A Work Environment Council Fact Sheet   The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI)   A Landmark Law This fact sheet describes the Toxics Release Inventory provisions of the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA), or SARA Title III, a publicly available database. TRI is administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is based on facility reports. TRI is one of a number of state and federal worker and community chemical right to know laws. The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Under EPCRA, each year certain kinds of facilities are required to report their environmental releases and chemical waste management practices to TRI. Covered facilities must disclose their releases of about 628 toxic chemicals and chemical categories to air, water, and land. They must also disclose the quantities of chemicals they recycle, treat, burn, or otherwise dispose of on-site and off-site. Annual data is available since 1987. Who Must Report? A facility must report to TRI if it: Conducts manufacturing operations or is a federal facility; and Has 10 or more full-time equivalent employees, and Manufactures or processes more than 25,000 pounds or otherwise uses more than 10,000 pounds of any listed chemical during the calendar year. For 1997, 557 facilities in New Jersey reported to TRI. Starting for the 1998 reporting year, these facilities must also report: oil and coal fired electrical utilities, Resource and Recovery Act (RCRA) Subtitle C hazardous waste treatment and disposal facilities, chemical wholesalers, petroleum bulk storage, and solvent recyclers. What Must Be Reported? Information reported includes: Facility Identification and management contact person. Environmental permits held. Amounts (in pounds) of each listed chemical released as: Fugitive or Non-point Air Emissions (may impact worker exposures from leaking valves, etc.) Stack or Point Air Emissions Discharges to Receiving Streams or Water Bodies Discharges to Land (including landfills) Publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) Amounts of each chemical shipped from the facility to other locations for recycling, energy recovery, treatment, or disposal. Maximum amount of chemical present on-site at the facility during the year. How Do Facilities Report? TRI data is reported by individual facilities on a form called "Form R." EPA takes these forms (or Form Rs on computer diskettes) and converts them into an electronic database. The Forms are submitted on or before July 1 and cover the previous calendar year. Forms are submitted both the EPA and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Understanding and Obtaining TRI Data 1) To better understand TRI data, request free copies of the Form R and the TRI summary (by year) by calling the TRI Hotline at 1-800-424-9346. 2) Excellent, easy to use, and free on-line sources of TRI data are: http://www.rtk.net by the OMB Watch and the Unison Institute http://www.scorecard.org by the Environmental Defense Fund Using these web sites, you can search by zip code, county, state, facility name, etc. These sites also contain useful links, including to data on chemical health effects such as New Jersey's Hazardous Substance Fact Sheets. (Some of these fact sheets are also available in Spanish). 3) EPA's site is: http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/tri 4) EPA may take 18 months to get the data on-line. To see data about specific facilities that is six months old, contact the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection, which receives a duplicate Form R from facilities by July 1 of each year. Call DEP's Andy Opperman at (609) 633-1154 (FAX 609 633-7031) for information. You can review the data at DEP for free or you can order photocopies for a fee. You may also wish to review at DEP a) the annual N.J. Release and Pollution Prevention Report (DEQ 114) for specific facilities which quantifies data on their "throughput" of chemicals; and b) the annual Community Right to Know Survey, which contains data on the amounts of about 1,000 chemicals stored or used on-site. If you have technical or enforcement related questions, call EPA Regional TRI Coordinator Nora Lopez at (732) 906-6890 (FAX 732-321-6788). Benefits of TRI Data You can get this free data easily. This is data submitted by management, so they find it difficult to challenge their own information. Fugitive (and sometimes stack) air emission data suggests possible sources of worker exposure. You can do yearly comparisons to see if facilities are reducing or increasing their emissions. You can plan pollution prevention campaigns focusing on specific facilities (or industries or neighborhoods). Limits of TRI Data TRI does not: cover all toxic chemicals that can hurt human health or the environment. require reporting from many industries that pollute, such as solid waste incinerators. require reporting of actual worker or neighbor exposure. Also: reporting facilities usually estimate their releases and waste generation, rather than actually measure emissions. The law does not require monitoring. Facilities find that estimating is cheaper. Management is responsible for data accuracy. EPA review of this data is limited. EPA enforcement of the this law is inadequate. This fact sheet was produced by the New Jersey Work Environment Council (WEC). WEC advocates for safe, secure jobs and a healthy, sustainable environment. For help using TRI, more information, or to learn about how you or your organization can join WEC call (609) 695-7100.