Senator Jim Jeffords, I-Vt., the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, issued the following statement today in response to the EPA's notice to Congress on its proposal to modify the Toxic Release Inventory program. The proposal would convert the annual reporting requirement to alternate-year reporting. “EPA is launching a frontal assault on the Toxic Release Inventory program by proposing to convert the annual reporting requirement to alternate-year reporting. The Community-Right-to-Know Act will become the Community-Right-to-Know Every-Other-Year Act. This program has proven to be one of the most successful environmental statutes by documenting toxic releases in communities across the nation. Over 4 billion pounds of toxic chemicals are released into the nation's environment each year, including 72 million pounds of recognized carcinogens, from nearly 24,000 industrial facilities. This proposal would deny communities up-to-date information about local toxic releases, reduce incentives to minimize the generation of toxic waste and undermine the ability of public health agencies and researchers to identify important trends.”