and

push for reductions in toxic chemical releases in workplaces and

communities. But instead of strengthening protections, the Bush

Administration put the interests of big chemical companies before

worker and public health, and allowed companies to withhold

important information about the extent of their toxic pollution. The

AFL-CIO applauds Attorney General Cuomo and the other state

attorneys general for challenging the Bush Administration's rollback

to the TRI and seeking to restore the public's right-to-know about

chemicals in their workplaces and communities. "

Moulton, Director of Federal Information Policy for OMB Watch,

said, " OMB Watch enthusiastically supports the State Attorneys

General, led by Attorney General Cuomo, questioning the legality of

the Environmental Protection Agency's rule change raising thresholds

for detailed reporting under the Toxics Release Inventory. This

lawsuit speaks for communities across the country that will be

denied information about what is in the water they drink and air

they breathe under EPA's new rules. "

Tom Natan, Research Director for the National Environmental Trust,

said, " EPA's rollback means that more than 10% of communities will

lose all data on releases of toxic chemicals to the environment. EPA

claims this is insignificant. But by filing this suit, New York and

other states are standing up for those communities and helping

preserve useful public health data for everyone. "

Leo Gerard, United Steelworkers International President, said, " Our

membership has depended on the TRI as a primary source of exposure

information. More important, this data has provided our members with

essential tools to challenge management to use safer substitutes,

tighten up processes, and ultimately reduce overall toxic emissions

released in the plant and into the community. We strongly support

the efforts of Attorney General Cuomo and his fellow Attorneys

General to restore public access to this critically important

information. "

Haight, New York Public Interest Research Group's (NYPIRG)

senior environmental associate, said, " The Toxics Release Inventory

is an invaluable tool for citizens who want to know more about toxic

threats in their communities and for advocacy groups like NYPIRG

that watchdog industrial polluters. The EPA's new regulations limit

the public's right-to-know and will decrease the incentive for

companies to reduce the amount of toxic pollution they generate.

NYPIRG applauds Attorney General Cuomo for challenging the

Bush Administration's new rules weakening industry reporting

requirements. "

Shufro, Executive Director of the New York Committee for

Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), a union & #8209;based safety and

health organization based in New York City, said, " NYCOSH strongly

supports the suit being brought by New York State Attorney General

Cuomo and the other state Attorneys General against the EPA for

restricting access to and reducing the report requirements of

industries using toxic substances. Workers are doubly exposed to

toxic substances - first in the plants where they work; and second,

in the communities where they live. The restriction of information

to TRI data will seriously restrict the ability of workers and

members of the communities to make informed decisions about health

hazards they face on the job and in their communities. These

restrictions will prevent the identification of facilities using

toxic materials which are located near schools, hospitals, nursing

homes and other sites where vulnerable populations live and work. "

Cook, Director of the Western New York Council for

Occupational Safety and Health, union based safety and health

organization based in Buffalo, said, " This lawsuit is important to

workers and the community. The TRI allows unions and workers to know

what hazardous chemicals are being used or stored on-site by a

company in which they work. Armed with this knowledge, unions have

been able to ensure that companies set up emergency preparedness

programs, or that safer chemicals are substituted for toxic or

explosive ones. In a real sense, TRI allows workers to be the first

line of defense in protecting the community. We applaud Attorney

General Cuomo for fighting EPA's roll-back of the TRI program. "

Frumin, Director of Occupational Safety and Health for UNITE

HERE, said, " We strongly support this action by Attorney General

Cuomo and the other states challenging EPA's regrettable rollback of

the community " Right-to-Know " rules. Through bitter experience,

workers understand all too well about the dangers that uncontrolled

chemicals pose to their health and safety - whether on the job, or

in their communities. In fact, most of the people been killed from

sudden chemical releases have been the workers themselves. Without

the legal force of TRI rules, union members, emergency responders

and other workers often have little power to prevent these releases

from happening. And this information is often key to preventing

cancer or other diseases from chemicals on the job as well. We urge

EPA to reverse this relentless, unnecessary and shameful effort to

weaken our basic health and safety protections from the hazards of

industrial chemicals. "

Tim Sweeney, Regulatory Watch Program Director for Environmental

Advocates of New York, said, " Environmental Advocates of New York

applauds Attorney General Cuomo for recognizing the threat that

weakened TRI requirements pose to our health and the health of the

environment. It is just plain wrong that the Environmental

Protection Agency would raise its toxics reporting thresholds and

keep the public in the dark about the presence of harmful chemicals

and other dangerous substances in their communities. "

Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director of Citizens Campaign for the

Environment, said, " Our EPA should not be engaged in a plot to

implement toxic secrecy. TRI information is essential for

communities and government agencies to evaluate contamination

problems and seek solutions that will protect public health and our

environment. Hiding the facts about toxics in our communities is a

true violation of the public trust. We are thrilled that Attorney

General Cuomo will help lead the fight to restore the public's basic

right to know if toxic releases are putting us at risk. "

Yeampierre, Executive Director of UPROSE, a community-

based organization in Brooklyn, said, " For years, low-income

communities and communities of color have been the reluctant hosts

to the majority of NYC's environmental burdens. Not surprisingly,

our communities also suffer from environmentally related diseases

and premature births and deaths. Our ability to defend and protect

the health and well-being of the most vulnerable members of our

community rests on knowing which companies are releasing toxic

chemicals. Any measure that undermines our right to know triggers an

environmental injustice. We applaud the efforts of Attorney General

Cuomo and the other Attorneys General to restore the TRI program and

our right to know. "

Jackie , Executive Director of the Clean Air Coalition of

Western New York, a community organization based in Tonawanda,

said, " Community based groups such as ours consist of hard-working

concerned citizens who live in the shadow of large industrial

polluters. We demand access to the most current and accurate

information possible. EPA's new regulation relaxing TRI's reporting

requirements will impede our research and environmental justice

efforts, and ultimately jeopardize the health of our community. "

Dr. ph A. Gardella, Jr., professor in the Department of

Chemistry at the University at Buffalo, SUNY, said, " The challenge

by Attorney General Cuomo and his colleagues to EPA's modifications

of TRI regulations is important and timely. I have been using TRI

data for 12 years in collaborations with community members,

government and industry, and regard TRI as a necessary tool for

understanding of pollution emissions. I firmly support Attorney

General Cuomo's efforts to have these new regulations overturned

immediately. His environmental team has done an outstanding job of

identifying critical issues that affect pollution sources across New

York state and here in Western New York. "

The legal action brought by New York and the eleven other states

seeks to invalidate the EPA's revised TRI regulations and return to

the former reporting requirements, so that public access to

environmental information is not restricted. The lawsuit was filed

today in the United States District Court for the Southern District

of New York and will be heard by District Judge Barbara S. and

Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman.

Congress enacted, and President Reagan signed into law, the

Toxics Release Inventory program in 1986, after the Bhopal toxic

chemical catastrophe in India. In 1984, a deadly cloud of methyl

isocyanate accidentally released from a Union Carbide plant in

Bhopal, India killed or seriously injured more than 2,000 people.

Shortly thereafter, a serious chemical release occurred at a sister

plant in West Virginia.

The other states or state agencies joining New York in the suit are:

Arizona; California; Connecticut; Illinois; Maine; Massachusetts;

Minnesota; New Hampshire; New Jersey; the Pennsylvania Department of

Environmental Protection; and Vermont.

This case is being handled by Assistant Attorney General

, under the supervision of Assistant Attorney General

Gershon and Special Deputy Attorney General for Environmental

Protection Kennedy.

Source: New York Attorney General