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II. Introduction 

Texas leads the nation in emissions of toxic chemicals into the environment. Members of just one polluter trade group—the Texas Chemical Council—are responsible for an astounding 74 percent of Texas’ toxic emissions as tracked by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The damage that this toxic pollution causes to human health is difficult to fully document. Yet members of the Texas Chemical Council are a leading source of carcinogens, fetal developmental toxins and other poisons in the environment.  EPA data reveal that Chemical Council members pumped 187 million pounds of toxic chemicals into Texas’ environment in 1996. This pollution from members of a single Texas trade group is greater than the total statewide toxic emissions of every state other than Texas. In 1996, Chemical Council members vented 85 million pounds of toxic chemicals into Texas skies, injected 83 million pounds underground and pumped 19 million pounds into Texas waters.
 
How do these polluters get away with the wholesale dumping of toxic pollutants into the environment that must sustain all Texans? The answer is special-interest political influence. The Texas Chemical Council boasts that when it formed in 1953 it was the first trade group in the nation that specifically organized to influence a state government. By wielding behind-the-scenes influence, the Chemical Council repeatedly advances its members’ toxic interests at the expense of regular Texans. To get a leg up on average citizens, the Chemical Council and its members invest heavily in lobbyists, as well as in the war chests of elected officials.

Despite its enormous political and environmental impact, the Chemical Council keeps a low profile beyond the Austin lobby. This report exposes the prodigious toxic emissions and lavish political expenditures of the Chemical Council and its members. These twin trails of toxic emissions and political expenditures converge in the Chemical Council’s legislative agenda. Not surprisingly, members of the three legislative environmental committees that do the most to advance this pollution agenda walk away with a disproportionate share of the money that the Chemical Council members give to legislators.
The Chemical Council and its members have twisted an old environmental maxim to suit their own special interests. While it is true that “the polluters pay” in Texas, too often the polluters do not pay to prevent pollution or to clean it up. Instead, they pay politicians to keep this dumping legal. This cozy relationship costs them but pennies on the dollar.

Toxic Releases Inventory Data
The 1984 Union Carbide chemical plant accident that killed 2,500 people in Bhopal, India was the worst industrial accident in human history. In response to this tragedy, Congress passed the 1986 Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) so that citizens could learn about the threats posed by dangerous chemicals in their neighborhoods.

Authorized by EPCRA, the EPA maintains the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) to track more than 650 recognized and suspected toxic chemicals that industry releases into the air, land and water.

According to EPA data, industrial plants in Texas released more than 250 million pounds of TRI toxins on the site of their industrial facilities in 1996. These same facilities also transferred more than 350 million additional pounds of TRI toxins for off-site treatment and disposal. This report analyzes the 187 million pounds of onsite TRI emissions produced by members of the Texas Chemical Council and their parent companies in 1996.¹ For simplicity’s sake, unless otherwise noted, when this report refers to “toxins” it is specifically referring to the toxic chemicals tracked by TRI. This is only a fraction of Texas’ total toxic load.

As this report was nearing completion in May 1999, the EPA released a new set of TRI data for 1997. According to these data, onsite TRI emissions in Texas fell from more than 250 million pounds to 218 million pounds from 1996 to 1997. Despite this decline, Texas continued to lead the nation in TRI releases and produced 10 percent of the nation’s entire output of onsite TRI emissions.²

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