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EPA issues national and state toxic chemical release reports for 2002

Release Date: 6/23/2004
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Denver -- – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today issued its annual

Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) report, which details the amount
of toxic chemicals released into the air, discharged into water, placed on the
land or underground, and disposed of as waste by facilities across the country.
The data made available today are for releases that took place during 2002.

“We encourage people to use data from the Toxics Release Inventory to gain a better understanding of the amounts and types of chemical releases in their communities and states,” said EPA Regional Administrator Robbie Roberts. “The TRI report also serves as a strong incentive for businesses to find innovative ways to reduce chemical releases to the environment and prevent pollution.”

The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) of 1986 required EPA to establish the Toxics Release Inventory. The TRI is an on-line, computerized database that contains toxic chemical release information covering more than 650 chemicals and chemical categories collected from reports submitted to EPA and the states.

The TRI database provides an overview of toxic chemical releases in the U.S. by more than 25,000 manufacturing companies, coal and metal mines, electric utilities, hazardous waste treatment sites, chemical distributors and federal facilities. Included in the report is a listing of individual states and the amounts of toxic chemicals released into the environment within their borders. Individual cities and zip codes can also be selected from the TRI database and have releases within their confines broken out by type of chemical and by quantity released.

Nationally, total TRI releases fell to 4.8 billion pounds in 2002 from 5.6 billion pounds reported in 2001. This significant decrease in releases for 2002 continues to primarily be the result of large year-to-year variations in releases as reported by the hard rock (metal) mining industry. Industries other than metal mining reported an increase in total TRI releases to 3.5 billion pounds in 2002 from 3.3 billion pounds in 2001.

Total Releases
All Industries

2000 6.6
2001 5.6
2002 4.8

All Industries Except Metal Mining
2000 3.7
2001 3.3
2002 3.5

Colorado

Colorado facilities reported 26,116,830 total pounds of toxic chemicals released to the environment in 2002. Eighty-one percent of these releases (21,169,184 pounds) were released on site, placing Colorado 36th nationwide in total on-site releases. On-site releases include chemicals released to the air, water and land at the facility. Chemicals that are transferred to other sites for disposal to the environment are not included in the on-site releases total. While total on-site releases by all reporting industries in Colorado declined in 2002 from 2001, the total for all industries except for metal mining showed an increase to 15.2 million pounds in 2002 from 13.6 million pounds in 2001. Visit https://www.epa.gov/triexplorer for detailed TRI information for Colorado.



All Industries

2000 24.8
2001 35.6
2002 21.2

All Industries Except Metal Mining
2000 13.1
2001 13.6
2002 15.2

Montana
Montana facilities reported 33,483,144 total pounds of toxic chemicals released to the environment in 2002. Ninety-six percent of these releases (32,148,286 pounds) were released on site, placing Montana 27th nationwide in total on-site releases. On-site releases include chemicals released to the air, water and land at the facility. Chemicals that are transferred to other sites for disposal to the environment are not included in the on-site releases total. Total on-site releases by all reporting industries in Montana continued to decline in 2002 from 2001 and 2000 due to facility shutdowns and variations in releases as reported by metal mines. Visit https://www.epa.gov/triexplorer for detailed TRI information for Montana.



All Industries

2000 117.7
2001 60.9
2002 32.1

All Industries Except Metal Mining

2000 59.1
2001 36.4
2002 14.4

North Dakota
North Dakota facilities reported 25,244,155 total pounds of toxic chemicals released to the environment in 2002. Sixty-three percent of these releases (15,791,878 pounds) were released on site, placing North Dakota 40th nationwide in total on-site releases. On-site releases include chemicals released to the air, water and land at the facility. Electric utilities in North Dakota transfer 45 percent of their wastes off-site for release. Chemicals that are transferred to other sites for disposal to the environment are not included in the on-site releases total. Total on-site releases by all reporting industries in North Dakota declined in 2002 from 2001. Visit https://www.epa.gov/triexplorer for detailed TRI information for North Dakota.


All Industries

2000 15.5
2001 16.7
2002 15.8

South Dakota
South Dakota facilities reported 11,911,722 total pounds of toxic chemicals released to the environment in 2002. Ninety-nine percent of these releases (11,834,151 pounds) were released on site, placing South Dakota 41st nationwide in total on-site releases. On-site releases include chemicals released to the air, water and land at the facility. Chemicals that are transferred to other sites for disposal to the environment are not included in the on-site releases total. Total on-site releases by all reporting industries declined in 2002 from 2001. The total for all industries except for metal mining also showed a decline in 2002 from a three-year high in 2001. Visit https://www.epa.gov/triexplorer for detailed TRI information for South Dakota.



All Industries

2000 9.5
2001 13.5
2002 11.8

All Industries Except Metal Mining

2000 5.8
2001 7.2
2002 5.7


Utah
Utah facilities reported 174,885,860 total pounds of toxic chemicals released to the environment in 2002. Ninety-nine percent of these releases (173,146,279 pounds) were released on site, placing Utah 6th nationwide in total on-site releases. On-site releases include chemicals released to the air, water and land at the facility. Chemicals that are transferred to other sites for disposal to the environment are not included in the on-site releases total. Total on-site releases by all reporting industries continued to decline in 2002 from 2001 and 2000 due to variations in releases as reported by metal mines. Visit https://www.epa.gov/triexplorer for detailed TRI information for Utah.



All Industries

2000 456.3
2001 251.6
2002 173.1

All Industries Except Metal Mining

2000 121.6
2001 62.3
2002 58.7

Wyoming
Wyoming facilities reported 18,370,209 total pounds of toxic chemicals released to the environment in 2002. Ninety-two percent of these releases (16,961,626 pounds) were released on site, placing Wyoming 39th nationwide in total on-site releases. On-site releases include chemicals released to the air, water and land at the facility. Chemicals that are transferred to other sites for disposal to the environment are not included in the on-site releases total. Total on-site releases by all reporting industries in Wyoming increased slightly in 2002 from 2001. Visit https://www.epa.gov/triexplorer for detailed TRI information for Wyoming.

All Industries

2000 20.0
2001 16.9
2002 17.0


Information contained in the TRI is used by federal, state and local governments, citizens and businesses to track the generation, release, fate and transport of various chemicals over time. Using this information, governments, businesses and citizens can work together to promote pollution prevention and to protect the quality of their land, air and water. Additionally, this knowledge can be an important tool in the development of environmental policies and to evaluate the effectiveness of environmental programs.

The 2002 TRI EPA national press release is available online at https://www.epa.gov/newsroom/tri2002/index.html. Additional background information on the TRI program and direct access to the TRI are available online at: https://www.epa.gov/triexplorer or https://www.epa.gov/enviro. For data use assistance, contact the EPA Region 8 TRI Coordinator Joyel Dhieux at 303-312-6447 or via e-mail at [email protected]. EPA also maintains a national technical hotline (800-424-9346) to help individuals and businesses understand TRI and the reporting requirements.

The TRI does not indicate whether (or to what degree) the public has been exposed to toxic chemicals. Therefore, no conclusions on the potential risks can be made based solely on this information (including any ranking information). For more detailed information on this subject refer to The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and Factors to Consider When Using TRI Data document at www.epa.gov/tri/tridata/index.htm#pdr.