For Immediate Release:
October 21, 2009
Contact: Kim McMurray, Environment New Mexico
(505)254-4819
Over 230 Million Pounds of Toxics Discharged into American Waterways
Industrial facilities dumped 56,700 pounds of toxic chemicals into New Mexico’s waterways, according to a report released today by Environment New Mexico: Wasting Our Waterways: Industrial Toxic Pollution and the Unfulfilled Promise of the Clean Water Act. The report also finds that toxic chemicals were discharged in 1,900 waterways across all 50 states.
“While nearly half of the rivers and lakes in the U.S. are considered too polluted for safe fishing or swimming, our report shows that polluters continue to use our waterways as dumping grounds for their toxic chemicals,” said Kim McMurray, Program Associate with Environment New Mexico.
“Water makes up less than 2% of New Mexico’s landscape but is vital for over 75% of our fish and wildlife. Protecting our waters is imperative to creating a future for wildlife and recreational and municipal needs,” said Rebecca Sobel with WildEarth Guardians.
The Environment New Mexico report documents and analyzes the dangerous levels of pollutants discharged in to America’s waters by compiling toxic chemical releases reported to the U.S. EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory for 2007, the most recent data available.
Major findings of the report include:
• The US. Air Force released 6,605 pounds of toxic chemical waste into the Lampbright Draw in New Mexico.
• Nationally, 232 million pounds of toxic chemicals were released to American waterways by industrial facilities in 2007.
• Industrial facilities discharged approximately 438 pounds of chemicals linked to cancer into Morgan Lake in New Mexico. And 792.9 pounds of chemicals linked to cancer across the state.
With facilities dumping so much pollution, no one should be surprised that nearly half of our waterways are unsafe for swimming and fishing. But we should be outraged.
Environment New Mexico’s report summarizes the discharge of cancer-causing chemicals, chemicals that persist in the environment, and chemicals with the potential to cause reproductive problems ranging from birth defects to reduced fertility. Among the toxic chemicals discharged by facilities are lead, mercury, and dioxin. When dumped into waterways, these toxic chemicals contaminate drinking water and are absorbed by the fish that people eventually eat. Exposure to these chemicals is linked to cancer, developmental disorders, and reproductive disorders. In 2007, manufacturing facilities discharged approximately 1.5 million pounds of cancer-causing chemicals into American waters.
“There are common-sense steps that should be taken to turn the tide against toxic pollution of our waters,” added McMurray. “We need clean water now, and we need the federal government to act to protect our health and our environment.”
In order to curb the toxic pollution threatening the Rio Grande and the rest of New Mexico’s waterways, Environment New Mexico recommends the following:
1. Pollution Prevention: Industrial facilities should reduce their toxic discharges in to waterways by switching from hazardous chemicals to safer alternatives.
2. Tough permitting and enforcement: EPA and state agencies should issue permits with tough, numeric limits for each type of toxic pollution discharged, ratchet down those limits over time, and enforce those limits with credible penalties, not just warning letters.
3. Protect all waters: The federal government should adopt policies to clarify that the Clean Water Act applies to all of our waterways. This includes the thousands of headwaters and small streams for which jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act has been called into question, as a result of recent court decisions.
"We urge Congress and the President to listen to the public’s demands for clean water. They should act to protect all of our lakes, rivers and streams from toxic pollution," concluded McMurray.
Environment New Mexico is a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization that works to protect clean air, clean water, and open spaces
