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New Hampshire Companies Reduce Toxic Releases by 18% in Single Year; EPA Names Ten Largest Pollution Emitters

Release Date: 05/20/1997
Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, EPA Press Office, (617) 918-1064

Boston -- New Hampshire's manufacturers reduced the amount of toxics released into the air, water and land by 85% between 1988 and 1995, according to data released today by EPA's New England office. The improved environmental performance of New Hampshire's manufacturing facilities represents a reduction of 18% over the previous year, far out-pacing the 4.9% rate of improvement nationally. Across New England, facilities averaged a 19% reduction in chemical releases.

"We've made great progress in reducing the toxic chemicals released into the New England environment in the last nine years," said EPA's New England Administrator John P. DeVillars. "And we've grown our economy at the same time. This adds further credibility to our claim that smart environmental practices equal smart business practices."

"The Clinton-Gore administration has made the public's right to know about pollution in every community a top priority," said DeVillars. "Just last month the President called for approximately 6,100 new facilities -- an increase of about 30% -- to make public the levels of toxic chemicals they release into the air, water and land in communities across the country. The Clinton-Gore administration and EPA are empowering communities to hold industry and government accountable for environmental and public health protection."

The amount of toxic pollutants reported by New Hampshire manufacturers to EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) declined from 2,234,000 pounds in 1994 to 1,840,000 in 1995. In 1988, when the inventory first came into use, New Hampshire manufacturers released 12,278,000 pounds of toxics into the environment. New Hampshire' reduction of 85%, as well as the New England-wide drop of 74%, of toxic releases since 1988 compares favorably to the national reduction of 45.6% over the same period.

The following is a list of the ten top industrial facilities in New Hampshire in terms of number of pounds of chemicals emitted into the environment. It is important to note that these chemical emissions are reported to EPA under the TRI and do not reflect illegal discharges of pollutants to the environment.

COMPANY NAME	ADDRESS	TOTAL # pounds Chemicals emitted
Crown Paper Co.	Berlin	604,649
Baily Mfg. Corp	Seabrook	320,363
Crown Paper Co.	Gorham	151,270
Nashua Corp.	Merrimac	124,019
Kingston-Warren Corp.	Newfields	111,824
Simplex Techs. Inc.	Newington	108,989
Wausau Papers	Groveton	104,357
Textron Automotive Interior	Dover	73,760
Essex group, Inc.	Newmarket	71,273
Parker-Comerics Inc.	Hudson	71,000

"These data underscore the fact that EPA and state agencies can reap great environmental and public health benefits by encouraging responsible companies to prevent pollution," DeVillars added. "Despite our continued progress, this inventory also reminds us that we are still releasing tens of millions of pounds of toxic chemicals into our environment each year."

In New Hampshire, 66% of toxic wastes were recycled, 4% were used for energy recovery, 24% were treated, and 6% were released in 1995, according to the TRI.

The reporting of data to the Toxics Release Inventory is required under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, passed in 1986. The TRI provides the amount, location and type of release to the environment -- whether a pollutant is emitted into the air, discharged into the water, or released onto the land. It also includes information on waste shipped off-site for disposal or further treatment. The TRI has been credited with arming communities with valuable knowledge and encouraging facilities to reduce their releases of toxic chemicals into the environment through source reduction, or pollution prevention, measures.

TRI information is easily accessible to the news media and to the public. Information is available on-line, in hard copy and in a variety of computer formats, including CD-ROM. For copies or more information, the public is encouraged to call EPA's toll-free Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Information Hotline at 1(800) 424-9346.