The Public's Right to Know: or how polluted is Summit County?
“Every American has the right to know the chemicals to which they may be exposed in their daily living. Right-to-know laws provide information about possible chemical exposures.” Source: U.S. EPA
Polluted water. Polluted air. Superfund sites. Toxic Release of Chemicals. This is all happening around us. Companies, counties, cities and people violating our own standards and regulations. Several articles just this week demonstrate that it is local and ongoing. How can we become more informed and educated about the issues? How can we move towards more environmentally friendly practices? How polluted is our county?
In the headlines:
Akron resolves sewer lawsuit (with U.S. EPA, about water pollution)
Northeast Ohio doesn't comply with clean-air rule (also with the U.S. EPA)
First we need to learn what and where the problems are. We can get this information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This data is collected by the U.S. EPA and then posted online for the public to search and access the information. Use this web site to get all kinds of pollution reports about Ohio. To save you time, I have links in this post to reports on Ohio, Summit County or Akron. At the U.S. EPA web page you will see:
- MyEnvironment – this search box provides a report on the local environment based on the user’s location. You generate your own pollution report by searching your address, ZIP code, city or place name. Try it! The results are broken into sections- MyAir (air quality), MyHealth (cancer risk in your area, mortality and low birth rates), MyLand (Superfund sites), MyWater (water conditions) and MyEcological Conditions.
- Data Finder – this search box searches all the EPA data available online. Type in simple topics like air, water or chemicals. You will be linked to a list of databases to search online. Be careful – you can get lost in these databases! I highlighted a few of the easier ones to use in the section below.
- Use the EPA search box at the top of the page to find more information about Ohio.
The Public’s Right to Know web page
EPA's Public's Right to Know web page links to a variety of EPA databases that display data and information. Most can be searched by Zip Code, county or company name. Here are a few key databases to try.
Toxics Release Inventory– - “a database that contains information concerning specific toxic chemical releases, transfers, waste management and pollution prevention activities from manufacturing facilities throughout the United States.” Generate a report by ZIP code, state or by name of business. The report lists facilities in the county and the chemicals they dispose onsite (i.e., wells or landfills) or release (i.e., air emissions). Summit County list of companies and their toxic chemicals is found here http://tinyurl.com/yjmb955 .
Local Drinking Water Information – Here is information for Ohio and a link to water quality reports for various Ohio cities including Akron.
AIRNOW - AIRNOW provides real-time air pollution data. Enter a Zip Code or select a state. It gives the current air quality index, particles (particulate matter) and Ozone levels. Set up a notification and receive this information via email.
Air Pollution in Your Area – generate an AirData report by geographic area (use region, state, metropolitan area or ZIP Code). Here is the air pollution report for Summit County.
Superfund Risk Assessment – Search your locale and discover the health risks based on where you live. Here is the National Priorities List of Superfund Cleanup sites in Ohio. Map for Ohio with more information and about the cleanup sites is here. This includes various site documents and the cleanup progress.
Local Superfund Cleanup Sites:
Summit County – Copley Square Plaza
Portage County – Summit National in Deerfield
Stark County – Industrial Excess Landfill in Uniontown and the TRW Plant in Minerva
Other information found on the U.S. EPA website:
- EPA HotLine – use the online form to report spills and environmental violations. Call 1-800-424-8802 to report environmental emergencies that threaten public health.
- Other EPA Hotlines are listed here.
Links at the top of the EPA home page lead to more information.
- Laws and Regulations – the link at the top of the page leads to laws and regulations administered and enforced by the U.S. EPA.
- State plans and programs under Federal Regulations – here is Ohio’s plans.
- Science and Technology – follow this link at the top of the web page for articles and a link to other environmental databases maintained by the EPA.
- Learn the Issues – Want to learn more? Click the Learn the Issues link for articles and recently asked questions on related topics.
What about the Ohio EPA?
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency - although a nice site, it is just not as impressive as the federal site.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
As long as this is a law forum, can we speak of the legitimacy of the EPA? I don't mean the Ohio EPA, we have the right to do to ourselves whatever we want.
But the legitimacy of the EPA comes from the commerce clause. Congress has the authority to regulate interstate commerce. But this authority gets stretched and twisted over time.
If we have a soot problem in the area, but the problem does not extend east to Geauga or Ashtabula counties, then I think it is reasonable to assume that it is not making it to Pennsylvania. If these are not interstate problems, why is the Federal Government involving itself?
E-check is another example. (Again it does not continue to the state border) The region was given some arbitrary standards to comply with. Now that we have met the standards, the standards are going to be changed.
Portage and Medina counties are included in the articles that you linked. Their environmental crimes are largely the result of dirty neighbors. If there were no emissions in Medina, it would still be surrounded by Lorain, Cuyahoga and Summit.
The EPA has its place. For example, if Chicago was polluting the Chicago River, and the environmental impact was making it's way down the Mississippi River, that is a good use of the EPA's resources.
After saying that, some of the tools that you gave us links to are pretty cool.
If these are Ohio problems then Ohioans need to decide what needs to be done about them. If we wish to hire the US EPA, then we should do that. But the mandates from the federal EPA are not supported by the constitution.