E&E Article on Report of Chemical Discharges in Polluted Rivers

On March 23th, E&E News published an article on a report released by Environment America Research & Policy Center entitled, “Wasting Our Waterways 2012 Toxic Industrial Pollution and the Unfulfilled Promise of the Clean Water Act.”

Citing an EPA discharge inventory, the report says industrial facilities dumped 226 million pounds of chemicals into waterways in 2010 and that the Ohio River and the Mississippi River top the list of the nation’s most polluted waterways. The Ohio River received the most discharges, 32.1 million pounds, while the Mississippi River came in second, at 12.7 million.
Third, fourth and fifth, respectively, were the New River in Virginia and North Carolina; the Savannah River in Georgia and South Carolina; and the Delaware River in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. The report also ranks the top 10 states by the amount of toxic pollution released in 2010. Topping the list is Indiana, with 27.4 million pounds, followed by Virginia, with 18.1 million pounds, and Nebraska, with 14.7 million pounds. Pollution from just five states — Indiana, Virginia, Nebraska, Texas and Georgia — accounted for nearly 40 percent of the total dumped into U.S. waterways in 2010, the report says.

The most-polluting industries, it says, are food and beverage manufacturing, primary metals manufacturing, chemical plants and petroleum refineries. The top industrial discharger was West Chester, Ohio-based AK Steel, the report says, with 30 million pounds released into waterways in 2010. Nevada’s Burns Creek received the largest volume of carcinogens in 2010, while neighboring Mill Creek placed third, the report says. The report also says nitrates accounted for nearly 90 percent of the total volume of discharges to waterways reported in 2010.

To view the article, go to: http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/2012/03/23/23.