by Brianna Crandall — August 2, 2010—As part of the Obama Administration’s continuing commitment to open government, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published the latest data on industrial releases and transfers of toxic chemicals in the United States between January 1 and December 31, 2009.
EPA is making the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data available within weeks of the reporting deadline through its Web site and in the popular tools TRI Explorer and Envirofacts. The database contains environmental release and transfer data on nearly 650 chemicals and chemical categories reported to EPA by more than 21,000 industrial and other facilities.
The preliminary dataset allows communities to find out about releases and transfers of chemicals at the local level. Examples of industries that report to TRI include manufacturing, metal mining, electric utilities, and commercial hazardous waste treatment facilities among others. Facilities must report their data by July 1 of each year.
The preliminary dataset includes more than 80 percent of the data expected to be reported for 2009. The agency will update the dataset in August and again in September so citizens will have complete access to the information. EPA encourages the public to review and analyze the data while EPA conducts its own analysis, which will be published later in 2010.
