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WATERTOWN MANUFACTURER FACES ENVIRONMENTAL FINE

Release Date: 07/24/1996
Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, EPA Press Office; (617) 918-1064

BOSTON -- The regional office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency filed a civil lawsuit against Braxton Manufacturing Company, Inc. of Watertown, Connecticut for failing to report its emissions of toxic chemicals. Braxton, an eyelet manufacturer on Echo Lake Road, faces a $51,000 penalty for failing to comply with the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA).

According to EPA, Braxton failed to report its emissions of 1,1,1- trichloroethane and dichloromethane until prompted by the Agency. The law requires companies to submit information detailing toxic chemical emissions on federal Form R, by July 1 of the calendar year following each reporting year.

The Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) is a large data base of chemical emission information tracked from companies required to report under EPCRA. TRI data, which EPA publishes annually, provides the amount, location, type of emissions released into the environment, and information on toxic waste shipped off-site for further treatment and disposal. TRI data covers legal chemical emissions and is used for comprehensive risk-based planning by federal, state and local officials.

"Citizens have the right to know about releases of toxic chemicals into the environment," said John P. DeVillars, regional administrator for EPA's New England office. "This enforcement action should be a wake-up call to other companies that EPA is going to enforce the federal law and give citizens access to important information in their communities."

Last fall, EPA nearly doubled from 337 to 648 the number of chemicals to be reported under the Toxic Release Inventory. This summer, Vice President Al Gore and EPA Administrator Carol Browner announced another proposed expansion of the reporting law to include previously exempted types of facilities. The expansion includes: metal mining, coal mining, electric utilities, commercial hazardous waste treatment facilities, petroleum bulk terminals, chemical wholesalers, and solvent recovery services.

The chemicals that are reported under the TRI can have significant adverse effects on human health and the environment. They include carcinogens -- chemicals that cause cancer, such as dichloroethane and benzene -- and mutagens -- chemicals that can cause changes in human cells such as ethylene di-bromide as well as chemicals that cause reproductive and developmental effects.

The TRI data allow the public, industry and state and local governments to make informed risk-based decisions about the management and control of these and other toxic chemicals. The data are used by industries to analyze their wastes and identify areas where source reduction and other pollution prevention activities can be used so that wastes and emissions are minimized.

But more importantly, the TRI has proved to be an effective vehicle for determining pollution prevention opportunities that drives the total emissions and waste streams down. More than one third of the nearly 24,000 facilities filing TRI data reported undertaking at least one source reduction activity designed to prevent or reduce the generation of toxic chemicals. The most commonly reported source reduction activities were improved operating practices, process modifications, and spill and leak prevention programs.