Secrecy Won't Protect Us
By George Sorvalis

Do you know what hazardous chemicals are in your neighborhood, your air, and your drinking water?  Community right-to-know laws can help you find out.  Community right-to-know laws give people a greater voice in environmental decisions by providing communities with information about dangerous chemical storage, contaminated drinking water, or other potential hazards. 

For example, the Toxics Release Inventory came on-line in 1989 as the first publicly available, federally mandated database of pollution sources.  Within the first eight years, industries responded by reducing reported chemical releases by 44 percent, or 1.6 billion pounds, due in part to improved public awareness. 

Another important right-to-know program requires companies that use extremely hazardous chemicals to submit 'Risk Management Plans' to the federal government.  These plans help businesses understand their own hazards and inform workers and surrounding communities of the potential dangers of an accidental chemical release. 

Shortly after 9-11, Washington, DC's Blue Plains Sewage Treatment Plant switched from volatile chlorine gas, which could have exposed DC residents to a toxic cloud, to safer chlorine bleach, which has little potential to send toxic gases across the fence line and into the community.  Knowledge of both chemical hazards and viable solutions was essential in reducing an unnecessary danger and ultimately making the community safer. 

Other U.S. right-to-know laws require water utilities to monitor and report pollutants in drinking water, landlords to disclose lead paint in housing, and employers to identify and make known hazardous chemicals in the workplace.  However, people are often unaware of health and environmental hazards in homes, schools and communities.  Moreover, under the Bush administration, instead of becoming more available, information critical to public health and safety is disappearing.

For example, the Homeland Security Act, passed in 2002, could undermine corporate accountability and hide basic public health and safety information from citizens.  This law makes information that companies label "critical infrastructure information" and voluntarily submit to the Department of Homeland Security off limits to citizens, even under the Freedom of Information Act.  It also bars government regulators and citizens from using the voluntarily submitted information to enforce public health protections.

The nation's "critical infrastructure" includes bridges, water treatment plants, electric utilities, chemical plants and other integrated systems, most of which are controlled by private companies that follow certain government safety and disclosure rules.  Environmental and public health watchdog groups, concerned citizens, company whistleblowers and federal regulators all play an important role in holding companies accountable to these rules.  However, the Homeland Security Act's new secrecy provisions are so broad that they could inappropriately shield information that should spur steps to protect public health and safety. 

So what does this add up to?  Companies could report dangerous chemical storage or unsafe bridges to the government, but with no obligation to fix these problems.  Businesses could submit information under the Act to avoid being held accountable for safety problems.  There is no requirement for the government or the company to fix vulnerabilities that are described in the secret voluntarily submitted information. 

Disclosing problems helps to fix them.  DC's Blue Plains Sewage Treatment Plant switched to a safer chemical to eliminate a threat that was apparent to plant operators, lawmakers, and the public.  Imagine if the plant were able to secretly communicate that danger to the government with no obligation to fix the problem.  That scenario requires the public to blindly trust industry and government without any recourse if problems are not addressed.

As people become more knowledgeable and organized, they are better able to understand environmental health concerns and successfully make the case to improve public safety.  Community right-to-know brings needed attention to critical pollution problems and holds companies accountable for their actions.  Our government should improve communities' right-to-know, not undermine it.

George Sorvalis is Outreach Coordinator of the Working Group on Community Right-to-Know in Washington, DC (www.crtk.org).

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