EPA Releases Toxics Release Inventory 2021 Report on Chemical Emissions and Waste Management in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released the 2021 National Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Analysis, which summarizes data on TRI activity through calendar year 2021. TRI contains data on toxic chemicals that are produced, processed, or used in thousands of facilities in the United States. TRI includes the amount of chemicals that businesses treat as waste, including waste released into the environment, recycled, incinerated for energy, recycled, and moved from one enterprise to another. TRI is a valuable source of public information and is used by community members, researchers, government agencies and companies to improve chemical safety and protect public health and the environment.

“Communities have a right to know how and where toxic chemicals and waste are managed, released or recycled,” the statement said. Casey Sixkiller, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 10 Regional Administrator. “I am pleased that companies are taking steps to reduce pollution, and I encourage states and tribes to apply for EPA grant funding to drive further progress. When we work together, we can prevent pollution at source and support business growth and empower nearby, often overburdened and vulnerable communities.”

The 2021 TRI analysis shows continued reductions in emissions from facilities in the EPA’s Region 10, which covers Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. In 2021, facilities in Region 10 treated 1.1 billion pounds of industrial waste and released or disposed of 777 million pounds of TRI chemicals into the environment. From 2012 to 2021, Region 10 emissions have decreased by more than 19% and industrial waste has decreased by more than 14%, driven by typical annual fluctuations in Alaska metal production. Changes in the chemical composition of ore from iron and steel mines can result in significant annual fluctuations in the amount of metal waste reported by mines to TRI. To learn more about metal mining operations and their TRI reports, check out our interactive metal mining chart. With the exception of the metal mining sector, emissions in Region 10 have decreased by more than 15% since 2012, driven by a 55% reduction in waste disposal.

The TRI also has information on how businesses operate to reduce or prevent the generation of chemical waste, referred to as “pollution prevention or P2” and “source reduction”. In 2021, more than 7% of TRI facilities in Region 10 implemented new source reduction activities that helped prevent pollution at source. These activities include implementing strategies such as replacing TRI chemicals with less hazardous alternatives. Through existing programs and the bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the Environmental Protection Agency offers Pollution Prevention Grants (P2) to state and tribal technical assistance providers to help prevent pollution.

TRI 2021 analysis includes updated visualizations and analytical tools to make the data more useful and accessible to communities, including the ability to view data by region and watershed. The EPA’s updated Where You Live mapping tool allows readers to view feature locations with demographic data overlaid to determine the potential impact of TRI chemical releases in vulnerable communities. Learn about other ways to use TRI at the EPA Data and Tools TRI online resource.

Background

TRI was created under the Emergency Planning and Public Right to Know Act (EPCRA) in response to concerns about the environmental and safety hazards associated with the storage and handling of toxic chemicals. These concerns were raised by the 1984 disaster in Bhopal, India, caused by an accidental release of methyl isocyanate. Thousands of people died or were seriously injured as a result of the release.

To reduce the likelihood of such a disaster in the United States, Congress has introduced requirements for federal, state, and local governments, tribes, and industry. These requirements related to contingency planning and the reporting of hazardous and toxic chemicals in accordance with the Community Right to Know principle. Community right to know provisions help increase public knowledge and access to information about chemicals at individual sites, their uses and releases to the environment.

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