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Toxics Release Inventory Most people in the Houston eight county non-attainment area (Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, and Waller) know that it is number one in the country for ozone pollution, measured by the number of days over the federal health standard. Some people even know that ozone is the result of a chemical reaction between nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). But have you ever wondered where those VOCs come from and if they can be harmful even on the days they don't form ozone? Well, listen up America! The Houston area is number one in the country for ozone pollution AND Harris County is number two for releases of toxic air emissions (many of which are VOCs). In 1998, industries in Harris County reported 25,783,150 pounds of toxic chemicals released into the air, following Tooele County, Utah with 57,697,790 pounds.1 The eight-county area reported 44.2 million pounds of toxics emitted into the air in 1998. (See Table below)
These figures come from the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), a publicly accessible database of toxic chemicals used, manufactured or processed by industry. Federal law requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to maintain this database of approximately 600 designated toxic chemicals. Although there are tens of thousands of chemicals manufactured today, only a limited number have been tested sufficiently to indicate they may be harmful to human health and therefore need to be reported.
The latest TRI data is from 1998 because industries were required to report their emissions for that year to the EPA by July 1999. The EPA released those reports in September 2000. EPA requires manufacturing facilities having 10 or more full-time employees that manufacture or process over 25,000 pounds or use over 10,000 pounds of the designated chemicals to report their releases annually. Facilities must report toxic releases to air, water and land as well as releases that were sent off-site to another company, a hazardous disposal site or recycling facility. It should be pointed out that the TRI is a self-reported estimate of releases from a facility. EPA does not require toxics to be monitored so estimates may be more than or less than the true releases. Some facilities may not report all their releases and some may not report at all. Therefore, although somewhat useful, this system could result in under-reporting of emissions by industry. It is also important to note that TRI data are reports of emissions only, not a measure of exposure. Releases are reported as annual estimates, which do not specify whether the emissions were released evenly over a one-year period or all at once. The EPA calls the TRI "a public report card for the industrial community." Citizens can learn about what is being released and where it is going on the EPA website. The Environmental Defense's Scorecard website also includes rankings on community health risks. Citizens' groups can use this "Right to Know" information to begin a dialogue with industry in working toward a "good neighbor agreement." They can also verify the existence of reported and unreported chemicals in the air using the 'Bucket Brigade". ______________________________
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