Environment - Right-to-Know Laws

Right-to-Know Laws

Legislative Information

The Children's Environmental Protection and Right To Know Act of 1999

Summary

TITLE I – CHILDREN'S ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Subtitle A – Disclosure of Industrial Releases That Present a Significant Risk to Children

Section 101. Reporting Requirements. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets special additional reporting thresholds for the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). These thresholds apply to the release of toxic chemicals which present a significant environmental risk to the health of children, including lead, mercury, dioxin, cadmium, chromium, and certain bioaccumulative substances. Thresholds are set to ensure that 80% of the total releases of each chemical are reported.

Subtitle B – Disclosure of High Health Risk Chemicals in Children's Consumer Products

Section 111. Listing of Toxic Substances. The Department of Health and Human Services publishes a list of substances which are toxic due to their carcinogenic, neurotoxic, or reproductive toxic effects, drawing from existing Federal lists of such substances.

Section 112. Reporting of Toxic Chemicals in Consumer Products. Manufacturers and importers of products with toxic ingredients report the identity and concentrations of those ingredients to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and provide information regarding how the products meet the existing requirements of the Hazardous Substances Act. CPSC publishes this information. (These provisions apply to children's products initially and after three years to all consumer products, as defined by the Consumer Product Safety Act. Food, drugs, medical devices, cosmetics, pesticides, and motor vehicles are by definition excluded.)

Section 113. Exemptions CPSC is authorized to exempt safe products from the Act's provisions

Section 114. Private Citizen Enforcement. Private citizens have the right to sue any person violating certain existing provisions of the Hazardous Substances Act, and the reporting provisions created by this act. Penalties received through CPSC suits are deposited in a special fund to finance compliance and enforcement activities under this act.

Section 115. Preemption. The subtitle does not preempt State or local laws.

TITLE II – PUBLIC RIGHT TO KNOW ABOUT TOXIC CHEMICAL USE

Section 201. Disclosure of Toxic Chemical Use. Facilities reporting to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for a given toxic chemical also report:

the number of facility employees exposed to the toxic chemical;
the amount of the toxic chemical that the facility ships in and out, stores on-site, produces, consumes, and recycles;
the reduction in toxic chemical waste and use due to pollution prevention measures.
Section 202. Disclosure of Toxic Chemical Use by Comparable Facilities. Certain nonmanufacturers that use large quantities of toxic chemicals report to TRI (codifying a 1997 EPA rule-making). EPA also adds to TRI those industry categories using and releasing TRI chemicals in quantities similar to those of currentlycovered industries.

Section 203. Streamlining Environmental Reporting and Public Access to Information. EPA integrates the Agency's many data systems, in particular:

providing the public one point of access for publicly-available information; and
consolidating annual environmental reporting requirements for small businesses within three years, and for all regulated entities within five years.
Section 204. Trade Secret Protection. Facilities may withhold from public disclosure toxic chemical use information that constitutes a legitimate trade secret. (Note: EPA considers information to be a trade secret if the information is:

kept confidential by the business;
not publicly disclosed through other Federal or state laws;
important to the competitive position of the business; and
not readily discoverable through reverse engineering.)
Section 205. Civil Actions. Citizens have the right to sue for past or ongoing violations.