From: AOL News
Millions of people living in nearly 600 neighborhoods across the
country are breathing concentrations of toxic air pollutants that
put them at a much greater risk of contracting cancer, according to
new data from the Environmental Protection Agency.
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Environmental Protection Agency puts critical information online
In keeping with the Obama open government initiative, the EPA is
providing new online tools to provide information about enforcement
action against polluters, health risks from toxic chemicals and
environmental disasters including the recent oil spill in the Gulf
of Mexico. -db OMB Watch May 4, 2010 Several new online tools
developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [...]
EPA Pushing Pollution Data Out to Public with New Tools, Earliest TRI Release Ever
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week released
the preliminary 2009 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data, the
earliest data release in the history of the program. The TRI
program tracks toxic pollution from thousands of facilities
nationwide and is considered one of the most successful
environmental programs and a cornerstone of environmental right to
know. The preliminary data are now available for the public to
download and analyze, maintaining TRI as a vital tool for holding
businesses accountable for their pollution and driving changes to
prevent pollution. <!--break--> TRI requires facilities from
a broad range of industries to estimate and report to EPA how much
toxic pollution they released into the air, water, and land, or
transferred offsite. The early release...
Mapped Out of Local Democracy
Stopped in time and sealed in place. Hundreds of
high-poverty neighborhoods of color are trapped in the vestiges of
rural poverty, though they sit adjacent to incorporated cities and
suburbs across the country. City growth through
annexation has passed them by (though city crime may not
have). Homes lack rudimentary… Read More »
Mapped Out of Local Democracy
Stopped in time and sealed in place. Hundreds of
high-poverty neighborhoods of color are trapped in the vestiges of
rural poverty, though they sit adjacent to incorporated cities and
suburbs across the country. City growth through
annexation has passed them by (though city crime may not
have). Homes lack rudimentary… Read More »
EPA and DHS Order BP to Stop Hiding Oil Spill Information
Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) took steps to increase the
transparency of the response to BP's catastrophic oil spill in the
Gulf of Mexico. The oil company's actions have been criticized for
failing to disclose or monitor important information about the
spill, including the quantity of oil erupting into the Gulf, the
potential health impacts of the oil and the chemicals used to
disperse it, and water and air quality information. The actions by
EPA and DHS, although belated, are needed, welcome, and hopefully
portend a higher standard for transparency that is enduring and
comprehensive, not limited to responses to colossal disasters.
<!--break--> In a letter to BP CEO Tony Hayward, DHS
secretary Janet Napolitano and EPA...
