Mercury: Toxics Release Inventory Fact Sheet
May 2002


Mercury Report:
2000 Toxics
Release Inventory
U.S. EPA Region 9
Arizona, California,
Hawaii, Nevada,
and the Pacific
Islands
On-Site Releases of Mercury and Mercury Compounds by Industry
a)
000
000
000
000
000
000
000
6,195
5,442
I
771
35
91

0.5

2,416

n

409

— 02

n
0.7	17
Pulp and Chemicals Petroleum Rubber and	Stone, Clay,	Primary Electronic	Electricity Hazardous	Petroleum Other/Not
Paper & Allied Refining & Misc.	Glass &	Metal Inds. and Other Generation Waste Bulk	Listed
Products Related	Plastics	Concrete	Electrical Treatment	Terminals
Inds.	Products	Products	Equip.
b)
3.50
3.00
« 2.50
-o
c
3
(£ 2.00
«•>
o
.1L50
S 1.00
0.50
0.00
Note: Oil-site releases include amounts released to the
air, water, land and underground injection at the
location of the reporting facility. Chart a shows
mercury releases (in pounds) for all industries
excluding metal mines. Releases from metal mines
are shown in millions of pounds in chart b. Charts a
and b show combined totals for the entire region
(AZ,CA, HI, NY and the Pacific Islands. Chart c gives
state totals for on-site mercury releases (in pounds).
c)
State Totals (pounds) for On-Site Releases of
Mercury and Mercury Compounds
CA
AZ 53.816 HI
35.729 \ /!^48
Metal
Mining

NV
3.012.715
~	AZ
¦ CA
~	HI
~	NV
Mercury and the 2000 TRI Data
EPA has just made public the 2000 data on toxic
chemicals that were released* to the air, water and land
within the Pacific Southwest region. This information
comes from the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), a
federal community right-to-know program.
For the year 2000, the TRI was expanded to include
additional persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT)
chemicals, and required reporting for these chemicals
at lower thresholds. PBT pollutants are chemicals that
are toxic, persist in the environment and bioaccumulate
in food chains and, thus, pose risks to human health
and ecosystems. While mercury and mercury
compounds have been on the list of reportable
chemicals since 1987, for the year 2000 the reporting
threshold was drastically lowered (to 10 pounds
manufactured, processed, or otherwise used), and this
change has resulted in more comprehensive release
information for these compounds.
It is important to note that release cannot be directly
equated with risk. To evaluate risk, release data must
be combined with information about chemical toxicity,
*Release is defined as the amount of a toxic chemical released on-site (to air, water, underground injection, landfills
and other land disposal), and the amount transferred off-site for disposal.

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site-specific conditions, and exposure. In addition, this
data does not indicate whether a facility is violating
environmental laws. Many of the substances reported
through this program are subject to state and federal
regulations designed to protect human health and the
environment.
Releases
The TRI data for 2000 shows that, with the exception of
Hawaii, Region 9 states rank higher than most states in
the U.S. for releases of mercury and mercury
compounds. In a state-by-state comparison Nevada,
California, Arizona and Hawaii ranked 1, 5, 9 and 50,
respectively for total on- and off-site releases of mercury
and mercury compounds (no mercury releases were
reported in Region 9's Pacific island territories). The
table below gives the total pounds of mercury and
mercury compounds reported in Region 9:
Releases by State

On-
Site Air
On-
Site
Water
On-Site
Land
Under-
ground
injection
Off-Site
Disposal
Total On-
and Off-
Site
AZ
2,101
0
33,628
0
205
35,933
CA
5,598
5
48,213
0.2
6,959
60,775
HI
39
4
0
6
52
101
NV
12,772
1
2,999,941
0.3
73
3,012,788
In Region 9 states, reported on- and off-site releases in pounds.
Industries
Manufacturing industries have been reporting their
releases since 1987 and federal facilities started reporting
in 1994. In 1998, seven new industry sectors began
reporting their toxic chemical releases for the first time.
These new sectors are metal and coal mining, electricity
generation, commercial hazardous waste treatment,
solvent recovery, petroleum bulk terminals, and
wholesale chemical distributors.
Reporting Industry Sectors-the 2000 Data
A review of the TRI data suggests that approximately
99% of mercury releases in the Region come from the
metal mining industry. The other 1% is mostly attributed
to hazardous waste treatment facilities, the stone, clay,
glass and concrete products industry, electricity
generators and petroleum refineries. A detailed summary
of releases by industry sector is provided in the table at
right.
Releases of Mercury and Mercury Compounds by
Industry Sector

On-Site
Air
On-Site
Water
On-Site
Land
Off-Site
Disposal
Total On-
and Off-
Site
Metal
Mines
12,707
1
3,074,222
143
3,087,073
Hazardous
Waste
Treatment
13
0
6,183
7,863
14,058
Stone, Clay,
Glass &
Concrete
Products
4,830
0
612
17
5,459
Electricity
Generation
1,688
0.6
728
249
2,666
Petroleum
Refining &
Related
Inds.
757
8
0
984
1,755
Primary
Metal Inds.
409
0
0
13
422
Chemicals
& Allied
Products
72
0
19
50
141
Pulp and
Paper
29
0
6
2
37
Other/Not
Listed
5
0
12
12
29
Electronic
and
Electrical
Equip.
0.2
0
0
25
25
Petroleum
Bulk
Terminals
0.7
0
0
0
0.7
Rubber and
Misc.
Plastics
0.5
0
0
0
0.5
Releases are given in pounds.
Metal Mining
In the Pacific Southwest Region, 33 metal mines
reported 3 million pounds of on-site mercury and
mercury compound releases, most of which was
released on-site to land. Mercury and mercury
compounds may be processed as a trace constituent in
metal ores or recovered as a by-product from gold
ores. Many mines extract, move, store, process, and
dispose of large amounts of waste rock and ore-
materials which often contain low concentrations of
naturally occurring metals. The vast majority of this
material is placed in surface impoundments or on the
land, and the metals are reported as on-site releases to
land. This previously buried material is exposed to
potential leaching by rain, snow, and acid mine

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drainage, and must be carefully managed and monitored
to prevent any surface water or groundwater
contamination.
There are also air releases from ore processing and metal
refining operations. For air releases of mercury and
mercury compounds, five copper mines reported a total
of 142 pounds; two silver mines reported 281 pounds,
and 26 gold mines reported a total of 12,284 pounds.
Hazardous Waste Treatment
Seven hazardous waste treatment facilities reported
disposing 6,183 pounds of mercury and mercury
compounds into on-site landfills and 13 pounds to the
air.
Cement Manufacturing
Mercury may be processed or otherwise used as a trace
element in raw materials and fuels in the manufacture of
Portland cement. Thirteen cement manufacturing
facilities reported 5,395 pounds of on-site mercury and
mercury compounds releases, of which 4,813 pounds
were released to the air, and 582 pounds released on-site
to land.
Electricity Generation
Nineteen electricity generating facilities reported 2,416
pounds of on-site mercury releases. Only facilities that
burn coal or oil to generate electricity commercially need
to report to the Toxics Release Inventory. Mercury
compounds may be formed during the combustion
process.
Refineries
Twenty-five petroleum refineries reported 770 pounds
of on-site mercury releases. Mercury may be processed
or otherwise used as trace components in crude oil.
Top Facilities for Releases in 2000 in Region 9
The top 10 facilities for on- and off-site releases in
Region 9 are:
1: Barrick Goldstrike Mines Inc. (1,864,000 lbs)
Elko, Nevada
2: Newmont Mining Corp. Twin Creeks Mine (501,000
lbs) Golconda, Nevada
3: Newmont Mining Corp. Lone Tree Mine
(157,000 lbs) Valmy, Nevada
4: Newmont Mining Corp. Carlin South Area
(153,000 lbs) Carlin, Nevada
5: Cortez Gold Mines Pipeline Processing Plant Mill #2
(120,000 lbs) Beowawe, Nevada
6: Getchell Gold Corp. (111,000 lbs)
Golconda, Nevada
7: Newmont Mining Corp. (84,000 lbs) Carlin, Nevada
8: Jerritt Canyon Joint Venture (62,000 lbs) Elko,
Nevada
9: Echo Bay Minerals Co McCoy/Cove Mine
(47,000 lbs) Battle Mountain, Nevada
10: Coeur Rochester Inc. (44,000 lbs) Lovelock,
Nevada
On-line Access
For national information on data release, see
http://www.epa. gov/tri
The TRI data is available through the Envirofacts
Warehouse, EPA's premier Internet site for distributing
environmental information at
http://www.epa. gov/enviro
or the TRI Explorer tool:
http://www.epa. gov/triexplorer
For general information on the Toxics Release
Inventory, including reporting requirements for
businesses, go to http://www.epa. gov/region09/toxic/tri
For additional information on Dioxin and associated
risk, got to
www.epa. gov/ncea/dioxin.htm
Information and Assistance
We will be more than happy to answer your questions
and assist you in learning more about the Toxics
Release Inventory program in Region 9.
U.S. EPA Region 9 TRI Coordinator
Adam Browning, (415) 947-4178

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