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Public Meetings on Reassessment of PCB Use Authorizations
EPA issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking related to potential reassessment of PCB use authorization under the Toxic Substance Control Act. Public comments are due on July 6; EPA will also be holding public meetings. Learn more here…
EPA Proposes Adding 16 Chemicals to the TRI Chemical List
On April 6, 2010, EPA took another important step toward providing communities with additional information about toxic chemicals being released to the environment.
EPA is Providing Communities with Additional Information about the Release of Hydrogen Sulfide into the Environment
The Agency is announcing that it is considering lifting the 1994 Administrative Stay of the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting requirements for hydrogen sulfide. EPA is now presenting its rationale for why the Stay should be lifted, based on an updated evaluation that includes new information on human health and environmental effects of hydrogen sulfide. Learn more here...
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This report by the Environmental Defense Fund, in conjunction with the Urban Green Council, discusses the impacts of the use of heating oil on the air quality in New York City. This report provides information on the effects that the use of low grade heating oil has on the environment and public health. It also contains policy recommendations to the city for banning dirty heating oil, guidance for converting buildings to cleaner fuels, and information on proper maintenance and efficiency measures to help reduce heating fuel expenses.
Shameek Konar1 and Mark A. Cohen2
1Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University
2 Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University
Abstract
There is growing academic and policy-level interest in the use of information as quasi-regulatory mechanisms, such as toxic release inventory (TRI) and “green labels.” Mandatory disclosure requirements have been touted as “market-based incentives” that may affect firm behavior. We provide new evidence on the effectiveness of disclosure requirements by examining firm behavior in response to disclosures of TRI emissions. We find that firms with the largest stock price decline on the day this information became public subsequently reduced emissions more than their industry peers. This is consistent with the view that financial markets may provide strong incentives for firms to change their environmental behavior.
Manuel Pastor, Jr.1, Rachel Morello‐Frosch2, James L. Sadd 3
1 University of California, Santa Cruz
2 Brown University
3 Occidental College
Abstract
Environmental justice advocates have recently focused attention on cumulative exposure in minority neighborhoods due to multiple sources of pollution. This article uses U.S. EPA's National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) for 1996 to examine environmental inequality in California, a state that has been a recent innovator in environmental justice policy. We first estimate potential lifetime cancer risks from mobile and stationary sources. We then consider the distribution of these risks using both simple comparisons and a multivariate model in which we control for income, land use, and other explanatory factors, as well as spatial correlation. We find large racial disparities in California's "riskscape" as well as inequalities by other factors and suggest several implications for environmental and land use policy.
For more information on this article, see here.
Public access to information can drive change more effectively than regulations alone. Some regulatory agencies are now taking such an approach to advance their objectives. Right-to-know legislation, such as the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA), provides the basis for many of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) information disclosure initiatives. By requiring that the public be informed about releases of toxic chemicals in their communities, EPCRA—through its Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) in particular—can help to empower community residents, heighten industry accountability to the citizenry, and support efforts to ensure environmental justice.
The availability of basic data is necessary, but not necessarily sufficient, to accomplish environmental justice objectives. The challenge is to verify the existence of disparate impacts (e.g., disparities correlated with race and income) and to identify where they occur, who is impacted, and who is responsible. To answer correctly such questions, it is necessary to translate data into accessible, meaningful information.
Measures of corporate environmental justice performance can be a valuable tool in efforts to promote corporate social responsibility and to document systematic patterns of environmental injustice. This paper develops such a measure based on the extent to which toxic air emissions from industrial facilities disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minorities and low-income people. Applying the measure to 100 major corporate air polluters in the United States, we fnd wide variation in the extent of disproportional exposures. In 54 cases, minorities, who represent 31.8 percent of the U.S. population, bear excess burden; in 15 of these cases, the minority share exceeds half of the total human health impacts from the firm's industrial air pollution. In 66 cases, poor people, who represent 12.8 percent of the U.S. population, bear excess burden.
Abstract
This report documents and analyzes the dangerous levels of pollutants discharged in to America's waters by compiling toxic chemical releases reported to the U.S. EPA's Toxics Release Inventory for 2007, the most recent data available.
http://www.ehponline.org/members/2006/9145/9145.html
(Children's Health) Environmental Health Perspectives | July 1, 2006| Choi, Hannah S.; Shim, Youn K.; Kaye, Wendy E.; Ryan, P. Barry