DE Forum: EPA relaxes reporting rules on release of toxic chemicals. VX plan on the move?

[cyberpj]

I guess we can get going again now on that VX chemical weapons nerve gas disposal job at DuPont now that any little accidents won't have to be reported to the public. (What they don't know can't hurt them, right?)


EPA relaxes rules on reporting of release of toxic chemicals
By JEFF MONTGOMERY, The News Journal
Posted Monday, December 18, 2006 at 3:41 pm

The Environmental Protection Agency approved new rules today that will quadruple the amount of some toxic pollutants that companies can release before they have to reveal the amounts to the public.

Federal officials originally proposed a 10-fold increase in the trigger for public reports on most chemicals covered by the the 20-year-old “Toxic Release Inventory” program. EPA Deputy Administrator Marcus Peacock said the revised limits will ease regulatory burdens on industry while giving companies an incentive to recycle or better manage toxic compounds.

snip...
The original proposal, which had a 5,000 pound trigger, could have meant that public data would be lost for about 54,667 pounds of toxic chemicals, including some capable of causing cancer, respiratory diseases, reproductive problems and other disorders.

snip...
"The EPA has severely limited the public’s right to know today,” Tom Natan, research director for the National Environmental Trust, said in a written statement. “What communities don’t know can hurt them. Critical possible threats will be hidden from view.

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061218/NEWS/61218019/1006/NEWS

Meanwhile.....

Groups sue to stop Army nerve agent disposal plan
By JEFF MONTGOMERY, The News Journal
Posted Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 11:45 am

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061221/NEWS/61221012/1006/NEWS