560289003
SEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
September 1989
560/2-89-003
Pesticides And Toxic Substances (TS-778)
Chemical Releases
And Chemical Risks
A Citizen's Guide To
Risk Screening
Inventory
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Suppose a headline in your morning
paper said: "Local Plant Releases 10,000
Pounds of Toxic Chemicals to the
Environment." Would any of these
questions occur to you?
"Will these chemicals affect my health
or the health of my family?"
"What is the government doing about
these releases?"
"How can I get more information?"
"What can I do to protect myself and
my community from environmental
hazards?"
This pamphlet describes risk screening, a
tool that government agencies can use to
identify the chemical releases that may
require further investigation. It also
explains how you can find answers to
questions you might have about releases
of potentially toxic chemicals in your
community.
What is the Toxic Chemical
Release Inventory (TRI)?
In 1986, Congress responded to growing
public concern about chemical accidents
by passing a law to help America's
communities deal safely and effectively
with hazardous substances. This law, the
Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Act (also known as Title
III of the Superfund Amendments and
Reauthorization Act of 1986), provides
for the collection and publication of
much new information about toxic
chemicals.
Section 313 of the law requires
thousands of companies to report releases
to the environment of more than 300
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toxic chemicals. The reports are made to
EPA and state governments. Each year,
firms with more than 10 employees that
manufacture, import, process or use
specified amounts of these chemicals
must report the annual total of routine
and accidental releases to the air, water
and land.
EPA has compiled this release data in a
national computerized data base called
the Toxic Chemical Release Inventory
(TRI), available through the National
Library of Medicine (1-800-638-8480).
EPA is also making the information
readily available to the public in county
libraries, the Government Pnntmg
Office, federal depository libraries, and
through a variety of other means
including a comprehensive national
report (The Toxics-Release Inventory^
National Perspective, EPA 560/4-89-005,
June 1989).
What Does the TRI
Mean to You?
Creation of the TRI data base marks the
first time that members of the public will
have access to detailed information about
releases of toxic chemicals in their
communities. Information that must be
reported includes:
. What chemicals were released into the
environment in the preceding year.
. How much of each chemical went into
the air, water, and land.
. The amount of waste transported away
from the facility for disposal.
. How chemical wastes were treated at
the facility.
. The effectiveness of that treatment.
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By using the TRI data base, which will
be updated annually, you will be able to
determine the estimated annual emissions
of a particular chemical from
manufacturing plants in a specific
geographic area. You will also be able to
compare the emissions reported by
similar facilities in different parts of the
country. The national report contains
many analyses that compare releases of
different chemicals, types of facilities,
and geographic areas.
You can use the TRI data to gain a more
complete picture of chemical risks in
your community, and, working with local
authorities, make decisions and take
actions that will protect you and your
neighbors from those risks.
What Can the TRI Tell You?
The TRI data base provides the first
comprehensive overview of toxic
chemical pollution from manufacturing
facilities in the United States. It is
nationwide in scope, and can be used to
develop comparisons among industries;
locate previously unknown sources of
toxic chemicals in the environment; and
track pollution reduction trends.
The TRI also has some limitations. The
reporting requirements do not cover all
businesses that release potentially toxic
chemicals. Dry cleaners, for example,
release toxic chemicals, but they are not
covered by the law. Neither are
automobile service stations. Nor does the
law cover toxic chemicals that reach the
environment from non-industrial sources,
including some cleaning products, paints
and paint strippers, and automobile
exhausts. Only manufacturing firms with
10 or more employees that manufacture,
import, process or use a certain amount
of toxic chemical during the course of a
year are covered.
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In addition, the reported amounts of
chemicals released during the year are
annual estimates. The TRI does not show
whether a chemical was released in large
amounts over a short period of time, or in
small amounts throughout the year. This
information can be important in
determining the effects of a chemical on
human health and the environment.
Another limitation of the TRI data base is
that the release information alone does
not tell you the levels of exposure (the
amount of a chemical an individual or
population comes into contact with
during a given period of time) or risk (the
probability of harm to human health or
the environment) from these chemicals.
Exposure and risk do not always
correlate directly with the level of
release. A large release of a relatively
low-toxicity chemical may present a
lower risk than a much smaller release of
a highly toxic chemical. For example,
sodium sulfate, a common salt,
accounted for nearly 95 percent of all
TRI releases to water in 1987. EPA has
deleted this low- toxicity substance from
the list of reportable chemicals.
Although the TRI data are a useful
starting point for identifying potential
problems, much additional information is
needed to make reliable estimates of the
risks posed by the chemical releases.
How Will Government
Agencies Evaluate and
Use the TRI?
The TRI can provide valuable
information for federal, state, and local
governments to use in setting priorities
for their toxic chemical management
programs.
The data show which chemicals were
released to the environment, and how
much of each chemical was released to
the air, land, or water by reporting
facilities in specific areas or nationwide.
It also tells how manufacturers are
treating their waste to make it less toxic,
safer to handle, or easier to dispose of.
Officials may use the TRI to compare
reported chemical releases to those
allowed in discharge permits and other
standards. Examination of the data may
point out "hot spots," or areas that appear
to have unusually high releases. It can
help government set priorities for further
investigation and reduction of releases,
and to identify chemicals for possible
regulatory action.
To help state and local officials use the
TRI, EPA has prepared a "Risk
Screening Guide" (Toxic Chemical
Release Inventory Risk Screening Guide,
EPA 560/2-89-002, June 1989) which
provides a procedure for determining
which releases may be of greatest
concern in any geographical area.
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What is Risk Screening?
How dangerous is this chemical? Can it
cause cancer? Harm fish in our lake?
Questions like these require scientists to
make an estimate of risk, or the
likelihood that a substance will harm
people or animal species. The answers
may be different from one situation to
another, because a chemical may be
dangerous to people or animals in one
situation, but virtually harmless to them
m another. This is due to differences in
exposure.
Risk screening is a tool that uses
available information, including TRI
data, and rapidly develops a relative
estimate of risk for a particular chemical
at a particular site. By ranking risks as
high, medium, or low, risk screening can
point to sites where a more detailed
investigation of the risk from high-
priority chemicals may be needed.
Risk screening has its limitations. It does
not provide a numerical estimate of risks
of a chemical release (such as "three
cases of cancer per million people
exposed"). Nor can it answer health-
related questions like "Will I get
cancer?" Additional information and
analysis is needed to determine whether
chemical releases are affecting or will
affect the health of people in a
community.
But risk screening can be used effectively
by government agencies to set priorities
for further action by pinpointing those
chemicals, facilities, and areas of the
community that appear to be of greatest
concern.
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How Can You
Become Involved?
The Emergency Planning and
Community Right-to-Know Act is based
on the belief that the more information
citizens have about environmental
hazards in their communities, the better
equipped they will be to ensure their own
protection from unacceptable health and
safety risks. Here are some of the ways
you can obtain and use information about
chemical releases in your community:
Identify other people who share your
concerns. The Emergency Planning
and Community Right-to-Know Act
provided for the creation of Local
Emergency Planning Committees
(LEPCs) to develop local emergency
response plans for chemical releases.
You may find it useful to participate in
your community's LEPC, or to form or
join a citizens' group to investigate
problems in your community. You also
can talk with groups in other
communities to compare which
chemicals local firms are using, the
amounts they are releasing, and how
similar businesses are reducing the
amounts of toxic waste they produce.
Contact the company. A local
company may be willing to give you
additional information about chemical
releases, or discuss what it is doing to
reduce its environmental releases of
toxic chemicals. You can request a tour
of the plant and ask to be placed on the
company's community mailing list.
Call or write a letter. Contact your
community's LEPC for information
about chemicals in your community.
You can locate your community's
LEPC through your State Emergency
Response Commission. A list of state
commissions is on page 8. Get in touch
with your regional EPA office or your
state and local environmental and
public health agencies. These agencies
have toxicologists and other
professional staff who can answer
questions about chemical toxicity and
exposure.
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Contact the EPA hotline for more
information. The Emergency Planning
and Community Right-to-Know
Hotline can provide you with more
information about the law and related
issues. Call toll free 1-800- 535-0202.
In Washington, D.C. and Alaska, call
202-479-2449.
Contact your family physician if you
believe that you have symptoms
related to a chemical exposure. Your
physician can evaluate your symptoms
as they relate to your overall medical
history.
One way or another, do get involved. The
industry reporting requirements under the
Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Act are a significant step
forward in environmental protection, but
your participation is crucial to the
success of this program. By reaching a
better understanding of the potential risks
of chemicals in your community, you
will be able to help make informed
decisions about controlling those risks
and making your community a safer,
healthier place for you and your family.
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STATE EMERGENCY RESPONSE
COMMISSION TELEPHONE NUMBERS
Alabama (205) 834-1375 Nebraska
Alaska (907) 465-2600 Nevada
American Samoa (684)633-2331 New Hampshire
Arizona (602)231-6326 New Jersey
Arkansas (501)562-7444 New Mexico
California (916) 427-4287 New York
Colorado (303) 273-1624 North Carolina
Connecticut (203)566-4856 North Dakota
Delaware (302)736-3169 Northern Mariana
District of Columbia (202) 727-6 1 6 1 Islands
Florida (904) 488-1472 Ohio
Georgia (404)656-4713 Oklahoma
Guam (671)734-3410 Oregon
Hawaii (808)548-2076 Pennsylvania
Idaho (208) 334-5888 Puerto Rico
Illinois (217)782-4694 Rhode Island
Indiana (317)243-5176 South Carolina
Iowa (5 1 5) 28 1 -323 1 South Dakota
Kansas (913)296-1690 Tennessee
Kentucky (502) 564-8660 Texas
Louisiana (504)925-6113 Utah
Maine (207) 289-4080 Vermont
Maryland (301)486-4422 Virgin Islands
Massachusetts (6 1 7) 292-58 1 0
Michigan (517)373-8481 Virginia
Minnesota (612)296-0488 Washington
Mississippi (601) 960-9973 West Virginia
Missouri (3 1 4) 75 1 -7929 Wisconsin
Montana (406) 444-3948 Wyoming
EPA REGIONAL SECTION 313 CONTACTS
EPA Region 1 (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI,VT)
EPA Region 2 (NJ, NY, VI, PR)
EPA Region 3 (DE, MD, PA, VA, WV, DC)
EPA Region 4 (AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN)
EPA Region 5 (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI)
EPA Region 6 (AR, LA, MM, OK, TX)
EPA Region 7 (IA, KS, MO, NE)
EPA Region 8 (CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY)
EPA Region 9 (AZ, CA, HI, NV, AS, GU, MP)
EPA Region 10 (AK, ID, OR, WA)
(402)471-4217
(702) 885-4240
(603)271-2231
(609)292-6714
(505) 827-9222
(518)547-9994
(919) 733-3867
(701)224-2111
(670) 322-9529
(614)644-2260
(405)521-2481
(503) 378-2885
(717)783-8150
(809)722-1175
(401) 277-3039
(803) 734-0425
(605)773-3151
(615)252-3300
(512)465-2138
(801)533-5271
(802) 828-2286
(809) 774-3320
Ext. 169 or 170
(804)225-2513
(206) 753-5625
(304) 348-5380
(608) 366-3232
(307) 777-7566
(617)565-3230
(201) 906-6890
(215)597-1260
(404) 347-5053
(312) 353-5907
(214) 655-7244
(913) 236-2806
(303)293-1730
(415) 974-7280
(206)443-4016
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oEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
(TS-778)
Washington, DC 20460
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use
$300
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