The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule in late December that lessens the burden of paperwork for companies that file Toxics Release Inventory forms containing information about the chemicals they release into the air.
The rule makes more companies eligibile to use the shorter Form A.
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Under the previous rules, companies that release 500 pounds or less of non-PBT (persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic) chemicals could use the shorter form, saving them time and money. The new rules increase the threshold for the shorter form to 2,000 pounds.
The change is a blessing for business owners, especially those who release between 500 and 2,000 pounds of non-PBT chemicals. But it has many national and local environmental organizations fuming, because they say it will hinder the public’s right to know.
The rule “is limiting public knowledge about what is being released,” said Matt Auten, advocate for Environment Rhode Island, a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization.
Auten argued that Form A is inadequate because it omits the specific amount of each chemical that is released or managed at a site.
Form A provides the name of the chemical, the location of the facility and a range for the amount of chemicals released or managed the location, said Suzanne Ackerman, an EPA spokeswoman. The range reported can be as large as zero to 2,000 pounds, for chemical releases.
Form R – the longer form for companies that release chemical amounts above the threshold for Form A filings – also includes the specific amount of the chemical, and thus is a more powerful tool for the public, Auten said.
He also said that, under the new ruling, some companies won’t have to report chemical releases to the EPA.
But Ackerman said that is a misconception.
“They still have to report,” she said. “It’s a question of which form.”
If a company uses any amount of a PBT or non-PBT chemical for any application at its facility, that company is still required to file a TRI form with the EPA, she said.
Providence Braid Co., for example, releases minimal amounts of two chemicals into the air, according to Howard Huntoon Jr., owner and president of the Pawtucket-based elastic braid manufacturing company.
The number of pounds released is zero, yet the company is required to fill out Form A, because it uses a trace of the chemicals in its manufacturing process, Ackerman said.
Filling out Form A takes Huntoon three to four hours every July, he said. Though it’s not a huge commitment, it still takes him away from managing his 45-employee staff.
That’s exactly why the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy petitioned the EPA to design a shorter form in the first place, said Kevin Bromberg, the SBA’s lead advocate on TRI issues. The office wanted to lessen the burden of regulations on small business owners.
“We were getting all of these complaints from people releasing small numbers [of chemicals],” Bromberg said. “It didn’t make sense.”
As a result, the EPA created the shorter Form A in 1994, he said. But it’s taken another 13 years to get the agency to raise the threshold, to allow more companies the opportunity to use the shorter form.
The goal, from the SBA Office of Advocacy’s perspective, is to save smaller firms time and money when it comes to complying with regulations.
“Our studies show that small firms spend 45 percent more per employee to comply with [all federal] regulations, when compared with large firms,” said Stephen Adams, SBA small business advocate for the New England region.
It costs more for companies with fewer than 20 employees because they don’t have the same resources as larger firms, Adams said. They don’t have the large staff or the expertise, and often, they have to hire someone to help them.
“This [new rule] reduces one piece of the burden,” he said.
The lessened burden might not last forever, however, because environmental groups are preparing to lobby the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, asking that Congress reinstate the former rule and reduce the threshold back to 500 pounds, Auten said.
The good news for environmentalists is, the House had voted to stop the EPA from proceeding with the new rule before the end of the last session.
“The public has the right to know about toxic chemicals being released into our land, air and water,” Auten said.
