EPA triples amount of toxic emissions data available

Initially released on 11 May, the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Explorer has new enhancements and search capabilities, and includes data on facility transfers off-site and on waste management. According to the EPA, further improvements designed to optimise the tool’s flexibility and ease of use are currently being developed.

To accompany the enhanced internet tool, the EPA has also released a data report of the 1998 TRI, which provides analysis of the national TRI data for manufacturing industries. There are also seven additional major industrial sectors which have been included for the first time: electrical utilities, coal mining, metal mining, chemical wholesalers, petroleum bulk plants and terminals, solvent recovery, and hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal.

The TRI programme contains information on quantities of toxic chemicals that facilities release into the air, water, or on land, which companies legally have to report on each year. The data is used by many states to implement pollution prevention or toxic use reduction laws.