The Toxics Right to Know Protection Act: Legislation Highlight

The Toxics Right to Know Protection Act would reverse two rollbacks to the Toxics Release Inventory that were finalized by the Bush Administration’s EPA in December 2006. Under the roll-backs:

1. Facilities can now release up to 5,000 pounds of a chemical per year without telling the public (a tenfold increase in the reporting threshold); and

2. Polluters no are no longer required to provide detailed reporting of persistent bio-accumulative toxins (PBTs), a dangerous class of toxics that includes lead and mercury, if the PBT released does not exceed 500 pounds per year.
Because of these rollbacks, the public is losing its right to have detailed pollution information at 3,565 facilities across the country, including 34 in Maryland.