EPA Reports 4-Year Drop in Toxic Waste Releases

The amount of toxic waste released into the environment by U.S. industries has declined for four consecutive years, even though total production of dangerous chemical compounds has continued to increase, federal officials reported Tuesday.

The Environmental Protection Agency said that industries participating in its annual pollutant survey reported releasing a total of 3.2 billion pounds of toxic pollutants into the nation’s air, land and water in 1992, down 6.5% from 1991. Toxic emissions have fallen 35% over four years as industries adopt improved recycling and waste treatment practices.

The 1992 Toxic Release Inventory, an analysis of toxic industrial pollutants prepared yearly since 1988, was hailed by EPA officials as a sign that the state of the nation’s environment is improving--at least slightly.

“The reported decline in air and land releases is obviously welcome news,” said Dr. Lynn R. Goldman, the EPA’s assistant administrator for air and water.

Still, the continuing release of toxic substances into the environment is cause for concern, EPA officials cautioned. Of 1992’s total emissions, about 6%--or 197 million pounds--are known cancer-causing chemicals or suspected carcinogens. And while the release of toxic chemicals into the air declined almost 10% in 1992, releases into rivers, lakes and streams increased by 12% during the same period, the agency said.

Moreover, EPA officials acknowledged what environmental activists long have charged: The agency’s annual inventory actually encompasses only a fraction of the pollutants produced and released by American industries. Businesses such as electric utilities, airports and recyclers are not required to report their toxic releases, although all are believed to contribute significantly to pollution.

Even among those industries required to submit tallies of their toxic releases, compliance is widely believed to be incomplete.

The toxic chemicals most commonly released into the environment are ammonia, hydrochloric acid, methanol, phosphoric acid and toluene.

The five states with the largest reported releases were Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Ohio and Indiana--the same as in 1991. California ranked 14th in the nation; a total of 1,830 facilities in the state reported producing about 648 million pounds of toxic waste, of which about 10% was released into the air or water or onto land.

Five of the state’s largest polluters are in Southern California: GR Foam in Orange County, which released 1.1 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the air; Crain Industries Inc. in Compton, with just under 1.1 million pounds of air pollutants released; Molycorp Inc. in San Bernardino County, which released 50,422 pounds of air pollution and deposited 969,215 pounds of toxic chemicals onto land; Douglas Aircraft Co. in Long Beach, which released 986,660 pounds of air pollution; and E.R. Carpenter Co. Inc. of Riverside, which reported 882,610 pounds of toxic air emissions.