Gov’T Report On Americans’ ‘Right To Know’ Not Released To Public

Why won’t Congress publicly release these non-classified reports which belong to us all? Gov’t Report on Americans’ ‘Right-To-Know’ Not Released To PublicBy Cliff Montgomery – Apr. 10th, 2007The January 3rd, 2007, Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report on American citizens’ right to know about hazardous industrial accidents is quite informative–and not officially made available to the very citizens it discusses.CRS Reports are non-partisan, concise, informative reports dealing with social and political matters both here and around the world. They are top-quality, non-classified reports created for members of Congress; yet Congress does not make these reports directly available to the general public, even when it deals with the public’s clear right to know.Individuals on both sides of the aisle are fighting to make these reports immediately accessible to all. Meanwhile, we offer these quotes from the above-mentioned report:“The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) establishes requirements and a framework to ensure that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), state and local governments, and the private sector will work together to control and, if necessary, respond to releases of hazardous chemicals to the environment. This report describes key provisions of EPCRA…”The [report] text is excerpted, with minor modifications, from the corresponding chapter of CRS Report RL30798, Environmental Laws: Summaries of Statutes Administered by the Environmental Protection Agency, which summarizes 12 major environmental statutes.”The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (42 U.S.C. 11001-11050) was enacted in 1986 as Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (P.L. 99-499).”EPCRA required each state to create a State Emergency Response Commission (SERC), to designate emergency planning districts, and to establish Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) for each district. EPA is required to list extremely hazardous substances, and to establish threshold planning quantities for each substance.”EPCRA [further] requires that facilities immediately report a sudden release of any hazardous substance that exceeds the reportable quantity to appropriate state, local, and federal officials.”The law directs each facility to notify the LEPC for its district if it stores or uses any “extremely hazardous substance” in excess of its threshold planning quantity. LEPCs are to work with such facilities to develop response procedures, evacuation plans, and training programs for people who will be the first to respond in the event of an accident.”In Subtitle A, EPCRA established a national framework for EPA to mobilize local government officials, businesses, and other citizens to plan ahead for chemical accidents in their communities…Subtitle B directs covered facilities annually to submit information about the chemicals that they have present to the LEPC, SERC, and local fire department.”In addition, manufacturers and other facilities designated by EPA must estimate and report to EPA annually on releases from their facilities of certain toxic chemicals to the land, air, or water. EPA must compile that data into a computerized database, known as the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).”Generally, all information about chemicals that is required to be reported to LEPCs, SERCs, or EPA is made available to the general public, but EPCRA authorizes reporting facilities to withhold the identity of a chemical if it is a trade secret.”Citizens are given the authority to bring civil action against a facility, EPA, a governor, or an SERC for failure to implement EPCRA requirements…”The sudden, accidental release in December 1984 of methyl isocyanate in an industrial incident at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India–and the attendant loss of thousands of lives and widespread injuries–motivated many in Congress to support legislation to reduce the risk of chemical accidents in the United States.”The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (42 U.S.C. 11001-11050) was enacted in 1986 as Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (P.L. 99-499). EPCRA established state commissions and local committees to develop and implement procedures for coping with releases of hazardous chemicals, and mandated annual reporting to government officials on environmental releases of such chemicals by the facilities that manufacture or use them in significant amounts.”EPA facilitates planning, enforces compliance when necessary, and provides public access to information about environmental releases of toxic chemicals.”