Toxic Pollution Declining: Environmental Left Misinterprets EPA Report Findings NCPA Says 6/23/2004
From: Sean Tuffnell of the National Center for Policy Analysis, 800-859-1154 or stuffnell@ncpa.org DALLAS, June 23 -- Environmental critics of the Bush Administration are touting a report by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicating a slight increase of toxic emissions into the environment. Yet according to experts with the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), the news is the opposite of what the environmental left would have us believe. "Despite activists' claims, chemical releases continue to decline, and regulations requiring additional pollution reductions remain on the books," said NCPA Adjunct Scholar Joel Schwartz, a visiting scholar with the American Enterprise Institute. According to the EPA report: -- Toxic releases increased in 2002 by 5 percent. -- The unusual spike in releases is attributed to the 1999 shutdown of a single copper plant. Dismantling the plant turns components and product into waste. -- Without the copper smelter, toxic releases DECREASED 3 percent. NCPA scholars note that there are a number of concerns about the relevance of the toxic release inventory to Americans' health. For example: -- It counts chemicals reused in an industrial process many times over, recycled chemicals, and properly disposed of chemicals as "releases." Two-thirds of the chemical releases never make it into the general environment where they could affect people, but are disposed of in landfills or recycled. -- Even for chemicals released into the environment, TRI takes no account of how toxic the chemicals are or whether anyone is ever exposed. Many of the chemicals are rapidly degraded or diluted in the environment. -- Environmental levels of the chemicals are well below safety thresholds and continue to decline. Activists might also reflect on the fact that TRI toxic releases rose more than 5 percent between 1996 and 1997 on President Clinton's watch. But this single-year change was as meaningless for long-term trends as the misinterpreted 2002 data. "What's most important for health is what's actually in the air people breathe," said Schwartz. "Measurements of what's in the air show that all types of pollution have been declining and continue to decline." ------ The NCPA is an internationally known nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute with offices in Dallas and Washington, D.C. that advocates private solutions to public policy problems. It depends on the contributions of individuals, corporations and foundations that share its mission. The NCPA accepts no government grants. |