CA joins 11 states suing the EPA over toxic chemical excemption

California and 11 other states are suing the Environmental Protection Agency over a regulation that exempts over five thousand companies from publicly disclosing their use and emission of toxic chemicals.

The suit, filed in New York yesterday, claims the exemption is unlawful and causing irreparable injury to citizens. It calls for a return to the more stringent rules.

On Dec. 16, 2006, the EPA scaled back disclosure requirements for their Toxics Release Inventory, a public database on toxic chemical releases and other waste management activities by some industry groups and federal facilities.

The EPA wrote that the new rule intended to ease the burden on smaller facilities that contribute less than 1% of total emission in the county. It's saved $6 million a year at about 6,700 facilities, EPA officials told the Los Angeles Times.

“The EPA is subverting a key public safety measure that helps communities protect themselves from toxic chemicals," said California Attorney General Jerry Brown in a press release.

The suit alleges the rule violates the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, increases by 10-fold the amount of chemical waste a facility can generate without having to report on it and weakens reporting requirements on the most dangerous toxic chemicals, like lead and mercury.