Cookie Control

This site uses cookies to store information on your computer.

Some cookies on this site are essential, and the site won't work as expected without them. These cookies are set when you submit a form, login or interact with the site by doing something that goes beyond clicking on simple links.

We also use some non-essential cookies to anonymously track visitors or enhance your experience of the site. If you're not happy with this, we won't set these cookies but some nice features of the site may be unavailable.

By using our site you accept the terms of our Privacy Policy.

(One cookie will be set to store your preference)
(Ticking this sets a cookie to hide this popup if you then hit close. This will not store any personal information)

RTK Net Reporting Tools Still Sharp After Many Years

April 4, 2012

One of the oldest environmental database reporting tools is still one of the edgiest after all these years. Right-To-Know Network gave reporters access to EPA's Toxics Release Inventory — still a key reporting tool — when it first went online (before the Internet) in 1989.

Today, with a modern and searchable Web interface, it offers access to some data that reporters would be hard put to find anywhere else.

Most important is its collection of Risk Management Plans — which chemical plants are required to maintain to prevent, prepare for, and respond to toxic disasters. Congress and EPA have hindered access to some of this data on the grounds that terrorists could use it. But recent Congressional hearings suggest the secrecy only hides the threats chemical companies pose to neighboring communities and the incompetence of the Department of Homeland Security in managing the program.

Are there facilities in your community so dangerous that they need a Risk Management Plan? When was the last time you checked up on them?

  • RTK Net database portal (broken link)
SEJ Publication Types: 
Visibility: