What could be more basic than having the right to know if there are any health hazards in your neighborhood - particularly toxic chemicals?

Yet the Bush Administration weakened rules that required companies to let the public know what kind of chemicals are being discharged into the environment by factories and plants that sit side by side with residential areas. The Bush plan eliminates detailed reports from companies that discharge thousands of pounds of chemicals every year and lets facilities that use known toxins, such as lead and mercury, get away without letting their neighbors know how these chemicals are being used. The Bush plan means if a facility in your neighborhood suffers a fire or other incident, you won’t know what toxic chemicals are involved and how to protect yourself.

That’s an outrage.

That’s why I wrote and fought for a new law, the Toxic Right-to-Know-Protection Act, overturning the Bush attempts to gut this critical environmental and health safeguard. I’m happy to report that the Senate Environment and Public Works committee has just passed this legislation. Now, I need your help to bring this to a full Senate vote and force George Bush to correct his mistake.

Click on the link to sign our petition urging Congress to move quickly on my bill, and telling President Bush to sign my Toxic Right-to-Know-Protection Act into law when it reaches his desk.

Together, we can stand strong for our neighborhoods, and tell President Bush that our right to know is more important than cozying up to polluters.