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The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Copyright 2002 Journal Sentinel Inc. (Note: This notice does not apply to those
news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other
media)
Sunday, October 20, 2002
Business
Pollution often exceeds permits, report says
Associated Press
Sunday, October 20, 2002
Washington -- Four of five wastewater treatment plants and
chemical and industrial facilities in the United States pollute
waterways beyond what their federal permits allow, according to
government data compiled by an environmental group.
More than 90% of the plants and facilities in Ohio, New
Hampshire, Rhode Island, Iowa, Puerto Rico, Maine, West Virginia,
Delaware, New York and Connecticut exceeded permit limits between
1999 and 2001, said the report by the U.S. Public Interest Research
Group.
The average excess was 10 times what the permit called for,
according to the report in which U.S. PIRG analyzed Environmental
Protection Agency records obtained through the Freedom of
Information Act.
"Polluters are breaking the law, not only frequently but
flagrantly," said the report's author, Alison Cassady, research
director for U.S. PIRG.
EPA officials had no comment. There also was no immediate comment
from the American Chemistry Council, a trade group.
But a spokesman for operators of publicly owned sewage treatment
plants disputed some of the report's conclusions.
"This notion that you can simply enforce everything away is
simply untrue," said Adam Krantz of the Association of Metropolitan
Sewerage Agencies. "We are the guardians of the Clean Water Act. We
are not polluters."
Releases of the worst toxic chemicals, those known or suspected
to cause cancer and other serious health effects, averaged eight
times more than is permitted under the Clean Water Act, the report
says.