About this Discussion Forum
Share your thoughts on these posts to help us define the scope of a potential forthcoming rule. Your input may guide us as we plan for the data collection and analyses that will support development of such a rule and may help us to uncover points of potential agreement and disagreement between stakeholders.
The discussion forum will be open until 5 pm on November 10, 2011. Comments received before that time will be included in a public docket. We will provide a link to the docket once it is posted. A proposed rule may be published by early 2013.
TRI Basics
The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) is a database that contains detailed information on nearly 650 chemicals and chemical categories that over 23,000 industrial and other facilities manage through disposal or other releases, recycling, energy recovery, or treatment. The data are collected from industries including manufacturing, metal and coal mining, electric utilities, commercial hazardous waste treatment, and other industrial sectors. Information on the North American Standard Industry Classification System (NAICS) can be found at www.epa.gov/tri/lawsandregs/naic/ncodes.htm.
Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) of 1986 was enacted to facilitate emergency planning, to minimize the effects of potential toxic chemical accidents, and to provide the public with information on releases of toxic chemicals in their communities. The Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) of 1990 mandates collection of data on toxic chemicals that are treated, recycled, and combusted for energy recovery. Together, these laws require facilities in certain industries, which manufacture, process, or use toxic chemicals above specified amounts, and maintain 10 or more full time employees, to report annually to EPA and the states on disposal or other releases and other waste management activities related to these chemicals.
Action under Consideration
In support of the goal to provide comprehensive toxic chemical release and other waste management information to communities, this rule would consider expanding the scope of industry sectors covered by EPCRA § 313, also known as the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). As originally enacted, EPCRA § 313 applied only to the manufacturing industry sectors. The statute, however, also allows the EPA Administrator to add sectors to TRI to the extent that doing so is relevant to the purposes of EPCRA § 313. Under this authority, the EPA in 1997 added seven additional industry sectors to the list of sectors covered by TRI. This rule would add or expand coverage to the following industry sectors: Iron Ore Mining, Phosphate Mining, Solid Waste Combustors and Incinerators, Large Dry Cleaning, Petroleum Bulk Storage, and Steam Generation from Coal and/or Oil.