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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.R. NO. |
110 |
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TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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urging the president of the united states, the united states environmental protection agency, and the united States congress to keep the toxics release inventory program intact by rejecting the proposal to reduce the program's reporting requirements.
WHEREAS, the Toxics Release Inventory program, established under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 and expanded by the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990, was enacted in response to the toxic gas leak by a Union Carbide Corporation plant in Bhopal, India, that injured from one hundred fifty thousand to six hundred thousand people and killed at least fifteen thousand people; and
WHEREAS, the Toxics Release Inventory is a publicly available United States Environmental Protection Agency database that contains information on toxic chemical releases and other waste management activities reported annually by certain covered industry groups as well as federal facilities; and
WHEREAS, according to data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the simple act of reporting and disclosing toxic releases has prompted corporations to cut toxic pollution by nearly fifty per cent; and
WHEREAS, despite the success of the Toxics Release Inventory, the United States Environmental Agency has proposed a significant roll back of the program's reporting requirements to reduce the paperwork burden on corporations, including:
(1) Requiring biennial reporting rather than annual reporting for all facilities;
(2) Changing the reporting threshold from five hundred pounds to five thousand pounds, thereby allowing companies to release up to ten times more pollution than previously allowed before requiring them to report on how much pollution was produced and where it went; and
(3) Allowing facilities to withhold information on the low-level production of persistent bioaccumulative toxins, including lead and mercury, which are dangerous even in small quantities because of their toxicity and because they persist in the environment and accumulate in people's bodies; and
WHEREAS, according to United States Senator James Jeffords, ranking member of the Environmental Committee of the United States Senate, the foregoing proposals "would deny communities up-to-date information about local toxic releases, reduce incentives to minimize the generation of toxic waste, and undermine the ability of public health agencies and researchers to identify important trends"; and
WHEREAS, an up-to-date Toxics Release Inventory is needed to pinpoint specific facilities that are releasing hazardous pollutants so that pollution prevention and controls can be implemented; and
WHEREAS, first responders, including those working in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, need current Toxics Release Inventory data to identify factories and industrial sites where toxic chemical releases may be possible; and
WHEREAS, a bipartisan group of twelve state attorneys general have joined in opposition to the foregoing proposals, arguing that it would impede governments, first responders, and citizens from protecting people from the harm caused by toxic chemicals; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, that the President of the United States, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the United States Congress are urged to keep the Toxics Release Inventory program intact by rejecting the proposals to reduce its reporting requirements; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the members of Hawaii's congressional delegation.
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OFFERED BY: |
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Report Title:
Toxics Release Inventory; Environment