Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program

Under federal law the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program has evolved as a joint effort between industry and local, state, and national regulatory agencies. It attempts to provide communities information about the amounts of certain toxic chemicals released in their areas. The program does not include all industries or all chemicals. The TRI Program is rigorous with the industries and chemicals that are included in the program. However, as a result of the exclusion of some chemicals and some industries it is only an estimate of the total emissions.

The TRI Program was initiated with the passage of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) in 1986. Specific sections of the legislation require certain businesses to report to state and federal agencies:

• The quantities of certain chemicals that they release into the air, water and land.
• Certain chemicals that are recycled, treated, burned, or otherwise disposed of on-site.
• Certain chemicals that are sent to other facilities for further waste management.

In addition, the legislation requires states to collect data on the annual releases and transfers of certain toxic chemicals within their borders and make it available as public information. State agencies rely on the designated industries to provide accurate and complete data, consistent with the regulations, for the annual tabulations. The TRI Program is a forum for distribution of information to the public.

The TRI Program actually began in 1987 with the collection of release data for a prescribed list of chemicals and industry types. The program subsequently expanded under rules issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to include additional industry sectors as well as other targeted chemicals that were not originally included. The list of targeted chemicals has expanded to over 650 compounds, roughly doubling the original number. Annual publications of TRI Program data are maintained on the EPA website and the state’s LDEQ web site.

TRI data provides citizens and government officials a basis for evaluating environmental management of chemicals and chemical byproducts. The data can also be used to monitor trends in the progress of pollution control and waste generation.

When interpreting TRI data, one must recognize the limitations of that data:

• While TRI data provides information on the release of chemicals from facilities, this does not directly translate into exposures necessarily encountered by actual individuals.
• TRI data does not track many external factors that may determine actual exposure to chemical and/or subsequent effects that may be experienced by a person or group of people. Some of these factors include:
  • The toxicity of the particular chemical.
  • The chemical’s tendency to degrade or persist in the environment.
  • Possible increase or decreases in the concentration of the chemical present in the environment due to its incorporation into the food chain (bioaccumulation)
  • The medium into which the chemical was release and its effects on increasing or decreasing the likelihood of human exposure (via pathways such as inhalation, dermal, or ingestion).
  • The handling and treatment of the chemical prior to the release.
  • The relative health of the subject independent of any potential exposure.
  • The proximity of the release to actual locations of a person or group of people.
  • The inclusion of compounds that are safely disposed of onsite/offsite that do not pose any risk ton the community.
• Many Industry types, chemicals, and emission sources are not monitored.
  • Estimates by EPA and other sources concede that major emission sources (e.g. automobile & truck emissions) are not captured by TRI data.
  • Restrictions within industry sectors monitored by the TRI Program exclude some sources from within those sectors from reporting data, such as business size and/or the annual amount of manufacture or production of monitored chemicals.

Consequently, TRI data can be of some use in establishing an approximate assessment of exposure risks and environmental quality. However, there are significant pieces of the puzzle that are not represented by the data.

Despite the inherent limitations of TRI data, industry and regulatory agencies recognize the value of such information as well as the desire of conscientious citizens and community groups to have access to it. For that reason the facilities and regulatory community strive to ensure the accurate, complete and timely collection and dissemination of data to strengthen the partnership between the industrial facilities and their communities.

 TRI Related Websites

General Information about TRI
http://www.epa.gov/tri/tridata/index.htm
http://www.epa.gov/tri/chemical/index.htm

To view TRI reports for specific companies
http://www.epa.gov/triexplorer

Emergency Planning, Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA)
http://www.epa.gov/regulations/laws/epcra.html

Louisiana State TRI Data
http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/portal/tabid/2335/Default.aspx