Congressman Sander Levin

Toxic Right-to-Know Protection Act

Communities have a right to know when companies release chemicals into the local environment.

For many years, the federal government has kept a Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) that has given communities access to an online database describing what toxic chemicals are being released from nearby plants and refineries. The TRI program has been extremely successful in making sure that communities know what chemicals being released into the air, water and ground. The mere existence of the Inventory has encouraged companies to voluntarily reduce their chemical releases.

Unfortunately, in 2006, the Bush Administration weakened the toxic reporting requirements of the TRI program. The changes significantly reduced the amount of information available to the public about toxic chemicals in their communities.

Following the Bush Administration’s actions to rollback protections under the TRI program, I cosponsored legislation called the Toxic Right-to-Know Protection Act [H.R. 776] that would undo the regulations weakening the toxic reporting requirements. Soon after the Obama Administration came into office, Congress approved another bill that prohibited the Environmental Protection Agency from spending money to finalize the Bush Administration’s regulations to weaken the TRI program.

(Updated June 19, 2009)