Description of State Fact Sheets

The state fact sheets summarize the basic Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for each state from 2002. The TRI is a publicly available database containing information about releases and other waste management of toxic chemicals reported by industrial facilities. The TRI was established by section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) of 1986. The Community Right-to-Know provisions of EPCRA are intended to provide information to the public about the presence and release of toxic chemicals in their communities. Following passage of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990, the TRI was expanded to include reporting of additional waste management and pollution prevention activities.

By July 1 each year, facilities must report their estimated amounts of releases and other quantities of toxic chemicals managed as waste for the preceding calendar year. Facilities provide this information to EPA and to the state in which they are located. For further information about TRI and for assistance in obtaining TRI documents, contact the EPCRA Information Hotline at 1-800-424-9346. For assistance in obtaining access to the data, contact the TRI USer Support Service at (202) 566-0250 or via e-mail at tri.us@epa.gov. For further information about individual state TRI programs, select the TRI State Coordinator link at the bottom of the fact sheet for that state.

Each state fact sheet provides the following:

• Reported Disposal or Other Releases and Other Waste Management Activities:
  • On- and Off-site Disposal or Other Releases: Amounts of TRI chemicals in disposal to Class I underground injection wells, RCRA Subtitle C landfills and other landfills, fugitive air emissions, point source air emissions, surface water discharges, disposal to Class II-V underground injection wells, land treatment, surface impoundments and other land disposal at reporting facilities within the state.
  • Off-site Disposal or Other Releases: Transfers of TRI chemicals in waste sent to underground injection wells, RCRA Subtitle C landfills, other landfills, storage, solidification/stabilization (metals only), wastewater treatment (metals only), publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) (metals only), surface impoundments, land treatment, other land disposal, other off-site management, and transfers to waste brokers for disposal and transfers to sites where the management type is unknown. Off-site transfer data exclude amounts sent for disposal or other releases to other TRI facilities that reported those amounts as on-site disposal or other releases.
  • Transfers Off-site for Further Waste Management: Amounts of TRI chemicals sent off-site for further waste management recycling, energy recovery, treatment, POTWs, or for disposal or other releases. For amounts transferred to POTWs, metals and metal category compounds are identified separately from non-metals.
• On- and Off-site Waste Management: Quantities of TRI chemicals in production-related waste managed by reporting facilities, including recycling, energy recovery, and treatment on-site and off-site, as well as the quantity disposed of or otherwise released on- and off-site. Non-production related waste managed includes quantities disposed of or otherwise released as the result of one-time events, for example, remedial activities or catastrophic events.
• State Maps with counties colored according to the total on-site disposal or other releases reported by facilities located within the county. The dynamic chloropleth map divides the number of counties within a state into three colored groups. The red, yellow and blue colored groups, each shows one-third of the counties in the state whose facilities reported the largest, middle and the smallest total on-site disposal or other releases. The user can vary the number of counties within each colored group by moving (with the mouse) the small triangles on the sliding bar located on top of the state map. The percentage of the counties in the state for each colored group is shown under the sliding bar. Clicking on a county on the map will give you detailed data by chemical, industry or facility for that county.
• Population and area of the state, the number of facilities reporting to TRI from the state, and the number of forms submitted by those facilities. Population statistics for the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are 2004 U.S. Census estimates as of July 1, 2005. The population statistics for American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Marianas, and the Virgin Islands are from the 2000 U.S. Census as of April 1, 2000.
• Contact names, telephone numbers, fax numbers and e-mail addresses for the state TRI coordinator and for the EPA TRI coordinator for the region in which the state is located.

Note that "Total on- and off-site disposal or other releases" (amounts reported in Sections 5 and 6) and "quantity disposed of or otherwise released on- and off-site" (amounts reported in Section 8) may not be the same. This difference arises primarily from the types of disposal or other releases reported on different sections of the Form R.

• "Total on- and off-site disposal or other releases" reflects all on-site disposal or other releases as collected in Section 5 of the Form R and transfers off-site for disposal or other releases as reported in Section 6.
• "Quantity disposed of or otherwise released on- and off-site" is limited to production-related on- and off-site disposal or other releases as collected in Section 8.1 of the Form R. This quantity is the sum of the amounts included from Sections 5 and 6 minus the amount for one-time events not related to production as reported in Section 8.8 and reported under each of these parts of Sections 5 and 6.

Although total amounts analyzed in these two categories are often the same, they may differ to the extent that disposal or other releases associated with catastrophic events, remedial actions, or other one-time events not related to production occur.

For the same reason, the quantity used for energy recovery offsite (Section 8.3), quantity recycled offsite (Section 8.5) and quantity treated offsite (Section 8.7) do not include transfers for recycling, energy recovery, and treatment (including POTWs for non-metals) reported in Section 6 to the extent that amounts from one-time events are reported. Once again, the relevant parts in Section 8 include only production-related wastes and not amounts from one-time events whereas Section 6 includes all off-site waste management amounts.

Other reasons also contribute to the different quantities reported in different sections of the Form R. For example, an amount of less than 1,000 pounds may be reported in ranges in Section 5 and 6 whereas an exact amount must be included in Section 8. Furthermore, facilities may round off amounts, except those for PBT chemicals, to two significant digits.