Communicating PRTR systems to the public

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Communicating PRTR systems to the public

• PRTRs Now!
• 4th Ministerial Conference on Environment and
  Health
• Budapest, Hungary 23 June 2004
• Dmytro Skrylnikov
• Co-director,
• Association of Environmental Law
• of CEE NIS/ ECO Forum

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• Pollution information
• The use of public information tools on pollution
  sources has greatly increased. As we grapple to
  improve protection of our environment, it is very
  important to know what activities contribute to
  which problem, and a number of countries have
  begun to catalogue the sources and quantities of
  pollutants and wastes periodically.

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• and environmental democracy
• With an increasing emphasis on public
  participation and access to information
  world-wide, PRTRs are an elegant mechanism which
  help engage the public in pollution and
  regulation issues.
• But not only do PRTRs implement public
  right-to-know, they increase the accountability
  of companies and create pressure to reduce the
  emissions.

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• The visibility of the information to the public
  an absolutely essential part of such a system
• - stimulates efforts at better management, safer
  alternatives, cleaner technologies and reductions
  in the use of toxic chemicals.
• - it can also lead to more consistent and
  thorough regulation.
• - emissions information allows countries to
  allocate resources more effectively, and
  prioritise chemicals, industries or environmental
  media for regulatory action.

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• Article 7
• REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
• ltgt
• 5. Each Party shall require the owners or
  operators of the facilities required to report
  under paragraph 2 to complete and submit to its
  competent authority, the following information on
  a facility-specific basis
• (a) The name, street address, geographical
  location and the activity or activities of the
  reporting facility, and the name of the owner or
  operator, and, as appropriate, company
• (b) The name and numerical identifier of each
  pollutant required to be reported pursuant to
  paragraph 2
• (c) The amount of each pollutant required to be
  reported pursuant to paragraph 2 released from
  the facility to the environment in the reporting
  year, both in aggregate and according to whether
  the release is to air, to water or to land,
  including by underground injection
• (d) Either
• (i) The amount of each pollutant required to be
  reported pursuant to paragraph 2 that is
  transferred off-site in the reporting year,
  distinguishing between the amounts transferred
  for disposal and for recovery, and the name and
  address of the facility receiving the transfer
  or
• (ii) The amount of waste required to be reported
  pursuant to paragraph 2 transferred off-site in
  the reporting year, distinguishing between
  hazardous waste and other waste, for any
  operations of recovery or disposal, indicating
  respectively with R or D whether the waste is
  destined for disposal or recovery pursuant to
  annex III and, for transboundary movements of
  hazardous waste, the name and address of the
  disposer or recoverer of the waste and the actual
  disposal or recovery site receiving the transfer
• ltgt

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• Towards a more comprehensive PRTR?
• Here is a very brief summary of some issues that
  did not make it into the final Protocol, even
  though their inclusion was debated.
• Criteria for helping establish the pollutant list
• Nuclear sector and radioactive substances
• Petrochemical storage facilities
• An indicative list of diffuse sources (e.g.
  traffic, small- and medium-sized enterprises,
  agriculture)
• On-site transfers (i.e. within the boundaries of
  a facility)
• Transfers of pollutants through products
• Storage of pollutants gt

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• Towards a more comprehensive PRTR?
• Destinations of domestic transfers of off-site
  wastes
• An indicative list of databases of information to
  which a PRTR should be linked, such as
  radioactive substances, radiation, noise
• Water use, energy use
• Resource use (a concept which was not discussed
  in detail it could cover individual pollutant
  use or more economic related resources such as
  timber, coal, iron ore)
• Distinction between extraordinary/accidental and
  routine releases
• Parent company identification
• Any country can go further than the Protocol,
  thus there may be scope for including some of
  these items in your own countrys PRTR.