2009 Toxic Chemical Releases Shows Reduction in the EPA Analysis Report – TRI
Vital community information will be provided shortly with the release of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) annual national analysis of the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). Information on the disposal and release of toxic chemical into the air, land and water, and on waste management and pollution prevention activities in neighborhoods across America is published by the TRI program. The report claims that there has been a 12% decrease in the release of toxic chemicals into the environment from 2008, with the 2009 figures being 3.37 billion pounds.
This year, additional information offered by the EPA makes the TRI data more significant to communities. Toxic releases and disposals to selected urban communities, tribal lands, and large aquatic ecosystems is not highlighted in the TRI report.
The data in the analysis includes about 650 chemicals from more than 20,000 facilities. Since 2008, air releases reduced by 20%, surface water released by 18%, and land releases by 4%. Additional decreases were seen in the release of chemicals (persistent, bio-accumulative, and toxic) such as mercury, dioxin, and lead.
Related Acts
The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986 created the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) later modified by the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990. It is a law designed to improve community access to information about chemical hazards and to facilitate the development of chemical emergency response plans by state/tribe and local governments.
EPCRA Section 313 requires manufacturing facilities included in SIC codes 20 through 39 to submit an annual toxic chemical release report if they have 10 or more employees and if they manufacture, process, or use specified chemicals in amounts greater than threshold quantities. This report, commonly known as Form R, covers releases and transfers of toxic chemicals to various facilities and environmental media, and allows EPA to compile the national Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) database.
Source:
http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/lcra.html#Summary of Emergency Planning And Community Right-To-Know Act
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