A federal district court in Washington has upheld an Environmental Protection Agency decision to add 286 chemical compounds to the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) list.
Federal law requires companies to report any chemical compounds on the list that they use, handle, or release into the environment. EPA releases those reports to the public under a "community right to know" law.
The Chemical Manufacturer's Association (CMA) and other industry groups sued EPA last year to block expansion of the rule.
The court rejected industry's contention that EPA lacked the scientific basis to add particular chemicals. It said EPA went to great lengths to separately evaluate each chemical on the basis of relevant data.
Industry had argued that EPA should consider the potential for exposure before adding chemicals to the TRI list, but the court said EPA was correct to list chemical compounds based on their toxic effects.
The EPA rule requires companies handling any of the 286 added chemicals to submit their first report Aug.1, 1996, and every year thereafter.
A CMA spokesman said, "We think the rulemaking could do more harm than good because it diminishes the credibility that TRI has. It lists chemicals that don't deserve to be on there because they don't pose serious risks."
He said CMA has not decided whether to appeal the court's ruling.
Copyright 1996 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
