Toxic Release Inventory

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Toxic Release Inventory


In 1986 the U.S. Congress passed a federal law called the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), which gives the public the right to know about industrial toxic chemicals that are released into the environment. At present this law, which is also known as Title III of the Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act, requires businesses in certain industries that manufacture, process, or otherwise use any chemical from a list of 651 designated chemicals or chemical groups in amounts greater than a certain threshold to report annually to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on their releases of these chemicals. The EPA maintains this information in a database called the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), which is available to the public over the Internet.


TRI Reporting Requirements

A plant, factory, or other facility must report chemical releases if it has ten or more full-time employees and manufactures, processes, or imports any of the listed chemicals in amounts greater than 25,000 pounds per yearor 10,000 pounds per year if any of the listed chemicals are otherwise used but not incorporated into a final product. The TRI classifies the chemicals according to their chemical and physical characteristics and contains information on release location. The TRI reports amounts that are released each year to the air, water, and land, as well as information on chemicals sent to waste-management facilities. Air emissions are separated into passive emissions

TOP TEN TRI CHEMICAL ON-SITE AND OFF-SITE REPORTED RELEASES (IN POUNDS) FOR FACILITIES IN
ALL INDUSTRIES, UNITED STATES, 2000
chemicalairwaterunderground injectionlandtotal on- and off-site
source: u.s. environmental protection agency
copper compounds1,656,106426,4191,737,2511,346,061,8451,367,338,006
zinc compounds7,513,3861,276,15122,580,44828,086,5671,037,602,367
hydrochloric acid645,632,58296,76354,12515,549647,112,538
manganese compounds2,214,8105,696,40310,829,1464,048,797,705479,942,409
arsenic compounds240,956166,4821,809,735469,413,711476,640,941
lead compounds1,225,79480,5108,512,731328,875,879357,844,917
nitrate compounds336,731232,960,31957,203,69413,041,063317,119,741
barium compounds2,850,7941,749,3242,099,443243,702,122299,780,394
methanol183,176,2263,753,93118,353,2321,828,212208,566,348
ammonia139,047,8517,560,65427,335,2705,772,773184,124,675
TRI TOTAL RELEASES BY INDUSTRY, 19982000. (DOES NOT
INCLUDE PBT CHEMICALS.)
industrytotal on- and off-site releases, 2000, in poundschange 19982000, in pounds and percentage
source: u.s. environmental protection agency
manufacturing industries2,267,118,555154,218,664;6.4
metal mining3,310,956,485252,183,558;7.1
coal mining15,327,86019,334,956;14.4
electric utilities1,120,615,3489,834,598;0.9
chemical wholesale distributors1,611,79091,350;6.0
petroleum terminals/bulk storage3,725,152786,620;17.4
hazardous waste/solvent recovery7,001,138,027409,262,569;5.5

from storage or production and "stack" or point emissions. Releases to water include the name of the receiving water body.

Businesses required to report to TRI have expanded from the original manufacturing facilities and now include manufacturing, metal mining, coal mining, electric utilities that combust coal and/or oil, chemical wholesale distributors, petroleum terminals, bulk-storage facilities, hazardous-waste treatment and disposal facilities, solvent-recovery services, and federal facilities.


PBT Emissions

Persistent bioaccumulative toxic (PBT) chemicals are a class of compounds that persist and bioaccumulate in the environment. They have the potential to result in greater exposure to humans and the environment over a longer period of time, making even smaller quantities of these chemicals of concern. In 2000 the TRI was expanded to include new PBT chemicals, and the reporting threshold was lowered for both the newly added chemicals and certain PBT chemicals already on the TRI list. The reporting criteria for most PBT chemicals was lowered to a threshold of one hundred pounds if manufactured, used, or processed. A threshold of ten pounds was established for another subset of PBT chemicals that are highly persistent and highly bioaccumulative, including mercury compounds, pesticides such as chlordane,

COMPANIES WITH LARGEST EMISSIONS; TOTAL SURFACE WATER DISCHARGES
companies with largest dischargessurface water discharges, in pounds, 2000principal chemical releases
source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
ak steel corp., pa28,048,653nitrate compounds
basf corp., tx21,515,040nitrate compounds
ak steel, in12,211,850nitrate compounds
vicksburg chemical co., ms7,966,805nitrate compounds
ibp inc., ne6,700,250nitrate compounds
smithfield packing co., nc5,129,795nitrate compounds
COMPANIES WITH LARGEST EMISSIONS; TOTAL AIR EMISSIONS
companies with largest emissionstotal air emissions, in pounds, 2000principal chemical releases
source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
magnesium corp. of america, ut43,932,001chlorine, hydrochloric acid
cp&l roxboro steam electric plant, nc19,247,325hydrochloric acid
reliant energies inc., keystone power plant, pa18,460,972hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid
bowen steam electric plant, ga17,807,778sulfuric acid, hydrogen fluoride
lenzing fibers corp., tn17,345,982carbon disulfide
gulf power co. crist plant, fl16,621,882hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid
COMPANIES WITH LARGEST EMISSIONS; TOTAL LAND RELEASES
companies with largest releasestotal releases to land, in pounds, 2000principal chemical releases
source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
kennecott utah copper mine, ut813,758,255copper, zinc, antimony
red dog ops mine facility, ak445,322,528cadmium, lead
barrick goldstrike mines inc., nv346,539,178arsenic, manganese, zinc
newmont mining corp., twin creeks mine, nv219,922,901arsenic, antimony
asarco inc. ray complex mine, az155,098,189copper
newmont mining corp., carlin, nv154,157,564arsenic, zinc, antimony

heptachlor, methoxychlor, and toxaphene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs). Since dioxins are highly persistent but are produced in extremely small amounts, the threshold for dioxin and dioxin-like compounds was set at 0.1 grams, with the provision that reporting include dioxin and dioxin-like compounds that are present as contaminants in a chemical or that are created during the manufacture of another chemical.


Reporting Trends

From 1998 to 2000, total TRI releases by all industries fell by 409.3 million pounds, or more than 5 percent. The largest decrease from 1999 to 2000 occurred in the metal mining industry.

see also Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA); Hazardous Waste; Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

internet resource

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "Toxics Release Inventory Program." Available from http://www.epa.gov/tri.

Joan Rothlein

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