12 attorneys general oppose plan to ease toxin-release rules

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Attorneys general in 12 states said yesterday that the Bush administration's plan to ease rules on reporting legal toxin releases would compromise the public's right to know about possible health risks in their neighborhoods.

In a letter to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the state officials say the proposals, which include raising some reporting thresholds and moving from annual to biennial reports, would have the greatest harm in low-income neighborhoods, where polluting facilities are often located.

The Bush administration proposed the changes in September as a way to reduce the regulatory burden on companies by allowing some to use a short form when they report their pollution to the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory Program.

''The Toxics Release Inventory has resulted in a major reduction of toxic chemical releases across the country," Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly of Massachusetts said in a statement yesterday. ''These regulations have proven effective in providing valuable information to the public as well as protecting our environment and the public health, and should not be watered down."

''This EPA move appears to be yet another poorly considered notion to appease a few polluting constituents at the expense of a valuable program," said New York's attorney general, Eliot Spitzer.

Also signing the letter were the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

All are Democrats except Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire.

''The public has a fundamental right to know what hazardous materials their children and families are being exposed to," said Attorney General Peggy Lautenschlager of Wisconsin.

The proposed changes, which require congressional approval, would exempt companies from disclosing their toxic pollution if they say they release fewer than 5,000 pounds of a specific chemical -- the current limit is 500 pounds -- or if they store it on-site but say they release ''zero" amounts of the worst pollutants.

The chemicals involved include mercury, DDT, PCBs, and other chemicals that persist in the environment and work up the food chain.

Companies must report any storage of dioxin or dioxin-like compounds, even if none are released.

The inventory program began under a 1986 community right-to-know law.

If Congress agrees, the first year that the changes could be possible would be 2008.

EPA officials say communities still will know about the types of toxic releases, but not some details about how each chemical was managed or released.

Eryn Witcher, an EPA spokeswoman, said the proposal means companies that ''significantly reduce pollution going into the environment from their facilities . . . can reduce red tape and paperwork by using a more streamlined reporting form."