Toxic pollution rose 5 percent in 2002, reversing trend By JOHN HEILPRIN
Associated Press Writer

Toxic chemical releases into the environment rose 5 percent in 2002, marking only the second such increase reported by the Environmental Protection Agency in nearly two decades, and the first since 1997. …

The increase reversed a recent trend, and was a big turnaround from last year’s report by EPA that chemical releases in 2001 had declined 13 percent from a year earlier. …

Note that the EPA figures showing this huge increase do NOT include ”releases from metal mining … because of a recent court decision in an industry challenge.” So, it is actually worse than it seems. mjh

Even so, a study by two environmental groups said EPA was underreporting the air pollution portion of releases of chemicals and emissions by 330 million pounds a year. They cast the inventory as particularly soft on refineries and chemical plants, keeping as much as 16 percent of the nation’s air pollution ”off the books.” …

”Ironically, if environmentalists intend to push for an even greater regulatory burden on refineries, they may complicate the smooth introduction of newer, cleaner fuels,” [The National Petrochemical and Refiners Association] trade group said [mjh: ‘threatened,’ may be a better word]. …

Sen. Jim Jeffords, I-Vt., a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said the 2002 increase ”proves that the policies of the Bush administration have moved us backward, not forward, on the environment.”