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TRI Reporting Forms Modification Rule - Phase I (Final)
- What is the TRI Forms Modification Rule?
- What, specifically, does the rule do?
- Will the rule affect human health or the environment?
- Will EPA and the public lose valuable data as a result of this rule?
- How did EPA develop the final rule?
- How can I get more background on EPA's TRI Program and this rule?
Q: What is the TRI Forms Modification Rule?
A: Each year, nearly 23,000 facilities report to EPA under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program. This final rule eliminates certain information from the TRI reports, simplifies other reporting elements, and in some cases, reduces duplicate data collection. It reduces the cost of compiling and submitting TRI reports modestly, while ensuring the public continues to receive high quality data that have practical utility.
TRI forms Modification Rule -- Federal Register Notice (Text) (PDF, 214KB) (39931 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 132, Tuesday, July 12, 2005) 
Q: What, specifically, does the rule do?
A: The rule eliminates some redundant or seldom used data elements and modifies other reporting requirements on TRI reporting forms.
EPA will no longer require TRI facilities to report locational information (latitude and longitude data) and several facility identifiers (regulatory assigned identification codes for each facility). Instead, the data will be obtained from existing EPA databases and made available to TRI data users. The proposal also:
- Includes several minor reporting changes related to waste management activities,
- Simplifies the reporting of pollution prevention activities, and
- Improves public access to information about source reduction and pollution control activities undertaken by some facilities.
Q: Will the rule affect human health or the environment?
A: No. We will get some of the same information from other sources, and the remainder has no effect on human health or the environment. Today’s rule does not change the ways in which facilities may manage materials in the environment. Instead it changes the way in which some of the management is reported to EPA under TRI.
Q: Will EPA and the public lose valuable data as a result of this rule?
A: No. Locational data (i.e., latitude and longitude coordinates for TRI reporters) and facility identification data (i.e., EPA program identification and permit numbers) will be obtained from another EPA database called the Facility Registry System. To the extent that inconsistencies and errors are identified in the future, the Agency’s Integrated Error Correction Process (IECP) will provide a convenient and effective mechanism for bringing these issues to the Agency’s attention for resolution.
Q: How did EPA develop the final rule?
A: We collected suggestions from stakeholders in meetings and on-line between November 2002 and February 2004 and supplemented those discussions with analyses created using TRI data from previous reporting years.
Q: How can I get more background on EPA's TRI Program and this rule?
A: For background information on this rule in its proposal stage, see TRI Reporting Forms Modification Rule (Proposed)
- Fact Sheet
- Federal Register Notice (PDF) - January 10, 2005- 70 Federal Register 1674 (22 pp, 112KB, About PDF)
You also can get additional information:
- On our TRI Web site
- By contacting an EPA - TRI representative, or
- By contacting the TRI Information Center, toll-free: (800) 424-9346, toll-free TDD: (800) 553-7672, callers in the DC area: (703) 412-9810.
Background documents
- TRI Burden Reduction Stakeholder Briefing, October 19, 2004 Meeting Summary (PDF) (10 pp, 87K, About
PDF)
- Overall Burden Reduction Strategy (PDF) (7 pp, 30K, About PDF)
- TRI Reporting Forms Modifications (PDF) (18 pp, 62K, About PDF)
- TRI Program Related burden Reduction (PDF) (8 pp, 35K, About PDF)
- Analytic Methods (PDF) (12 pp, 40K, About PDF)
- TRI Stakeholder Dialogue