LibGuides: Environmental Data: Toxics Release Inventory (TRI)

About the Toxics Release Inventory

What is the Toxics Release Inventory?

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program is a federally mandated program for certain types of facilities and government installations. The US Environmental Protection Agency is the agency charged with oversight of the program.

TRI data includes:

On-site disposal or other releases including emissions to the air, discharges to bodies of water, disposal at the facility to land, and disposal in underground injection wells.
Off-Site disposal to underground injection wells, RCRA Subtitle C landfills, other landfills, and other off-site disposal or other releases

Data on accidental (and deliberate but not regulated) releases to air, water, and land are available under the "Releases & Spills Data" tab.

How did the TRI come about?

In 1984, a Union Carbide chemical release in Bhopal, India in 1984 killed over a thousand immediately and almost 4,000 total. This led to public concern about toxic chemical storage, releases and emergency response, especially as the same chemical leaked in a community in West Virginia. As a result, the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) was passed in as part of the 1986 Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act. The TRI is contained within EPCRA.

Sources of TRI Data

TRI Data & Tools

Produced by: US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Dates of coverage: 1987 to most current available
Geographic coverage: Facility, Local, State, and National level
Resources include:

TRI data as reported by facilities
- TRI Form R Search (US EPA)
  - Facility release information as submitted for each chemical on a Form R to the EPA
  - Narrow your search by filtering through Reporting Year, Facility Selection, and Geography Search
National reports/factsheets
- TRI Factsheets
  - Overview of TRI data for a location, industry sector, or chemical
  - Good for beginning TRI users
- TRI National Analysis
  - Examines trends in releases, waste management practices, and pollution prevention (P2) activities
TRI tools for most users
- TRI Search
  - Search for TRI facilities near an address or location or by facility name and see summary-level TRI data for each one
  - Results include information on environmental releases, population characteristics, pollution prevention, and compliance and enforcement.
  - Good for beginning TRI users and for use on mobile devices.
- TRI Explorer: Release Reports (US EPA)
  - Search by chemical, location, industry sector, or tribal land
  - Focus on chemical releases, waste transfers, or waste quantities.
- Envirofacts TRI Search
  - Search for any facility that has reported since 1987 by name, chemical, location, industry sector, or tribal land
TRI data and tools for advanced/customized analysis
- Envirofacts Customized Search
  - Create reports on multiple focus areas using a comprehensive set of TRI data elements
  - Provides the most flexibility in building a search and choosing how results are organized
  - Recommended for users familiar with database querying
- Envirofacts EZ Search
  - Create reports on multiple focus areas
  - Data grouping and statistical functions available
  - Recommended for users familiar with database querying.
Topic-focused data and tools
- TRI Tribal Search: Summary-level data about releases and other TRI-reported chemical waste management activities at facilities located on or within 10 miles of tribal lands.
- TRI P2 Search (pollution prevention): Find and compare information about how TRI facilities and their parent companies manage chemical waste and work to reduce chemical releases into the environment. This tool offers a comprehensive look at the source reduction and waste management (i.e., releases, recycling, energy recovery and treatment) data reported by TRI facilities.
- TRI P2 Industry Sector Dashboard (pollution prevention): Filter pollution prevention and waste management data for specific industry sectors, based on TRI-reported data.
- Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) (facility compliance): Enforcement and compliance information for TRI and other EPA-regulated facilities. Not managed by the TRI Program.
- DMR/TRI Comparison Dashboard (surface water discharges): Determine what pollutants are being discharged into waterways, and by which companies. Not managed by the TRI Program.
- Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) (comparison of relative risk): Explore potential impacts of TRI-reported chemical releases on relative risk and compare them for different chemicals, locations, facilities, and reporting years. (Note: the "GO" button below links to EasyRSEI.
  - For more information and other RSEI products, visit the main RSEI website.

Mapping TRI Data

TRI National Analysis

Produced by: US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Dates of coverage: 2007 to most current available
Geographic coverage: Local, State and National level
Mapping links:

TRI Where You Live (map TRI sites and receive the most current data)
TRI Toxics Tracker (data from the past 10 years)

EnviroMapper

Produced by: US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Dates of coverage: current
Geographic coverage: Local, State and National level
Instructions: This resources identifies facilities that report to the TRI program only. 1. Enter a location such as address, zip, city, county, waterbody,park name, etc. 2. On the map page, in the upper right corner next to the "find address or place" box, click on Search EnviroFacts. 3. Choose Search by program. 4. A menu bar will open on the left; choose Toxic Releases for the TRI program. 5. Under the program options on the left is an option to download a spreadsheet file of facilities showing on the map.

National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network

Produced by: US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
Dates of coverage: Varies by topic
Geographic coverage: County, State and National level
About: About the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network