Toxics Release Inventory Model

Greenhouse Gas Reporting and Disclosure: Key Elements of a Prospective U.S. Program

The Toxics Release Inventory: A Model Reporting Program

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) is maintained by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in accordance with the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, section 313 (SARA 313). Under SARA 313, about 23,000 facilities annually report the amount of certain toxic chemicals they release to the environment.

From its inception, the inventory was designed to maximize public availability, making the TRI perhaps the best-known federal environmental information program. SARA 313 also gave the EPA authority to expand the group of covered chemicals and facilities and lower the threshold for reporting, which the EPA has done. The EPA has also taken several steps to ease the cost associated with reporting, including producing an interactive software program to guide facilities through reporting.

The results of the program have been striking: manufacturers’ release of the 340 chemicals initially listed under SARA 313 dropped by 45.5 percent from 1988 through 1999. While some of this reduction was due to the regulation of the chemicals, especially under the Clean Air Act, voluntary action is believed to have motivated a large portion of these reductions as well. Some of the voluntarism was spurred by a desire to reduce the economic waste represented by the loss of the chemicals and some by an interest in demonstrating environmental leadership to the public.

The TRI has been used as the basis for voluntary goal programs at both the federal and state levels as well. In 1990, for example, the EPA launched the “33/50 Program,” a voluntary program that challenged industry to reduce releases of 17 high-priority TRI chemicals by 33 percent by 1992 and 50 percent by 1995. Individual companies entered into non-binding commitments to achieve specific reductions on a company or facility-wide basis. The 33/50 Program met its 50-percent reduction goal in 1994, one year ahead of schedule.

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