Scorecard relies on the Toxic Release Inventory for local data on environmental releases of toxic chemicals, but the EPA recently proposed a new rule that would significantly weaken pollution reporting. Show your support for community efforts to improve the right-to-know about toxic chemicals by sending an email to top US EPA officials. This is an example of the sort of email that you can send from our server. Remember that the service is free. However, you have to register as a Scorecard user in order to send email because otherwise we won't be able to sign your letter.

EPA Docket ID No. TRI-2005-0073

Comments in Opposition to TRI Burden Reduction Proposed Rule


I just reviewed detailed data on toxic chemical emissions here in 
SOUTH CAROLINA, as shown on the Scorecard website (scorecard.org), 
based on official reports to you via the Toxics Release Inventory.

I am writing to express my strong opposition to EPA's proposed plans 
to scale back the reporting requirements of its TRI program. If adopted, 
the "TRI Burden Reduction Proposed Rule" would take away an important 
tool for protecting public health and the environment. Please add my 
comments to the docket in opposition to the TRI Burden Reduction 
Proposed Rule.

Americans have a right to know what toxic chemicals are being released 
in their communities. We need more information about these releases, 
not less.  We need to know about the exposures our communities experience 
as a result of these releases, in order to characterize their potential 
health risks.  The real burden TRI should be focused on reducing is the 
health burden caused by pollution releases.  

Instead, EPA is focused on reducing the economic burden of TRI 
reporting on polluting companies.  The EPA has proposed three changes 
to TRI reporting requirements that would allow tens of thousands of 
facilities to report less information: 

1. Move from the current annual reporting requirements to 
every-other-year reporting for all facilities, eliminating any hope of 
real-time community access to pollution information.  This is exactly the 
wrong direction to go: we need current data to inform local campaigns to 
reduce pollution. Already, the most recent TRI data now available to me 
is at least two years old, even though it is reported to you within six 
months.  Please speed up your disclosure process so that the data I see 
is much closer to being up-to-date.

2. Raise the maximum Annual Reportable Amount from 500 to 5,000 pounds, 
allowing many facilities to avoid providing communities with the 
detailed release information required to identify health risks. Please do 
not reduce our ability to identify significant local sources of pollution. 

3. Permit facilities to withhold details on low-level production of 
persistent, bioaccumlative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals like mercury, lead, 
and dioxin. Please do not reduce the information about chemicals of
special concern that are highly toxic even when released in the 
smallest amounts.


Sincerely,
-- your name and address will appear here --