EPCRA: a retrospective on the environmental Right-to-Know Act.

Abstract

October 2011 marked the 25th Anniversary of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), which was celebrated for its "significant role in protecting human health and the environment over the last quarter century by providing communities and emergency planners with valuable information on toxic chemical releases in their area." This Note aims to evaluate the effectiveness of three important provisions of the statute-the Toxics Release Inventory, the emergency planning mandate, and the citizen suit provision-through a case study of their implementation in Institute, West Virginia, the site of an industrial accident that prompted the enactment of EPCRA in 1986. This Note argues that although EPCRA made significant improvements to industry transparency in terms of its production and release of hazardous substances, there remain significant barriers concerning adequate resources, informational tools, and enforcement measures. These challenges must be addressed to ensure that citizens are provided with equitable opportunities to inform and ultimately protect their communities from health and environmental hazards. Through interviews with Institute residents and members of a local community advocacy group, along with analyses of the current informational tools available to the public under the statute, the Note will discuss specific challenges facing industrial communities, and offer a series of practical and legal solutions to increase the effectiveness of the statute, particularly in the most economically and politically vulnerable communities.