Report to Show State Loopholes for Supposedly “Accidental” Air Pollution Pushing Carcinogens Well Over U.S. Legal Limits
Over Half of States Permit Illegal “Upsets,” Only Handful Track Pollution
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Millions of Americans are exposed today to
supposedly “accidental” industrial site air pollution incidents that
include cancer-causing pollutants far in excess of the limits set out
under federal law, according to a report to be released nationally on
August 18, 2004 by the nonprofit and nonpartisan Environmental
Integrity Project (EIP).
The report will show that, in addition to lax EPA oversight, the major
culprits behind the so-called “upsets” pollution are laws in over half
of all states that permit the supposedly “accidental” emissions to take
place in violation of federal law. Additionally, only a small
handful of states actually track these “upsets” and then take
appropriate action. Though the EIP report is national in scope,
it looks in detail at the situations in CA, OH, LA, PA, GA and TX to
illustrate the “upset” issue.
Among the excess pollution emissions involved in “upset” incidents are
benzene and butadiene — two major carcinogens. In order to
document the hidden “upsets” pollution problem, citizens living nearby
industrial/commercial sites — including refineries and chemical plants
— have produced videotape records of the “accidental” emissions.
The videotape will be available online and in hard-copy form on August
18, 2004.
Founded by Eric Schaeffer, the Environmental Integrity Project is a
nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established in March of 2002 to
advocate for more effective enforcement of environmental laws.
Schaeffer directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of
Regulatory Enforcement until 2002, when he resigned after publicly
expressing his frustration with efforts of the Bush Administration to
weaken enforcement of the Clean Air Act and other laws.
TO PARTICIPATE: A live, two-way phone-based news event will take place
at 12:30 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, August 18, 2004 at 1-(800) 860-2442.
CAN'T PARTICIPATE?: A streaming audio recording of the news event will
be available on the Web as of 4 p.m. on August 18, 2004 here.
http://www.environmentalintegrity.org
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