EPA Has Done Next To Nothing To Impede Flow Of Toxic Electronic Waste To 3rd World Nations - WP

[hatrack]

The Environmental Protection Agency has done little to curb the export of discarded electronic products containing hazardous waste, much of which ends up in poorly regulated countries and harms the environment and public health, the Government Accountability Office concluded in a report being released today.

The 63-page report -- commissioned by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard L. Berman (D-Calif.) -- is a scathing critique of the EPA's failure to control the export of used electronic equipment, which often is sent to China, India and other countries to be dismantled under unsafe conditions. U.S. authorities have yet to develop a national approach for handling the waste, which often contains toxic metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium. Amounts are rapidly growing as consumers replace their laptops, cellphones and televisions. "It's a really inadequate situation that we've allowed to continue," said Berman, whose panel is holding a hearing on the issue today. "We have a regulation where, as far as I can tell, there's no effort to enforce it."

EPA spokesman Timothy Lyons took issue with the report, saying the agency is working hard to enforce a January 2007 rule that requires the EPA to oversee the export of cathode-ray tubes. "In the 18 months since the CRT rule went into effect, EPA initiated 20 investigations, recently issued one complaint and entered into one settlement," Lyons wrote in an e-mail. "Improving compliance with the rule is our top priority as we continue our efforts to educate the public and the regulated community about the new rule, and take enforcement action when necessary."

But it was GAO officials who alerted the EPA to violations by Jet Ocean Technology, a company in Chino, Calif., from which the EPA is now seeking a $32,500 penalty. Company officials could not be reached to comment yesterday. The report said that dozens of other U.S. companies are circumventing the CRT rule, while other electronics containing toxic materials are flowing overseas with no restrictions. The EPA cannot identify where 80 percent of U.S. electronic waste is headed, it said.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091603225.html