The Toxic 100 is a list of one hundred companies in the United States, ranked by the amount of air pollution produced and the relative toxicity of the pollutants, as determined by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.[1] The March 2010 list was based on 2006 data.[2]
The top 10 members of this list, as of March 2010, were Bayer Group, ExxonMobil, Sunoco, E.I. du Pont de Nemours, ArcelorMittal, Steel Dynamics Inc., Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM), Ford Motor Company, Eastman Kodak Co., and Koch Industries. This presented the highest toxic-score companies that appeared on recent Forbes, Fortune, and Standard & Poor's large company lists. Individual facilities were assigned to corporate parents on the basis of current information on the ownership structure.[2]
The toxic score levels were calculated by number of pounds released X toxicity X population exposure. The population exposure component was calculated by nearby residents, and factors such as prevailing winds and height of smokestacks. The pounds released portion were calculated by the number of millions of pounds of toxic chemicals released. The toxicity of the chemicals were as computed by the US EPA's Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators.[3]
According to a 3 April 2010 article published by "Truthout.org", the 2010 publication has the following additional information:
"For the first time, the Toxic 100 Air Polluters includes information on the disproportionate risk burden from industrial air toxics for minorities and low-income communities. This makes it possible to compare corporations and facilities in terms of their environmental justice performance as well as overall pollution. For example, the data reveal that minorities bear 65% of the air toxics risk from facilities owned by ExxonMobil, while minorities make up 38% of the U.S. population."[4]