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Another View: Who's dumping what, where?

Tuesday, January 17, 2006 6:44 AM CST

More than 66,000 tons were released or disposed of in Illinois in 2003. About 51,000 tons of toxic chemicals were dumped or released in Missouri. Next year? There's no indication that production or disposal of toxic chemicals will change, but the public's right to know about them may.

The Bush administration wants to make significant changes to a program called the Toxic Release Inventory, from which the figures above were obtained. Since 1986, the federal program has collected and distributed information about dangerous chemicals released around the nation. That includes your neighborhood. More information about chemcial emissions is available on the toxics release inventory Web site at http://www.epa.gov/tri/.

The Environmental Protection Agency says the changes will simplify complex reporting requirements, which companies complain are time-consuming. But the changes would deprive citizens of important and timely information about the chemicals released into the air they breathe, the water they drink and the land they live on.

That trade-off is unacceptable. Under the administration's proposal, companies would report every other year instead of every year and could release 10 times more pollution before being required to report a change in emissions. Companies that work with small amounts of chemicals such as lead and mercury that can accumulate to unhealthy levels in people exposed to them would no longer have to provide as much detail in their reports.

The Toxic Release Inventory was used after Hurricane Katrina to locate potentially dangerous chemicals in flooded areas. The list is often used by local fire departments and hazardous materials response teams. It has even been used by teachers trying to find out what chemicals children may be exposed to on the playground.

The public has the right to know what toxic chemicals are being released in the environment. For the legal privilege of polluting, companies at least should be held accountable for their emissions; that means informing the public about potential hazards.

To preserve that right, citizens should contact the EPA. But they'll have to speak loudly. Since 2000, chemical companies have given more than $27 million to candidates for federal office. Of that amount, 80 percent went to Republicans. It's no stretch to suggest that when money talks, ordinary Americans have a hard time being heard.

- St. Louis Post-Dispatch