April 16, 2007—The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published its Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2005—available this year earlier than ever before for the use of local communities and national analysis. Facility-specific data was released last September and the full national data has now been released.
The year’s data shows that progress is being made in reducing releases of several chemicals of special concern, says EPA. For example, between 2004 and 2005 dioxin releases decreased by 23 percent and mercury releases fell by nine percent. In addition, several individual industries have made significant progress in reducing releases. Petroleum refining releases dropped 10 percent, transportation equipment registered a six percent decrease, and chemical manufacturing cut releases by four percent.
Review of the last five years of data shows chemical releases reported to TRI have decreased by 22 percent nationally. The 2005 data shows a three percent increase overall in total disposal and other releases, although annual changes are not unusual, says EPA. A number of possible reasons EPA gives for the increase include: production increases, fluctuations in the content of raw materials used in particular industries, or changes in releases at large facilities that impact the national data.
Some 95 percent of the 23,000 facilities used electronic reporting, which was instrumental in making the information available to the public quicker and more efficiently than in previous years, explains EPA.
For TRI Data for 2005 or additional information about TRI, visit EPA ‘s Web site.
