Toxics Release Inventory Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), established under the U.S. Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-know Act (EPCRA), is a database produced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that tracks chemical releases and waste reported by major industrial facilities.

The EPCRA established the TRI and it requires the industrial facilities to annually report releases of waste into the environment to the EPA.

Not all toxic releases are covered by the EPCRA Act; the categories that qualify to be on the list are determined by whether or not they may damage public health, such the possibility of causing cancer, reproductive defects, or anything harmful to the neurological functions. In addition, the possible effects of toxic releases on the environment and animal life are also addressed.

The EPA has never officially inventoried the number of chemicals produced in the United States that are actually able to meet the TRI’s requirements. The number of substances that are currently covered by the TRI is 650, which is equivalent to only 1 percent out of over 75,000 substances that are manufactured in United States.

TRI is based on company self-reporting and companies are held responsible for the accuracies of the reports. There is currently no penalty mechanism for those who provide inaccurate reports. Unfortunately, because TRI has been lenient about the accuracy and exact measurement of waste releases, many companies estimate them rather than actually measure them. The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) estimated after a study that the companies are inaccurate about their waste release by as much as 15 percent.

The EIP tries to pinpoint the sources of inaccurate data in company reports, and one of the most frequent causes is improper emission monitoring, which has been replaced by the method of estimation. Even though most of the companies use the method of estimation to monitor the waste emissions, there are as few as 4 percent of all the companies who do in fact use the proper accurate emission monitors.

Companies frequently underreport emissions, causing the public to remain unaware of exposure to waste emissions and toxic substances, especially those released into the air. Companies have also made unintentional, though no less egregious, reporting errors, such as putting down the incorrect geographic locations of their company. In demanding more accurate reports, environmental defense associations have worked to correct these errors.

The TRI has expanded significantly since 1987 dramatically increasing the number of substances it covers. Seven additional sectors have been added to broaden industry coverage. Being a crucial tool for community information and advocacy, the TRI has gained a great deal of support nationwide with the hope of holding companies more accountable for chemical waste emissions.

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