Amador County - While most of California is seeing a downward trend in the amount of toxic releases, pollution from Amador County and much of the Sacramento region is on the rise. According to figures from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Amador County and Sacramento County showed increases in toxic releases in 2007 and 2008. Amador County’s contribution can mostly be attributed to the SierraPine company, consistently considered to be one of the region’s largest polluters. In 2008, the company released more than 100,000 pounds of methanol and 15,000 pounds of formaldehyde- chemicals it uses to make particle board. The company also released approximately 51,000 pounds of the same chemicals from its Rocklin plant. In that same year, Sacramento County facilities released 460,420 pounds of chemicals, which increased to 505,649 in 2008. Some of the region’s biggest polluters include D & T Fiberglass in Sacramento, Siligan Can Company located in Sacramento’s old Campbell’s Soup factory, Procter & Gamble, Grafil Inc., a carbon fiber manufacturer on Fruitridge Road, and the Blue Diamond plant in downtown Sacramento. The main pollutants in California include ammonia, lead, asbestos, zinc compounds and nitrate compounds. Nationally, toxic releases decreased by 6 percent compared to the previous year, from 4.1 billion pounds to 3.86 billion pounds. EPA officials say these numbers are a good indicator when asking questions about air and water pollution on a local level. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.