Toxics Release Inventory

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) is a publicly available database maintained by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that contains information about toxic chemical releases and waste management activities by federal facilities and certain industries. The TRI program began in 1987 following enactment of the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) in 1986. That legislation was motivated in part by public outcry following the deaths of thousands in Bhopal, India, following release of methyl isocynate into the air by a Union Carbide plant located there, an incident followed in 1985 by a serious chemical release at another Union Carbide plant located in Institute, West Virginia, in the United States.

The EPA compiles TRI data annually and makes it available through several databases, including Explorer (http://www.epa.gov/triexplorer) and Envirofacts (http://www.epa.gov/enviro). Other organizations have also developed interfaces to TRI data, including the Right-to-Know Network and Green Media Toolshed. Material may be accessed in several ways including by geographic area, company, type of pollutant, type of industry, and year.

Currently about 650 chemicals are included in TRI, about twice as many as in 1987. The database has also expanded in terms of the number of industries that are required to submit information, and the thresholds for some chemicals have been lowered. A primary purpose of TRI is to provide information to communities about toxic chemicals being released into their environment, but the reporting process also operates as a type of informational regulation: because companies know they must report releases of toxic chemicals and that the information is accessible by researchers and the general public, they have an incentive to reduce the amount released.

As an example, we can conduct a search by ZIP code using the TRI Explorer interface. Entering in ZIP code 29801 identifies five facilities and their toxic chemical data, including on-site and off-site disposals and release data per facility, as identified by name and an assigned TRI Facility Identification Number (TRIF ID). A uniquely assigned number for the purposes of TRI reporting, facilities usually only obtain one ID number, even if [Page 511]reporting for several buildings within that facility. There are exceptions, however, where one facility will obtain several ID numbers for multiple units belonging to it. A closer review of the data submitted by AGY Aiken, LLC reports 243,026 pounds of on-site releases. Further inspection of the data reveals the origins of these releases—“certain glycol ethers, hydrogen fluoride, methanol.”

Using the following formula we can capture the total amount released:

In this case:

Further emission details become available by clicking on each of the chemical constituents. Clicking on “glycol ethers,” for example, leads to the official form capturing the reported data which sheds light on the company's current use of the chemical (glycol ethers), its anticipated future uses, and its source reduction strategies. AGY Aiken, LLC claims to use certain glycol ethers as a manufacturing aid. Air emissions—both point and nonpoint—dominate their emissions reporting, with smaller wastewater releases and disposal quantities comprising the remaining delta.

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