April 21, 2006—The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) shows that the amount of toxic chemicals released into the environment in the US decreased four percent from 2003 to 2004. According to the EPA, the report demonstrates that economic growth and effective environmental protection can go hand-in-hand.
Significant decreases were seen in some of the most toxic chemicals from 2003-2004.
- dioxin and dioxin compounds decreased by 58 percent,
- mercury and mercury compounds were cut by 16 percent, and
- polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) went down 92 percent.
Industries were instrumental in getting the data to the public quickly and more efficiently, says the EPA. More than 23,000 facilities reported for calendar year 2004 and ninety percent used electronic reporting, which streamlined the process significantly. Facility-specific data was released last November.
For the full national TRI data visit the EPA.
