Toxic Threats
The Need For Better Protections From Toxic Chemicals Rather Than Bush Administration Assaults On Environmental Policies: An Analysis Of The 2000 Toxics Release Inventory Data
Prepared by: Jeremiah Baumann, U.S. PIRG, the national association of State PIRGs
Summary
The new (2000) Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data just released document the magnitude of the ongoing toxic threat to health in the U.S.: more than seven billion pounds of toxic chemicals released directly to our environment and about 38 billion pounds of toxic waste generated. The toxic waste data are particularly troubling, as they represent a more-than 25 percent increase from 1999. The new data highlight, for the first time, releases of some of the most dangerous chemicals used by American industry, those like mercury and dioxin that persist in the environment and accumulate in the human body. The first-ever dioxin data provide a facility-by-facility glimpse of some of the most dangerous pollution ever studied. The mercury data include coal-fired power plants for the first time—that industry emits the most mercury to air, while the mining industry emits the most overall. Unfortunately, the Bush administration is stalling on moving toward protecting Americans against dioxin pollution, undermining implementation of the international treaty on persistent pollution, and proposing to weaken Clean Air Act programs and legalize the dumping of mining waste in our nation’s rivers. Instead, the TRI data should show decision-makers why we need to continue expanding the right to know about toxic threats and why we need fundamental reforms to protect Americans from hazardous chemicals on the market.
Highlighted Findings:
• In 2000, U.S. industries released 7.1 billion pounds of toxic chemicals and generated 38 billion pounds of toxic waste.
• Direct toxic releases decreased by 8.4 percent since 1999; but toxic waste generation increased 25 percent. Because toxic waste often ends up in the environment—after being deposited into sewer systems or landfills or burned in incinerators—this increase is particularly troubling. The Bush administration has proposed slowing the pace of toxic waste site clean-ups and has taken a position against reauthorizing “polluter pays” taxes to require polluting industries to pay for clean-ups.
• As the Bush administration proposes partial implementation of an international treaty on persistent toxic pollution, U.S. industries released 12 million pounds of persistent toxic pollution (which persists in the environment and accumulates in the human body) and generated 72 million pounds of persistent chemical waste.
• While the Bush administration stalls on issuing its report on health effects of and exposure to dioxin, delaying needed protections for health, U.S. industries released nearly 100,000 grams of dioxin. The World Health Organization’s estimate of a “safe” daily exposure to dioxin is between 60 and 240 trillionths of a gram of dioxin.
• Industries released 4.3 million pounds of mercury pollution directly to air, land and water, and generated toxic waste containing 4.9 million pounds of mercury. Utilities released the most mercury to air, and mines the released the most mercury total. The Bush administration’s “Clear Skies” initiative will allow three times more pollution than full implementation of the current Clean Air Act.
• The metal mining industry released 3.4 billion pounds of toxic chemicals directly to air, land, and water. The Bush administration has proposed amending clean water rules to legalize more dumping of mine waste into waterways.
Recommendations For Protecting Public Health:
• The Bush administration should stop its assault on protections for clean air and clean water.
• The international treaty on persistent pollutants should be ratified and fully implemented.
• The Bush administration should immediately issue its dioxin reassessment and propose rules to phase out dioxin-generating industrial practices wherever feasible.
• The Superfund “polluter pays” taxes should be reinstated, clean-up standards for toxic waste sites maintained, and the pace of clean-ups increased.
• Toxics laws should be reformed to keep chemical known to be hazardous or whose health effects are not fully understood off the market. Right-to-know programs should be expanded to include all significant sources of pollution as well as chemicals contained in products.
The Toxics Release Inventory
The TRI is the nation’s flagship community right-to-know program for toxic chemical hazards. It documents the amounts of 667 toxic chemicals released either directly to the environment or released indirectly in the form of toxic waste created by tens of thousands of industrial facilities. The TRI documents only a fraction of toxic hazards to Americans. It does not include chemicals placed in products and does not include pollution from significant polluters like oil wells and medical waste incinerators. Furthermore, the TRI chemicals represent the known hazards, less than 1% of the 80,000 chemicals registered for use, even though publicly available information on basic health risks is incomplete for 90% of the chemicals registered. Nevertheless, the TRI is Americans’ most comprehensive source of information on toxic pollution.
General Findings and Trends
As such, it sheds light on the pervasive threat of toxic chemicals in our society. The 2000 Toxics Release Inventory data show 7.1 billion pounds of toxic chemicals released directly to our environment, and 38 billions of pounds of toxic waste generated by U.S. industry. For the chemicals and industries that have consistently been included in the TRI, this amounts to an eight percent decrease in releases since 1999 but a 25 percent increase in toxic waste generated. This is a disturbing trend for public health, as the total amount of waste generated is a better indicator of environmental hazard than direct toxic releases. Most toxic waste ends up in the environment, whether via a landfill, an incinerator, or in some cases through public water treatment systems.
To truly prevent pollution, a company needs to reduce the amount of toxic waste it generates, not just the amount directly released to air, land, and water. Extending the right-to-know to chemical use has been shown to affect chemical use and waste generation the way the TRI’s right-to-know about releases has resulted in decreased releases. In Massachusetts, industries are required to report the total volume of each chemical used during the year and account for where it ended up, whether as a release, waste generated, or incorporated into a product. By 1999, Massachusetts had seen a 41 percent decline in toxic chemical use, a 57 percent decline in waste generated, and an 87 percent decline in toxic releases—nearly double the national reduction.
To protect against this overwhelming quantity of toxic pollution, policymakers should:
• Expand right-to-know programs to include all significant pollution sources, in addition to information on chemicals used in factories and placed in products.
• Reform the toxic chemicals laws that allow companies to put chemicals on the market with little or no public information on their health effects and that tie EPA’s hands when it comes to keeping harmful chemicals off the market.
• Reject proposals by the Bush administration to dismantle Clean Air Act programs like New Source Review and distort the Clean Water Act to legalize the dumping of potentially toxic waste in our nation’s rivers.
The industries releasing the greatest quantities of toxic chemicals directly were metal mining, with 3.4 billion pounds or nearly half the nation’s toxic releases, manufacturing sectors with 1.9 billion pounds, and electric utilities, with 1.1 billion pounds. Manufacturing industries generated by far the most toxic waste, at 31.7 billion pounds, or more than 80% of the nation’s waste. Metal mining facilities generated 3.4 billion pounds of waste and electric utilities generated 1.6 billion pounds.
The states where the most toxic pollution occurred in 2000 were Nevada at just over 1 billion pounds, Utah at 956 million pounds, Arizona at 745 million pounds, Alaska at 535 million pounds, and Texas at 302 million pounds. The mining industry dominates these rankings. Looking only at manufacturing industries shows Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Louisiana, and Indiana with the most toxic releases.
The states with the greatest quantities of waste generated were Louisiana at 9.4 billion pounds (nearly 25 percent of the nation’s toxic waste); Texas at 4.6 billion pounds, Alabama at 2.9 billion pounds, Illinois at 1.6 billion pounds, and Nevada at 1.3 billion pounds.
New Data On Persistent Toxic Chemicals Show Flaws In Toxics Regulation
The 2000 data release will include new data on several thousand facilities’ releases of persistent toxic chemicals, like mercury and dioxin.* Once released to the environment, these chemicals cannot be broken down by natural processes, and they accumulate in the human body, increasing the likelihood of adverse health effects. Their release to the environment almost guarantees exposure—these chemicals have been found in the food supply and bodies of people living hundreds of miles from any pollution source.
In 2000, 12 million pounds of persistent toxic chemicals were released directly to the environment and 72 million pounds of persistent toxics were disposed of in toxic waste. Such a large quantity of such hazardous chemicals is evidence of flaws in how industrial chemicals are regulated: EPA’s authority to keep dangerous chemicals off the market is so weak that significant quantities of the most hazardous chemicals known continue to be released to our environment every year.
One avenue for protecting the public from persistent toxics is the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs). This international treaty bans or calls for the phase-out of 12 persistent toxics and establishes an international science-based process for addressing additional chemicals. Unfortunately, the Bush administration has proposed implementing the treaty without the provisions for addressing additional chemicals. These provisions are particularly important in the U.S. which has already banned or strictly regulated 10 of the 12 chemical addressed initially by the treaty.
To protect Americans from the persistent toxic chemical pollution documented in the TRI, policymakers should require polluters to reduce and eventually eliminate persistent pollution. This entails:
• Fully implementing the POPs Treaty, including the provisions for adding new chemicals.
• Reforming toxics laws to require manufacturers to produce publicly available health effects data for all toxic chemicals on the market and to phase out the use of clearly hazardous materials.
Dioxin Data Show Clear And Present Danger, Need To Stop Stalling On Dioxin Reassessment And Regulation
The 2000 data include the first facility-specific data on pollution and wastes containing dioxin. Dioxin is a group of chemical compounds created in industrial processes that burn or use chlorine or chlorinated materials, and is a highly potent cancer agent also linked to damage to the reproductive, immune, and nervous systems. The chemical is toxic in such small quantities that the World Health Organization estimates a “safe” daily intake as 1-4 trillionths of a gram per kilogram of body weigh. Current contamination is so pervasive that an EPA draft report on dioxin exposure and health impacts found that current levels of exposure are at or near the level associated with adverse health effects and that the cancer risk to the general public may already be as high as 1 in 1000. The 2000 dioxin data show 99,814 grams of dioxin released and 394,000 grams disposed of in toxic waste.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration has not finalized its report (the “dioxin reassessment”)—which is to be followed by an agency strategy for reducing dioxin pollution—in nearly a year since its Science Advisory Board recommended that the report be finalized ‘expeditiously.’ The TRI dioxin data will show that every day the Bush administration waits to take action on dioxin is another day that highly hazardous pollution mounts.
In order to protect public health from dioxin:
• EPA should immediately release the dioxin reassessment so that regulations to protect Americans from dioxin exposure can be developed.
• Policymakers should enact policies phasing out wherever feasible the industrial practices that create dioxin.
Mercury Data To Show Need For Better Health Protections From Power Plants, Mines
The 2000 TRI data include mercury pollution from many coal-fired utilities and mines that previously did not report mercury pollution because the thresholds that trigger reporting had been set too high. Industries reported releasing 4.3 million pounds of mercury and 4.9 million pounds of mercury in toxic waste. Tens of thousands of U.S. water bodies are sufficiently contaminated with mercury that government agencies have advised consumers not to eat fish from the water bodies. Many species of commercially sold fish are already highly contaminated; a 2001 report by U.S. PIRG and the Environmental Working Group found that eating fish would expose one in four pregnant women to enough mercury to threaten the development of their fetuses.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration’s “Clear Skies” initiative would allow three times more mercury pollution from power plants than would full implementation of the current Clean Air Act. In 2001, the Bush administration rescinded new rules protecting waterways from toxic mining waste, and the administration recently proposed amending clean water rules to legalize more waste dumping by mines.
To protect public health against mercury pollution, policymakers should:
• Support strict, plant-specific controls for mercury that would cut mercury pollution by at least 90 percent.
• Support the phase-out of mercury from all products where alternatives are available, including thermometers and automobiles. Manufacturers should stop creating new products containing mercury.
TRI Data Provide Best Reasons Not To Weaken The Superfund Program
The billions of pounds of toxic pollution released to our environment and tens of billions of pounds of toxic waste created in 2000 mean that more contamination is being created even as the EPA slows the pace of Superfund toxic waste site clean-ups. The Bush administration does not support reauthorizing the “polluter pays” taxes. These funds would not only enable toxic waste clean-ups to continue on pace, but, by taxing the use of toxic chemicals, create an incentive against continued use (and release) of toxic chemicals. By using taxpayer funds instead of polluters’ money for toxic waste clean-ups, the administration removes this incentive against pollution and asks American taxpayers to pay the price. To protect public health from toxic waste sites, the polluter-pays taxes should be reinstated, health standards for toxic waste clean-up should be maintained and strengthened, and the pace of toxic waste clean-ups should be restored to its peak in the late 1990s.
Data On Mining Industry Show Danger Of Weakening Clean Water Rules
The mining industry is the leading generator of toxic pollution, with 3.4 billion pounds released directly to air, land and water. Rules drafted in 2000 would have protected water resources from toxic mining waste, but one of the Bush administration’s first actions was to rescind most of those rules. The Bush administration is now proposing to redefine what constitutes “fill” in a waterway to allow industries, including the mining industry, to legally dump even more waste into waterways. Legalizing more waste dumping by the mining industry would amount to letting the worst polluters pollute more.
Data On Electric Utilities Shows Danger Of Weakening Clean Air Act Programs
The electric utilities released 1.2 billion pounds of toxic chemicals released directly to air, land and water. Many utilities fail to meet modern pollution standards because they were grandfathered under the Clean Air Act. However, the Clean Air Act’s new source review program requires plants to add on modern pollution controls if they upgrade or expand operations. The Bush administration is proposing to change clean air rules to weaken this provision, potentially resulting in thousands of facilities increasing their pollution.
The Toxics Release Inventory: Only The Tip Of The Iceberg
The Toxics Release Inventory data document only a fraction of actual toxic hazards. For the TRI chemicals, the TRI data do not include releases from some significant pollution sources like oil wells, airports, and medical waste incinerators (a significant source of dioxin). They also do not include some significant sources of human exposure to TRI chemicals, such as chemicals placed in products.
In addition, the TRI represents only a fraction of the chemicals on the market. The TRI includes 667 chemicals, less than one percent of the 80,000 chemicals registered for use. Fatal flaws in toxics laws mean that, according to EPA and American Chemistry Council studies, at least some of the basic data needed to perform a basic screen for health and environmental effects are not publicly available for more than 90 percent of the chemicals. Unlike pesticides laws, which require manufacturers to produce health effects studies and apply to EPA for permission to manufacture a pesticide, laws governing industrial chemicals require no pre-market testing and provide EPA almost little authority to keep harmful chemicals off the market.
U.S. chemicals policies need to be reformed so that chemicals are not on the market if they pose clear and unnecessary hazards or if their health effects are not fully understood. In Europe, policymakers are considering new restrictions that would set dates by which health effects data must be produced or the chemical withdrawn from use. In addition, chemicals that are highly toxic, persistent, or bioaccumulative are being phased out in European countries.
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