Exposure
to dangerous toxic pollution from industrial facilities threatens
communities in North Carolina and across the country, according to a
new report released today by NCPIRG.
The
report, Toxic Pollution and Health, uses information from the federal
Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) to analyze toxic pollution linked to
serious health problems such as cancer, birth defects or neurological
damage. Due to a recent EPA action restricting the public’s
right-to-know, today’s report may provide one of the last complete
pictures of toxic pollution in North Carolina.
In
2004, North Carolina ranked 2nd in the country for total air releases
of toxic pollution suspected to cause respiratory illness. The largest
source of this pollution came from the Duke Energy Belews Creek Steam
Station in Stokes County, which released more than 13 million pounds of
respiratory toxicants to the air.
“This
report confirms that communities across North Carolina are routinely
put at risk by toxic pollution linked to serious health impacts,” said
NCPIRG advocate Rob Thompson. “These toxic pollutants are the worst of
the worst and pose tangible threats to public health that must be
addressed.”
The
federal Toxic Release Inventory is a public right-to-know program that
requires industrial facilities to publicly disclose their toxic
releases. In 2004, EPA reported that the TRI has helped to reduce toxic
pollution by 57% nationwide since its inception in 1988. Despite this
success, the EPA recently weakened the program by authorizing
industrial facilities to withhold previously reported pollution
information.
“To
address the potential health threats from toxic pollution, we need full
information about what toxics are being released, where, and in what
amounts,” said Thompson. “Unfortunately, EPA’s attack on the public’s
right-to-know means that North Carolina communities will be left in the
dark about toxic pollution.”
Representatives
Pallone (D-NJ) and Solis (D-CA) and Senators Lautenberg (D-NJ) and
Boxer (D-CA) recently challenged EPA’s rollbacks by introducing the
Toxic Right-to-Know Protection Act (H.R. 1055 and S. 595). This
legislation would reverse the rollbacks to restore the lost data and
ensure that communities have full and complete access to toxic
pollution information.
