APRIL 1, 2004 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY ■ 121A

For the first time, Europeans canaccess data on industrial releasesof potentially harmful chemicalsinto air and water. The informationis available at a pollutant registeron a website run by the EuropeanCommission (EC) and the EuropeanEnvironment Agency. Meanwhile,the U.S. EPA, which currentlysponsors the most comprehen-sive national emissions inventory,known as the Toxics Release In-ventory (TRI), is contemplatingoptions for reducing industry’sannual reporting burden.

Launched at the end of Febru-ary, the new environmental data-base, known as the EuropeanPollutant Emission Register (EPER),includes information on 50 pollu-tants released during 2001—thefirst reporting year—by nearly10,000 large and medium-sizedindustrial facilities operating inthe European Union (EU). Cate-gories include heavy metals, pesti-cides, industrial chemicals, dioxin

byproducts, and greenhouse gases,such as carbon dioxide. Althoughreporting thresholds vary for eachpollutant, they have been designedto account for 90% of total emis-sions from the facilities covered,according to EC officials.

EPER is not as comprehensive asthe pollutant release and transferregister that the EU agreed to lastyear under a United Nations (UN)treaty (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2003,37, 134A), which covers 86 sub-stances, adds land releases andwaste transfers, and requires annu-al reporting. The second EPER re-port, which will cover 2004 releases,isn’t scheduled until 2007. But afterthat, EC officials say they expectto have an expanded EPER in linewith the UN protocol. “We are nowbringing the first proposals forwardon this,” says Bernd Mehlhorn, thedesk officer in charge of EPER withthe EC’s environment directorate.

Environmentalists say that de-spite EPER’s current limited scope,it is a “huge step forward” and willhelp pressure industry to reduceand better control its emissions.“You have to understand that formany countries in the EU, this sortof information will be available on-line for the first time ever,” saysMary Taylor, a chemicals campaign-er for Friends of the Earth Europe.The data can be grouped by pollu-tant, activity or industrial sector, airor water emissions, or by country.Likewise, detailed information isavailable for individual facilities.

If companies fail to report therequired data, the EC, for now, willrely on pressure from the public orcompeting facilities to force com-pliance, Mehlhorn says. If that toofails, the EC could consider bring-ing the member state in which theparticular facility is located beforethe European court of justice. “Forus, the member states are responsi-

EU and U.S. plan changes in reporting toxicsClean Air Act report cardThe Clean Air Act has helped improveair quality over the past 30 years, butmore can be done, finds a NationalResearch Council committee after atwo-year study of the U.S. EPA’s airquality management program. Imple-menting the act resulted incap-and-trade programsand significantly reducedseveral pollutants, includingthose from motor vehicleemission sources, but needs still existto meet newly mandated standards,understand health risks and the effectsof pollutants, address environmentaljustice, and tackle the issues of multi-state and international transport of airpollutants. The committee encouragesEPA to continue current air improve-ment programs but recommends thatthe agency target groups of pollutantsrather than individual ones and protectecosystems, not just people. For moreinformation on Air Quality Manage-ment in the United States, go to www.nas.edu.

Voluntary goals setTwenty of the 54 companies that havesigned up with the U.S. EPA’s ClimateLeaders program have now set green-house gas reductions targets, accord-ing to the agency. The two-year-oldprogram serves as a key componentof the Bush Administration’s alterna-tives to mandatory greenhouse gas re-ductions. The reductions to which thecompanies have committed go beyondthe expected rate of improvement intheir respective energy sectors, EPAclaims. The nonbinding reductiongoals set through the program includea pledge by American Electric Power,one of the nation’s largest power pro-ducers. For more information, go towww.epa.gov/climateleaders.

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Information about the toxic emissionsfrom industrial facilities like this chemi-cal plant in Aberdeen, Scotland, is nowavailable on the Internet.

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