TRI and Beyond
This section presents how the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) relates to other EPA
environmental and chemical management programs and laws, and how the TRI serves as a
model for pollutant release and transfer inventories internationally.
The TRI is a powerful resource that provides the public with information about how TRI
chemical wastes are managed by facilities in the United States. Beyond the TRI, there are many
other programs at EPA that also collect, through regulations established under laws, various
types of information about TRI chemicals and other chemicals. The next figure is an overview of
some of the laws that EPA implements, and the industrial activities or processes EPA regulates
under these laws.
While many programs at EPA focus on one medium, i.e., land, air or water, TRI is unique in
that it covers all media, including the release of chemicals to air, water, and land, and waste
transfers. In addition, facilities that are subject to the TRI reporting requirements are required
to submit TRI reports annually. As a result, TRI data are especially valuable, as they are timely
and can be used with data from other datasets to provide a more complete picture of national
trends in chemical use, chemical management, environmental release and other waste
management practices, and environmental performance.
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Pollution HI
Prevention Act
(PPA)
Underground
Injection
Air Emissions
• Toxic Substances
Control Act (TSCA)
Chemical
Manufacturing
and Processing
Toxic Substances
Control Act (TSCA)
Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide, and
Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)
Products
Waste
Transfers
Land
Disposal
• Clean Air Act (CAA)
Water
Discharges
¦ Clean Water Act (CWA)
¦ Ocean Dumping Act
(ODA)
' Resource
Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA)
> Safe Drinking Water
Act (SDWA)
¦ Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and
Liabilty Act (CERCLA)
1 Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA)
Note: The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) establishes requirements for
emergency planning, preparedness, and reporting on hazardous and toxic chemicals involving air
releases, water releases, land disposal, waste transfers, and the quantities of chemicals on site, the type
and location of storage of those chemicals, and their use.
Offices throughout EPA use TRI data to support their respective missions to protect human
health and the environment. These uses include technical analysis for regulation, informing
program priorities and projects, providing information to internal and external stakeholders, and
many other applications.
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More on EPCRA
The TRI was established by the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act
(EPCRA) in 1986. The creation of EPCRA was in response to what is widely considered to be the
worst industrial chemical disaster in history. Beginning on December 2, 1984, methyl isocyanate
gas was accidentally released from a chemical plant in Bhopal, India. Thousands of people died
that night and many more were injured. Thousands more died later as a result of their
exposure, and survivors of the accident continue to suffer with permanent disabilities.
Approximately six months later, a similar incident occurred at a facility in West Virginia. These
two events raised concern about local preparedness for chemical emergencies and the
availability of information on toxic chemicals.
EPCRA establishes requirements for federal, state and local governments, Indian tribes, and
industry regarding emergency planning and "Community Right-to-Know" reporting on
hazardous and toxic chemicals. These requirements are specified in EPCRA's four major
provisions as shown in the figure below. Information collected under EPCRA helps states and
communities develop a broad perspective of chemical hazards for the entire community, as well
as for individual facilities. The TRI (also known as EPCRA section 313) contributes to this
broader perspective by making information about the management of chemical waste
generated at facilities available to the public, further supporting informed decision-making by
companies, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, communities, and others.
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Key Elements of the Emergency Planning
and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA)
WHO PLANS FOR
EMERGENCIES?
Section 301 of EPCRA established a
structure to help the federal
government, states, tribes, and
communities prepare for emergencies
Q P Upstate Emergency
O E TCwResponse Commission
"*"P Tribal Emergency
I L fx ^Response Commission
I pj Local Emergency
LEI V* Planning Committee
TP Pf* Tribal Emergency
I Cl Planning Committee
ma
Designate
emergency
planning
districts
Members
include local
officials, facility
representatives,
community
groups, and
media
302-303
EMERGENCY PLANNING
NOTIFICATION AND EMERGENCY
RESPONSE PLANS
EMERGENCY RELEASE
NOTIFICATION
+'41
I
¦
Develop
Disseminate
emergency
information
response
to public
plans and
about
review them
chemicals
annually
present in
community
311-312
HAZARDOUS
CHEMICAL INVENTORY
REPORTING
313
TOXICS RELEASE
INVENTORY
CERCLA
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TSCA and TRI
This section highlights how TRI information contributes to data used in Toxics Substances
Control Act (TSCA) risk evaluations. TRI data serve as a source of environmental information for
TSCA throughout the three-stage chemical evaluation process. TSCA, as amended by the Frank
R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, is the nation's primary chemicals
management law. TSCA requires EPA to evaluate existing chemicals in commerce and new
chemicals intended for use in commerce for safety. The Agency is required to conduct a
transparent, risk-based process. EPA selects existing chemicals for further evaluation from the
2014 Update to the TSCA Work Plan, which helps to focus and direct EPA's activities.
The three stages of EPA's process for evaluating the safety of existing chemicals are
prioritization, risk evaluation, and risk management. EPA first prioritizes toxic chemicals in
commerce through a screening-level review, evaluates those chemicals to determine if they
present unreasonable risks, and then manages the unreasonable risks of those chemicals to
protect human health and the environment. During both the prioritization and risk evaluation
stages of the process, TRI serves as a source of information as illustrated in the figure below.
TRI data may also be used in the risk management stage of the process.
TRI Data Use in TSCA Chemical Evaluations
PRIORITIZATION
RISK EVALUATION
RISK MANAGEMENT
TRI data can help to inform
prioritization efforts:
EXPOSURE
HAZARD
RISK
• TRI chemical list includes
MANAGEMENT
approximately 2/3 of the TSCA
Work Plan Chemicals
• TRI data are:
—Annual
—Multi-media
—Releases & waste
management activities
General
population
Occupational
Environmental
TRI data (along
with other
sources of
information)
TRI data provides
chemical use information
and both voluntary and
mandatory P2 information
that may help inform risk
management decisions.
—Facility-level
—Certified
Prioritization. Approximately two-thirds of the chemicals identified in the 2014 update of
the TSCA Work Plan are also included on the TRI list of chemicals. TRI data can inform EPA's
prioritization of chemicals for risk evaluation because the data are collected annually and
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include the location of facilities and the quantities of TRI chemicals they released to air, water
and land, and transferred to off-site locations. In addition, trend analyses of TRI data can help
identify changes over time in the geographic location and quantities of releases, and the types
of industrial sectors managing these chemicals.
Risk evaluation. A TSCA risk evaluation of a chemical is a comprehensive evaluation of the
risks the chemical poses to human health and the environment. EPA evaluates how the
chemical will be used, which may include manufacturing and import, processing, use,
distribution in commerce, and disposal over the chemical's life cycle. During risk evaluation, EPA
is required to assess exposures to the chemical in the workplace, to the general population and
to environmental (e.g. ecological) receptors. This includes assessment of potentially exposed or
susceptible populations that may be sensitive to the potential hazards posed by the chemical
under review. TRI and other data are used to support these assessments under TSCA.
Risk Management. If EPA determines that a chemical poses an unreasonable risk of injury to
health or the environment under its methods of use, EPA will impose regulatory actions or other
risk management options to effectively manage the identified risk. These regulatory actions and
options may include labeling with warnings and instructions for use, recordkeeping or notice
requirements, restrictions on certain uses or activities to reduce human exposure or
environmental releases, or a ban of the chemical entirely. EPA may use TRI data, such as on
chemical use and pollution prevention practices, to help inform these risk management
decisions.
High-priority Substances for TSCA Risk Evaluation
In 2017, EPA published the scope documents for the initial ten chemicals undergoing risk
evaluation under the amended TSCA in which nine of the ten chemicals are TRI-reportable
chemicals (except for C.I. Pigment Violet 29).
In 2019, EPA announced the next 20 chemicals to undergo risk evaluation. Finalizing this list of
high-prioritv chemicals for risk evaluation establishes the TSCA prioritization queue which
requires ongoing review and selection of priority chemicals as evaluations are completed. This
marks a major milestone for EPA in its efforts to ensure the safety of existing chemicals in the
marketplace through its updated chemical management program. In August 2020, EPA
published the final scope documents for these 20 chemical substances, of which 13 are TRI-
reportable chemicals.
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TRI Around the World
In 1986, with the enactment of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act
(EPCRA), the TRI was established as the first national Pollutant Release and Transfer Register
(PRTR) in the world. Since then, environmental agencies in other countries have implemented
their own right-to-know PRTR programs modeled after the TRI program. Currently, at least 50
countries have fully established PRTRs or have implemented pilot programs, as shown in the
map below. More countries are expected to develop PRTRs in the future, particularly in Asia,
South America, and Africa.
Source: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe PRTR Global Map
As global PRTR implementation continues to grow, the TRI Program will continue to work with
international organizations to:
• Assist in the development of new PRTR programs,
• Promote data standards and core data elements for greater PRTR comparability and
harmonization, resulting in better global scale analysis capabilities, and
• Showcase PRTR data utility for assessing progress towards sustainability.
As an example, the TRI Program is currently working with the Organization for Economic Co-
operation and Development fOECDI EXIT on a project to use global PRTR data to assess
progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals established in the United Nation's 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development EXIT, as described in the Project Spotlight below. For
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information on international PRTR activities, projects and partners, see TRI's International
webpaae.
International Project Spotlight: Using PRTR Data to Assess Progress toward the U.N.
Sustainable Development Goals
Background. The TRI Program is collaborating on an OECD project to use global PRTR data to assess
progress toward the United Nations' (U.N.) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These goals are
designed to "shift the world on to a sustainable and resilient path" by setting targets that encompass
the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainability. As stakeholders act toward
achieving the SDGs, the U.N. will measure progress toward
the Goals using existing data where possible. One such
existing data source for some of the SDGs may be found in
countries' PRTR data.
SDG Target 12.4
Project FOCUS. The U.N. SDG Target 12.4 EXIT was identified as
the target most directly relevant to PRTR data and is the
focus of this initial phase of the project. This target focuses on
reducing chemical releases to the environment.
By 2020, achieve the environmentally
sound management of chemicals and all
wastes throughout their life cycle, in
accordance with agreed international
frameworks, and significantly reduce
their release to air, water and soil in
order to minimize their adverse impacts
on human health and the environment.
Project Status. Global analyses of PRTR data are currently
underway based on aggregated data for multiple chemicals
from multiple countries in order to provide insight into progress toward achieving SDG Target 12.4. The
figure below shows the trend for air and water releases of 14 pollutants from manufacturing facilities as
reported to the 7 PRTRs analyzed in the project.
Next steps. As the project progresses and the methods and metrics are reviewed and refined, the
findings may be included in the next update of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals Report EXIT.
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Change in releases of 14 pollutants, 2008 to 2017 (kg)
2008
2017
1*1
B
Australia
Canada
Chile
E-PRTR
Japan
Mexico
United
States
I
I
0
500,000,000
1,000,000,000
1,500,000,000
2,000,000,000
PRTRs included in the analyses: Australia - National Pollutant Inventory (NPI), Canada - National Pollutant Release Inventory
(NPRI), Chile - Registro de Emisiones y Transferencia de Contaminantes (RETC), European Union - European Pollutant Release
and Transfer Register (E-PRTR), Japan Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR), Mexico - Registro de Emisiones y
Transferencia de Contaminantes (RETC), United States-Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).
Chemicals included in the analyses: 1,2-Dichloroethane, Benzene, Cadmium, Chromium, Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate,
Dichloromethane, Ethylbenzene, Mercury, Nickel, Particulate matter, Styrene, Sulfur oxides, Tetrachloroethylene,
Trichloroethylene.
Read more about the TRI Around the World.
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