Community Right-To-Know: A Pollution Prevention Driver
[From the Source - Fall 1997]
Major changes are underway in Community Right-to-Know laws that will provide greater public access to a wider variety of information about how companies handle and manage chemicals on their property. Underlying many of these Right-to-Know initiatives is an increasing demand by public interest groups to understand potential risks from chemicals not only in their communities but also at their place of employment. In many low income, minority neighborhoods, environmental justice issues have surfaced that pit residents against neighboring businesses. Unions are also becoming more actively involved in reducing potential chemical exposures to their members at work.
As advances in information technology are making the use of computers by the general public increasingly common, public interest groups are also becoming more technically sophisticated. Information about a company's environmental record is now easily accessible from the Internet. Corporate walls are becoming increasingly transparent. Greater public accessibility to company environmental information will have a profound effect on how a company does business and on its reputation in the community and around the world.
Right-to Know Reporting
The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) of 1986, was passed shortly after the chemical release in Bhopal, India that killed over 2,000 nearby residents. Its primary purpose is to inform citizens and communities of chemical hazards in their area. The legislation consists of several sections. Sections 311 and 312 require businesses to report locations and amounts of chemicals stored on-site to state and local governments. Section 313 requires manufacturers which release any of over 600 toxic chemicals above a 25,000 pound annual threshold to report this information to state and federal environmental authorities. This report, known as the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), is the most visible part of EPCRA. Companies emitting the greatest amounts of toxic chemicals are highlighted annually in local and national newspapers.
Significant changes have already occurred in EPCRA to expand the number of chemicals reported and the types of companies reporting. Over 300 new chemicals have been added to the TRI list for the 1995 reporting year. TRI Phase 2 has expanded the types of businesses required to report under Section 313 to include: metal mining, coal processors, hazardous waste treatment facilities, solvent recyclers, electric utilities, chemical wholesalers, and petroleum bulk storage tank farms.
A Phase 3 expansion is proposed by EPA that would require chemical use and worker exposure information. Chemical use reporting broadens the scope of TRI to include data on raw materials brought into a company and used in the production process. These data are a powerful tool to evaluate process optimization opportunities and measure source reduction performance. It would also ease interpretation of information by workers and residents on potential exposures through releases or through finished products. Chemical use reporting may raise new questions from public interest groups about why certain toxic chemicals are being used, how much of the chemicals are being incorporated into the final products, and about chemicals being transported through their neighborhoods.
The proposed Children's Environmental Protection and Right-to-Know Act of 1997 is currently being discussed in Congress. Children's health concerns are proposed to be addressed through reduced reporting thresholds for high risk chemicals (e.g. lead and mercury, etc.), expanding the requirements for consumer warning labels, and providing broader review powers to EPA and OMB on major rules affecting children's health.
Risk Management Reporting
Another reporting requirement under Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act mandates an increased focus on the prevention of chemical accidents. The risk management planning requirements of Section 112(r) tie in closely with EPCRA, and cover a broad range of toxic, flammable, and volatile chemicals that are either used in manufacturing, stored, distributed, or handled. Operations such as chemical manufacturers, certain wholesalers and retailers, drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities, utilities, and federal facilities will be required to submit 112(r) reports by June 21, 1999. The reports will contain three elements: a hazard assessment, a prevention program, and an emergency response program. Summaries of "reasonable release and worst case" scenarios will be available to government agencies, the public, and the media.
Public and media access to the "worst case" scenario reports may lead to public relations problems for those facilities that have not taken voluntary efforts to implement pollution prevention programs, and/or to develop public outreach efforts to describe activities undertaken to reduce potential threats to local communities.
What's a Company to Do?
The following steps should help companies prepare for an era of increased public scrutiny:
- Develop comprehensive environmental management systems modeled after ISO 14001.
- Focus waste reduction efforts on source reduction, where economically feasible.
- Internalize pollution prevention into corporate business plans.
- Establish communication links to the community and mechanisms for on-going dialogue.
Increased public scrutiny of corporate environmental behavior provides an opportunity for companies to demonstrate a corporate commitment to environmental excellence, and also to develop a bridge to neighboring communities.
EPA Right-to-Know Web Pages
Toxic Release Inventory. Primarily provides information on TRI requirements.
Zip Code Search. Provides a search tool and mapping feature to identify pollution, hazardous waste sites, and regulated sites in your area.
Center for Environmental Information and Statistics (CEIS). An EPA information center, which will provide a more integrated picture of the environment to the public and other environmental decision makers, is currently under development.
Public Interest Organization Web Pages
Right-to-Know Network. An online computer network providing free access to environmental, housing, and campaign finance data.
Corporate Watch. Provides the public with tools to investigate and analyze corporate activity.
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