Wastes, Toxic Releases Declined in 2001
by J.R. Pegg
Washington, DC— U.S. industries released 15 percent
fewer toxic chemicals and generated 22 percent less toxic waste in 2001
than they did a year earlier, according to new data released June 30,
2003 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The agency says
these figures illustrate a continuing decline in the amount of wastes
released into the nation’s air, land and water.
The data was collected under the framework of the federal
Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), established by Congress in 1986 as the
nation’s community right to know program. It finds that U.S. industries
released some 6.16 billion pounds of toxic chemicals into the environment
and managed 26.7 billion pounds of toxic waste in 2001.
The TRI includes information on releases and other waste
management methods for 667 toxic chemicals.
Although this total is less than one percent of chemicals
registered for use and represents a limited range of sources, the TRI
is widely considered the most comprehensive source of information on toxic
pollution in the United States.
The TRI program is “one of the most important activities
EPA completes each year,” according to Acting EPA Administrator
The data collected under the TRI program are based on
reports from manufacturing industries, metal mines, certain coal mining
activities, electrical utilities that burn coal or oil, hazardous waste
treatment and disposal facilities, chemical wholesale distributors, pet-roleum
bulk plants and terminals and solvent recovery services.
It does not include releases from pollution sources like
oil wells, airports and waste incinerators, or other sources of exposure
the 6.16 billion pounds of toxic chemicals released into the environment
in 2001, 65 percent were released to land on and off site, 27 percent
were released into the air, four percent to water and four percent to
underground injection on- and off-site.
The metal mining industry reported the largest total
release of toxic chemicals, accounting for 45 percent of the nation’s
total, followed by the electric utilities industries with 17 percent and
the chemical industry with 9.5 percent.
Nevada released some 783 million pounds of toxic chemicals,
more than any other state. Utah was second with 767 million pounds, followed
by Arizona with 607 million pounds and Alaska with 522 million pounds.
Twenty chemicals accounted for 88 percent of the total
release, with copper compounds totaling some one billion pounds and zinc
compounds some 960 million pounds. Some 422 million pounds of lead and
lead compounds were released in 2001 - the first year facilities were
held to a 100-pound threshold for lead.
The standard requirement for industries subject to the
TRI is that any facility manufacturing or processing 25,000 pounds of
a chemical regulated under TRI, or otherwise using 10,000 pounds of such
a chemical, has to report its releases and wastes.
But the standards are stricter for a group of some 20
persistent bio-accumulative toxic (PBT) chemicals, which are considered
more hazardous as they remain in ecosystems for long periods of time,
and accumulate in animal and human tissues.
The threshold for reporting of PCB chemicals, which dioxins,
mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and others, was lowered in 1999
to 10 pounds or 100 pounds.
In 2001, total PBT chemical releases totaled 454.4 million
pounds, with lead and lead compounds comprising 97 percent of the total.
Environmentalists note that with the lower threshold, much of the reported
lead represents previously unreported pollution.
Absent lead, PBT chemicals decreased by some two percent
compared to last year, despite a 50 percent increase in the total releases
of dioxin and dioxin-like compounds.
In EPA’s prepared statement, they wrote that the
overall long-term trend is that levels of dioxin are decreasing and suggests
that the increase in 2001 was in part due to one-time maintenance at several
The reporting industries managed a total of 26.7 billion
pounds of toxic waste, with Texas, Louisiana and Illinois accounting for
30 percent of nation’s total.
The chemical industry was responsible for 40 percent
of the nation’s toxic waste, with the primary metals industry accounting
for 12 percent and the metals mining industry for 11 percent.
—Reprinted with permission from Environment
News Service (ENS-news.com).