Review And Analysis of Effect of EPA’s 

Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Phase II Burden 

Reduction Proposal on TRI Data Uses

By E. H. Pechan & Associates, Durham, NC 27707

2007. [35 pages.] Under contract number SBAHQ-03C0020

Background

Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and 

Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) 

requires facilities to report on various quantities 

of chemical releases, and the amounts of chemicals managed on and off site. The public uses this 

information to estimate local health risks associated with these chemicals, and to develop policies 

to reduce these risks. EPA and other regulators 

use this information to develop regulations and to 

track progress in reducing toxic chemical releases. 

The original regulations were adopted in 1987, 

and additional requirements have been added over 

the years.

The reporting burden on businesses, particularly small businesses, has been substantial. In 

1994, EPA adopted a short form, Form A, to 

replace the longer Form R in an attempt to reduce 

the burden on small firms with small amounts of 

chemicals handled within a facility. In December 

2006, EPA adopted another reform in response 

to concerns that the 1994 Form A reform did not 

provide relief to enough facilities. 

Critics of the new reform claim that TRI data 

uses will be impaired by the 2006 changes. In the 

absence of previous analysis on this topic, this 

research was conducted to identify different types 

of TRI data uses and determine whether the public, government regulators, or other users would 

lose significant information about risks if facilities substitute the short form for the long form, as 

permitted in the 2006 reform. 

Overall Findings

E.H. Pechan & Associates (Pechan) examined the 

effect of the October 2005 proposal on TRI data 

uses. Pechan reviewed over 2,000 comments on 

the proposed rule and identified 17 specific uses 

of TRI data, addressing national, state, and local 

concerns. Based on this analysis, the report found 

that the December 2006 final rule will not have 

significant impacts on data uses identified by commenters. 

Highlights

• Of the 17 examples of TRI data use the report 

identified, there was either no effect or no significant effect on all but one use. With respect to an 

examination of chemical usage in the Louisville, 

Kentucky area, the effect of the substitution of 

Form A for Form R was indeterminate.

• In addition, the Pechan analysis was based on 

the proposal, and not the final rule, which added 

back 60 percent of the Form R release-related information that was previously substituted for Form A 

in the proposal. As a result, the conclusion of this 

report is even stronger than the analysis indicates: 

the TRI reform as adopted by EPA in December 

2006 has an insignificant effect on all identified 

uses of TRI data.

Scope and Methodology

Pechan employed facility-level TRI data analyzed 

at the local, state, and national levels to estimate 

June 2007 No. 303

This report was developed under a contract with the Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, and contains information

and analysis that was reviewed and edited by officials of the Office of Advocacy. However, the final conclusions of the report do not 

necessarily reflect the views of the Office of Advocacy.
the change in data utility that commenters identified as an effect of the reporting burden reduction. 

This approach allowed Pechan to examine specific 

changes in data reported on Form R for each listed chemical within the chosen geographic region. 

The default was to use 2003 TRI data, the most 

recent available when the analysis was undertaken, 

but Pechan also employed historic data when necessary and available to examine the specific data 

use identified in the comments.

Note

This report was peer-reviewed consistent with 

Advocacy’s data quality guidelines. More information on this process can be obtained by contacting the Director of Economic Research at 

advocacy@sba.gov or (202) 205-6533.

Ordering Information

The full text of this report and summaries of other 

studies performed under contract with the U.S. 

Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy 

are available on the Internet at www.sba.gov/advo/

research. Copies are available for purchase from:

National Technical Information Service

5285 Port Royal Road

Springfield, VA 22161

(800) 553-6847 or (703)605-6000

TDD: (703) 487-4639

www.ntis.gov

Order number: PB2007-110007

Paper A04 ($29.50)

Microfiche A01 ($14.00)

CD-ROM A00 ($22.00)

Download A00 ($17.95)

To receive email notices of Advocacy's newsletter, press, regulatory news, and research, visit 

http://web.sba.gov/list. For really simpole syndication, visit www.sba.gov/advo/rsslibrary.html.