PROTECTING ACCESS TO ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION

RTKnet: Trade Secrets

EPA's Right-to-Know Effort Discloses Chemicals in 42 Health and Safety Studies (Environmental Defense Fund)

EDF reports: "EPA has just released today the full versions — showing the identities of the chemicals in question — of 41 'substantial risk' notices of health and safety studies it had previously received from companies that had denied the public's right to know those identities by claiming them to be confidential business information (CBI)."

(25 Mar 2011)

Congress Seeks to Reveal Toxic Drilling Chemicals (OMB Watch)

Congressional Democrats have reintroduced legislation that would disclose the hazardous chemicals used in drilling for natural gas. Cases of potential water contamination have been increasing as the nation experiences a boom in gas drilling. Secrecy surrounding the identities of the chemicals, many of which are known to be hazardous, has hampered efforts to protect public and environmental health.

(25 Mar 2011)

Offshore Drilling Poised to Expand, but Transparency Still Lags (OMB Watch)

As the Obama administration increases approvals of deepwater oil drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico, environmental advocates have seen little meaningful increase in the transparency of the permitting process. A lack of transparency in the regulatory process was identified as a contributing factor in BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster and the highly criticized response effort.

(09 Mar 2011)

EPA Sued for Access to Texas Clean Air Records (Sierra Club)

The Sierra Club and the Environmental Integrity Project are suing the EPA for access to 350,000 pages of documents about coal-fired power plants blamed for making Texas' air pollution problems worse. "Right now, the EPA is simply following Luminant's bidding and unquestioningly parroting the corporation’s claim that almost 350,000 pages of documents are all 'trade secret' or 'confidential business information'."

(25 Feb 2011)

EPA Making Good on Chemical Transparency, But More Is Needed (OMB Watch)

The EPA is disclosing more information about hazardous chemicals while challenging industry claims that information should be concealed as trade secrets. With major reforms of the nation's chemical law held up in Congress, public health advocates are pushing EPA to take more aggressive action to make chemical health and safety information available to the public.

(24 Feb 2011)

EPA Seeks to Enhance Public Access to Chemical Data (OMB Watch)

The EPA has proposed several changes to its regulation of chemicals that should improve the public's access to crucial information. The improved data collected under the proposed rule will help the agency and the public identify potential chemical risks and take action to manage those risks.

(20 Aug 2010)

BP Lies About Drilling Mud (Mother Jones)

Although outgoing BP CEO Tony Hayward alleged that the mud BP is using to seal the well in the Gulf is not toxic, a congressional investigation has revealed that the mud is a highly toxic chemical mixture containing ethylene glycol and lye. Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) asserts, "Time and time again, BP has failed to disclose critical data and information that is essential to our ability to track the long term effects of this spill."

(29 Jul 2010)

Hydraulic Fracturing Fight Hijacks Spill Bill (Politico)

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) added language to the "spill bill" requiring natural gas drillers to disclose the chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing. Gas producers have said that disclosing the identities of chemicals that threaten the safety of drinking water is "akin to companies like Coca-Cola being forced to reveal their recipes." Sen. Reid rebutted, "we have more natural gas than any country in the world. Is there anything wrong with taking a look at how that’s extracted? I guess if you’re looking for an excuse to say no, there is."

(29 Jul 2010)

How Safe Are Your Cosmetics? New Bill Wants to Find Out (AOL News)

If passed, the newly introduced Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 will be the first piece of legislation to give the FDA authority to regulate chemical use in toiletries, including required labelling of all ingredients, which is "even more crucial now as many manufacturers are using nano-sized chemicals such as titanium dioxide in their cosmetic and health products." Currently, industry claims ingredients to be confidential business information, so "it's only the public that's kept in the dark."

(21 Jul 2010)

Proposed Oil Spill Bill Requires More Disclosure from Frackers (News Inferno)

A new bill, HR3534, which recently passed in the House Natural Resources Committee, would require drilling companies engaged in hydraulic fracturing on federal lands to disclose the chemicals they are using. While the legislation requires drillers to disclose "the chemical constituents of mixtures, Chemical Abstracts Service numbers, and material  safety data sheets," they are not required to publicly disclose "proprietary chemical formulas," falling short of what environmentalists want.

(20 Jul 2010)