FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 5, 2012
EPA Releases 2010 Toxics Release Inventory National Analysis
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is releasing its annual
national analysis of the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), providing all Americans with
vital information about their communities. The TRI program publishes information on
toxic chemical disposals and other releases into the air, land and water, as well as
information on waste management and pollution prevention activities in neighborhoods
across the country. Total releases including disposals for the latest reporting year,
2010, are higher than the previous two years but lower than 2007 and prior year totals.
Many of the releases from TRI facilities are regulated under various EPA programs and
requirements designed to limit human and environmental harm.
“We will continue to put accessible, meaningful information in the hands of the
American people. Widespread public access to environmental information is fundamental
to the work EPA does every day,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “TRI is a
cornerstone of EPA’s community-right-to-know programs and has played a significant role
in protecting people’s health and the environment by providing communities with
valuable information on toxic chemical releases.”
Citizens have a right to know what toxic chemicals are being released into their
communities. Over the past 25 years, the TRI program has helped citizens, emergency
planners, public health officials, and others protect human health and the environment
by providing them with toxic chemical release and other waste management data they need
to make decisions that affect the safety and welfare of their communities.
The 2010 TRI data show that 3.93 billion pounds of toxic chemicals were released into
the environment nationwide, a 16 percent increase from 2009. The increase is mainly due
to changes in the metal mining sector, which typically involves large facilities
handling large volumes of material. In this sector, even a small change in the chemical
composition of the ore being mined — which EPA understands is one of the reasons for
the increase in total reported releases — may lead to big changes in the amount of
toxic chemicals reported nationally. Several other sectors also reported increases in
toxic releases in 2010, including the chemical and primary metals industries.
Total air releases decreased 6 percent since 2009, continuing a trend seen over the
past several years. Releases into surface water increased 9 percent and releases into
land increased 28 percent since 2009, again due primarily to the metal mining sector.
EPA has improved this year’s TRI national analysis report by adding new information on
facility efforts to reduce pollution and by considering whether economic factors could
have affected the TRI data. With this report and EPA’s Web-based TRI tools, citizens
can access information about the toxic chemical releases into the air, water, and land
that occur locally. Finally, EPA’s first mobile application for accessing TRI data,
myRTK, is now available in Spanish, as are expanded Spanish translations of national
analysis documents and Web pages.
TRI data is submitted annually to EPA and states by multiple industry sectors including
manufacturing, metal mining, electric utilities, and commercial hazardous waste
facilities. Facilities must report their toxic chemical releases to EPA under the
federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) by July 1st of each
year. The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 also requires information on waste
management activities related to TRI chemicals.
Link to 201o analysis: http://www.epa.gov/tri/NationalAnalysis/index.htm
More on the 2010 TRI analysis and TRI Web-based tools: http://www.epa.gov/tri
More on myRTK: http://www.epa.gov/tri/myrtk/
