But a new report by two organizations that monitor enforcement
of pollution law charges that EPA and state governments are
knowingly underreporting toxic air emissions from refineries and
chemical plants, to the tune of 330 million pounds per year.
They assert that certain carcinogens -- benzene and butadiene --
are in the air at levels 4 to 5 times higher than what the EPA
leads the public to believe.

The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), a nonpartisan
organization that monitors enforcement of environmental laws,
and the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention
(GHASP), show in their report, "Who's Counting? The Systematic
Underreporting of Toxic Air Emissions" that because most air
pollution is estimated instead of actually monitored, the result
is systematic underreporting.

"The 'guesswork' is being done by the polluters, who have the
incentives to keep the numbers as low as possible," said Kelly
Haragan, EIP counsel and equal justice fellow.

New rules adopted this year by EPA require polluters to monitor
emissions little more than once every five years. Previous
standards mandated that major air pollution sources monitor at a
level sufficient to show compliance with federal pollution
limits. [1]

"Refineries and chemical plants report their toxic emissions
under an honor system that is based on calculations that are
outdated and inaccurate," Haragan said. "Instead of cleaning up
this problem, the EPA has further weakened monitoring rules and
continues to knowingly feed the public inaccurate data regarding
toxic air emissions."

The EIP-GHASP report is based on findings by the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality. It shows extreme jumps in
carcinogens released into the air. In one case -- a reported
release of 6 million pounds of benzene, a known carcinogen --
the 2001 TRI in fact totaled more than 20 million pounds. [2]

In 2001 the U.S. General Accounting Office asked that EPA
improve oversight reporting for large facilities, noting that 96
percent of all emissions estimates were based on "emissions
factors". [3] Emissions factors were originally developed as a
way to estimate long-term average emissions, but are recognized
by EPA as not being accurate for calculating a particular
facility's emissions. Nevertheless EPA has actively limited the
amount of direct monitoring that large sources of air pollution
are required to perform.

"We are tired of industry accounting tricks that always seem to
show pollution releases dropping rapidly, while air quality
improvements seem so slow. It is time for EPA and the states to
require real measurements from industry, and take forthright
action to protect the public from chemicals that cause cancer,
respiratory, cardiovascular and reproductive diseases," said
John Wilson, director of GHASP. [4]

###

SOURCES:
[1] EIP press release, Jun. 22, 2004.
[2] "Who's Counting? The Systematic Underreporting of Toxic Air
Emissions," EIP report, Jun. 22, 2004.
[3] EIP report, op. cit.
[4] EIP release, op. cit.