According to the Environment Protection Agency, Pollution in the United States is three times worse than previously thought. Some 7.3 billion pounds of toxic materials were dumped into the environment in 1998, the last year for which data are available. The new EPA data revealed that as much as 63 percent of the total comes from the mining and electric utility industries.

The source of this data, Toxic inventory report, was first established in 1985 by a federal law that aimed to give more information to communities about local toxic emissions.

Reuter, May 12, 2000