The Nation - News from April 13, 1989

Industry spewed at least 22.5 billion pounds of toxic and cancer-causing chemicals into the nation’s air, land and water in 1987, the government said in an unprecedented report that officials called “startling.” In releasing the first nationwide summary of toxic emissions, a top Environmental Protection Agency official said the enormous amount of chemicals released was “unacceptably high” and that the report underlined the need for industry to reduce toxic pollution. Worse, EPA officials said the figure of 22.5 billion pounds undoubtedly underestimates the actual amount of toxic materials released, since the report does not cover all chemicals nor does it include emissions from smaller companies and certain industries. The EPA report is the compilation of more than 75,000 annual toxic release disclosure forms filed with the government by about 17,500 factories and industrial facilities across the nation. The reports were required under the “community right-to-know” provisions of the 1986 Superfund reauthorization law.