-Caveat Lector- >From http://www.pirg.org Via http://www.commondreams.org/pressreleases/may99/ MAY 12, 1999 1:50 PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: US Public Interest Research Group Allison LaPlante (202) 546-9707 Paul Burns (617) 292-4800 Right-To-Know Data Show Significant Increases In Toxic waste; Industrial Pollution Prevention Efforts Failing WASHINGTON - May 13 - Increases in toxic wastes managed and chemicals released to the environment reported to in the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) demonstrate that pollution prevention is failing, according to U.S. PIRG. The EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory data show that toxic wastes managed by industries increased by 11.7 percent between 1996 and 1997. This indicates that industries are failing to reduce the toxic wastes they manage and failing to reduce toxic pollution at the source. The data also show that toxic chemical releases to the environment have increased slightly. Releases to the air, land and water between 1996 and 1997 increased by 2.2 percent nationally. “It is troubling to see a first-time increase in toxic chemical releases to the environment, but it is even more troubling that toxic wastes managed by industries continue to increase year after year,” said Allison LaPlante, U.S. PIRG Environmental Advocate. “This pattern indicates that pollution prevention in this country is not working. A nearly twelve percent increase in quantities of waste managed is the greatest increase we’ve seen in several years.” The 1990 Pollution Prevention Act declared a national policy that pollution “should be prevented or reduced at the source whenever feasible,” but the TRI data indicate that these goals are not being met. The quantities of toxic wastes managed from year to year are currently the best indicators of industry trends in pollution prevention. Increases in quantities of waste managed show that industries may be shifting toxic hazards from one area of the environment to another, rather than avoiding creating the waste in the first place. States with Right to Know programs that go beyond the federal program and focus on how toxic chemicals are used show very different results. In Massachusetts, for example, manufacturers decreased their total toxic chemical use by 24 percent, their waste generation by 41percent and their total toxic chemical releases by 80 percent between 1990 and 1997. In contrast, TRI data show a national increase of eight percent in waste managed by industries between 1991 and 1997. “The numbers from Massachusetts tell a better story about pollution prevention,” said Paul Burns, MASSPIRG’s Toxics Advocate. “Since the 1990 Toxics Use Reduction Act has been in place, Massachusetts has been a leader in pollution prevention. Industries in Massachusetts are reducing their reliance on chemicals that may cause cancer, birth defects or other serious health problems. Although Massachusetts industries must continue to reduce toxic chemical use, this state’s program should be a national model,” said Burns. “The federal Right to Know program has provided the public with critical information and has led to significant decreases in toxic chemical pollution, but it is only a fraction of the real toxic picture. We are urging Congress to support legislation that would require industries to publicly report on their toxic chemical use, allowing the public to more accurately track pollution prevention progress and encouraging industries to reduce hazardous wastes and toxic chemical use,” said LaPlante. Legislation is pending in Congress that would expand the federal Right to Know program to include toxic chemical use reporting, additional sources of toxic chemical pollution, and stricter reporting for extremely dangerous substances. The Children’s Environmental Protection and Right to Know Act of 1999, H.R. 1657, is modeled after successful state programs in Massachusetts and New Jersey. The bill was introduced last week by Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Jim Saxton (R-NJ) with the support of 123 original cosponsors. The Waxman/Saxton Right to Know bill is being introduced as the EPA is also considering expanding the Right to Know program to include reporting on extremely dangerous substances that currently escape the public’s view because of a loophole in the law. Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins (PBTs) like dioxin, mercury and lead are extremely dangerous in small quantities, persist in the environment for long periods of time and build up in human and animal tissue. “The public receives almost no information about the toxic chemicals that pose the greatest threat. These are the substances we should be working to eliminate. At a minimum, we have the right to know when they are being used and released in our communities,” said LaPlante. “We are calling on the EPA to require complete reporting of all persistent or bioaccumulative toxins.” said LaPlante. ### >From www.citizen.org (via commondreams.org) MAY 13, 1999 3:10 PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Public Citizen Public Citizen Wins Release of Historic Hiss-Chambers Records; 1948 Grand Jury Testimony to be Made Public WASHINGTON - May 13 - A New York federal judge today ordered the release of grand jury records relating to the indictment of alleged Soviet agent Alger Hiss. U.S. District Judge Peter K. Leisure of the Southern District of New York ordered the records be unsealed in response to a Public Citizen Litigation Group petition filed on Dec. 15, 1998 -- the 50th anniversary of Hiss’s grand jury indictment. "This is a landmark victory for the American people. At long last the public will be able to judge for itself whether justice was served by the indictment and conviction of Alger Hiss," said David Vladeck, director of the Public Citizen Litigation Group. In his 55-page ruling, Judge Leisure stressed the historical significance of the records. "The court is confident that disclosure will fill in important gaps in the existing historical record, foster further academic and other critical discussion of the far-ranging issues raised by the Hiss case, and lead to additional noteworthy historical works on those subjects, all to the immense benefit of the public," Judge Leisure wrote. "The materials should languish on archival shelves behind locked doors no longer." Public Citizen’s petition was supported by leading scholars, historians and archivists in calling for the release of the secret documents pertaining to one of the most important political and legal events of the early Cold War era. After his first perjury trial ended in a hung jury, Alger Hiss was convicted of two counts of perjury arising out of his denials under oath before the grand jury. Hiss served nearly four years in prison. The conviction of Hiss, accused of being a Soviet agent while serving in the State Department, convinced many Americans that the threat of Soviet subversion was real. Despite a number of books written about the Hiss case -- including books written by Hiss and his chief accuser, Whittaker Chambers -- questions remain about changed testimony, judicial improprieties and political interference with the legal process by then-U.S. Rep. Richard M. Nixon. Full disclosure of the grand jury transcripts was backed by Hiss’s son, Tony, and Chambers’s friend and colleague, William F. Buckley Jr., founder of the National Review. Both Hiss and Buckley provided affidavits in support of Public Citizen’s petition, filed jointly with the American Historical Association, American Society of Legal History, Organization of American Historians and Society of American Archivists. "I’m delighted that Judge Leisure has seen the importance of releasing these records both to get out the full facts of the Hiss case and to make it plain that in certain exceptional cases the public does have a compelling interest in access to its own history," Tony Hiss said. The government is likely to appeal the decision. "Today's ruling is truly a watershed in legal history because it establishes, really for the first time, the idea that grand jury records -- even those from historically important cases like Hiss -- should not be locked away forever," Vladeck said. "Judge Leisure should be applauded because he has recognized that the public should not be denied access to important historical documents, unless there are compelling reasons to do so. Here, of course, the passage of more than 50 years has eroded, if not eliminated, any reason for continued secrecy." By mid-1947 two government investigations into Soviet espionage within the government agencies were under way. The House Un-American Activities Committee, led by Rep. Karl Mundt and Nixon, carried on its own investigation on Congress’s behalf, while the Justice Department impaneled a grand jury to investigate the allegations of espionage in the United States. Chambers first denied any knowledge of espionage but later changed his story and made detailed assertions that Hiss provided him with State Department documents to convey to Soviet agents. Hiss denied the allegations. Chambers also produced for Nixon several rolls of 35mm film he had hidden in a hollowed-out pumpkin. Once developed, the film revealed copies of State Department documents, which later became known as the "pumpkin papers." Nixon also appeared before the grand jury at his own request and testified about the film. Hiss’s lawyers later alleged that Nixon’s testimony may have been unduly influential. Public Citizen is a non-profit consumer advocacy organization with extensive experience in working to open government records and to preserve historically significant records. In April 1996, after more than 15 years of litigation, work by Public Citizen Litigation Group culminated in an agreement to release thousands of hours of White House audio tapes that revealed important new insights into the Nixon presidency. ### A<>E<>R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. 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