Potential Uses and Abuses of Toxic Release Inventory Data

Abstract

The Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (Title III) of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) was designed to provide communities with information about many hazardous substances stored, transported, or released in their local environments. The toxic chemical release reporting section (Section 313 of the Act) is the focus of this paper. Under Section 313, certain businesses must report annually on their total aggregate releases of toxic chemicals to air, water, and land. These aggregate data are referred to as the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). In the first years of reporting, there will be some initial difficulties in understanding and using the TRI data. Because the reporting is new, the release data are expected to be limited in type and quality. The TRI data will be useful for conducting screening level comparisons, planning, and priority setting activities. Temporal or spatial comparisons can be made between TRI emissions and other emissions data, standards or permits. TRI data can be a component for consideration in land use planning. Risk screening of TRI data can help to set priorities for follow-up data collection, and analyses must not imply greater accuracy or certainty than is permitted by the limitations in the data. Quantitative risk assessment, epidemiologic studies which establish causal links to health clusters, and definitive answers to health questions will require additional data.