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Toxicity-Weighting: A Prioritization Tool for Quality Assurance of Air Toxic Inventories

Author Name, ProPublica

2021-11

January 1999

reporting. Under an improved system of reporting, regulators, the regulated, and the public would have access to a wide variety of data to evaluate not just corporate compliance and performance at the plant level, but also prospective environmental impacts. Collating and integrating the data to make them more useful, particularly when they come from different reports, and adding information, including how to interpret the data, will make them more meaningful. Any stakeholder would know the maximum amount about a plant that current regulations intend. The stakeholder could then combine these data to shed light on cross-media impacts, ecosystem impacts, the health of surrounding communities, etc. Hopefully, in response, companies will find it in their interest - both for environmental reasons and for business reasons - to improve their performance. And regulators will have more information on whether their programs are working at the plant level and the regional level to achieve overall statutory objectives such as preserving biological integrity under the Clean Water Act or protecting public health with an ample margin of safety under the Clean Air Act. A key aspect of this new vision for reporting is that most of it can be done now - without a protracted battle in Congress. If stakeholders wanted to make substantive changes to the nature of the reported data (such as including 'materials accounting' information), that would require legislation. In fact, such legislation in the form of a Phase 3 for the Toxics Release Inventory is being considered in Congress, but hopes of its passage are dim. But EPA has the authority today to make many changes to the structure and use of these reports.

Research conducted by the Tellus Institute shows another area where reinvention can produce a long-sought objective of environmental protection - in this case, pollution prevention - by addressing all media simultaneously. And, importantly, the program would be supported by all stakeholders. Our idea is to revamp one of the most critical, albeit unglamorous components of the regulatory system: ... [Show full abstract]
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[1] URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228627335_Toxicity-Weighting_A_Prioritization_Tool_for_Quality_Assurance_of_Air_Toxic_Inventories
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