February 29, 2008—Information on the 2006 reporting year is now available as part of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) database. This is reportedly the earliest release of the data in its 20-year history, due to improvements in electronic reporting and data processing.
According to EPA, nationwide chemical releases into the environment are down by two percent from 2005. From 2001 to 2006, EPA has recorded a 24 percent decrease in total releases, which it credits in part to making the public aware of this inventory of releases.
The TRI is an online electronic database housing information about chemical releases at facilities across the country. TRI tracks and contains detailed information on releases of nearly 650 chemicals and chemical categories from about 23,000 industrial and federal facilities. It includes data on toxic chemicals released, as well as treated, recycled, and burned for energy recovery.
Information about the 2006 reporting year is available on EPA’s TRI Web site.
