"The Toxic 100 informs consumers and shareholders which large corporations release the most toxic pollutants into our air," says James K. Boyce, director of PERI's environment program. "We measure not just how many pounds of pollutants are released, but which are the most toxic and how many people are at risk. People have a right to know about toxic hazards to which they are exposed. Legislators need to understand the effects of pollution on their constituents."

The Toxic 100 index is based on air releases of hundreds of chemicals from industrial facilities across the United States. The rankings take into account not only the quantity of releases, but the relative toxicity of chemicals, nearby populations, and factors such as prevailing winds and height of smokestacks. The Toxic 100 index identifies the top air polluters among corporations that appear in the "Fortune 500," "Forbes 500," and "Standard & Poor's 500" lists of the country's largest firms. The Toxic 100's top five companies are E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co., US Steel, ConocoPhillips, GE, and Eastman Kodak.

A new feature of the web-based list is that readers can see the details behind each company, such as individual facilities owned by the corporation, specific chemicals they emit, their toxicities, and their contributions to the company's overall Toxic Score.

The data on chemical releases come from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). The TRI is widely cited in press accounts that identify the top polluters in various localities. But reports based on these data alone have three limitations:

Raw TRI data are reported in total pounds of chemicals, without taking into account differences in toxicity. Pound-for-pound, some chemicals are up to ten million times more hazardous than others.

TRI data do not calculate the numbers of people affected by toxic releases-for example, the difference between facilities upwind from densely-populated urban areas and those located far from population centers.

TRI data are reported on a facility-by-facility basis, without combining plants owned by one corporation to get a picture of overall corporate performance.

 

The Toxic 100 index tackles all three problems. It includes toxicity weights and the number of people at risk using 2002 data-the most recent available from the EPA's Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators project. PERI researchers added up facility-by-facility data from the EPA to get corporate rankings.

"In making this information available, we are building on the achievements of the right-to-know movement," Boyce explains. "Our goal is to engender public participation in environmental decision-making, and to help residents translate the right to know into the right to clean air."

For further information, contact Professor Michael Ash at +1 (413) 545-6329 or visit PERI's Corporate Toxics Information Project. The Political Economy Research Institute addresses basic issues of human and ecological well-being through research written for the general public, policy makers, and academic audiences.

THE TOXIC 100: Top Corporate Air Polluters in the United States
Largest corporations ranked by toxic score, 2002

The Political Economy Research Institute (Estados Unidos)

 

Rank	Corporation	Toxic score (pounds released x toxicity x population exposure)	Millions of pounds of toxic air releases
1	E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co.	475,482	17.15
2	United States Steel Corp.	359,681	2.84
3	ConocoPhillips	284,772	8.04
4	General Electric Co.	266,308	4.46
5	Eastman Kodak Co.	253,054	5.09
6	Exxon Mobil Corp.	247,699	15.47
7	Ford Motor Co.	244,782	9.67
8	Tyson Foods Inc.	234,041	1.28
9	Alcoa Inc.	193,034	9.88
10	Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM)	191,367	12.40
11	The Dow Chemical Co.	157,237	14.07
12	Eastman Chemical Co., Inc.	154,570	8.91
13	The Boeing Co.	152,426	1.26
14	Nucor Corp.	152,421	0.76
15	Georgia-Pacific Corp.	148,277	22.72
16	AK Steel Holding Corp.	133,591	0.33
17	Northrop Grumman Corp.	125,214	0.52
18	Deere & Co.	120,050	0.41
19	Dominion Resources Inc.	117,712	15.15
20	General Motors Corp.	114,235	12.77
21	Delphi Corp.	110,565	0.38
22	Tesoro Corp.	109,182	3.74
23	Phelps Dodge Corp.	107,877	3.64
24	Temple-Inland Inc.	103,730	7.53
25	The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.	98,700	4.16
26	Allegheny Technologies Inc.	95,700	0.59
27	International Paper Co.	95,277	35.07
28	Valero Energy Corp.	80,204	3.36
29	Progress Energy Inc.	75,868	38.96
30	Kerr-McGee Corp.	72,366	0.84
31	Danaher Corp.	67,834	0.16
32	Engelhard Corp.	63,539