Summary
It's now a familiar routine: The Bush administration weakens environmental rules, causing states to sue to protect their citizens, their health and environment. This time, the litigation, by 12 states including Maine, is about a federal database of industrial chemical use and storage. Despite strong support for the program, the administration earlier this year eased reporting requirements, leaving two dozen Maine communities without information about chemicals used in their midst. If the courts do not restore the program, Congress should.
Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency revised the Toxics Release Inventory to require that, for each of the 650 chemicals, companies must report the releases into the environment - the air, water and ground - if they exceed 2,000 pounds annually and they handle at least 5,000 pounds of the chemical. Previously, the release reporting threshold was 500 pounds.See the full content of this document
Extract
Chemical Gap
The EPA said the changes would affect only 1 percent of the total releases now reported to the agency. It also sa...
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