May 7, 2014

Prepared for:

Analytical Support Branch

Environmental Analysis Division

Office of Information Analysis and 

Access

Office of Environmental Information

US Environmental Protection Agency

May 7, 2014

Economic Analysis of the Final Rule to Add 

Nonylphenol to the EPCRA Section 313 

List of Toxic Chemicals
i 5/7/2014

Table of Contents

Table of Contents......................................................................................................................................... i

Table of Tables............................................................................................................................................ii

Executive Summary...................................................................................................................................iii

ES.1 Introduction.....................................................................................................................................iii

ES.2 Need for Rule..................................................................................................................................iii

ES.3 Addition of Chemicals....................................................................................................................iii

ES.4 Estimated Reporting Activity .........................................................................................................iii

ES.5 Costs of the Final Rule.................................................................................................................... iv

ES.6 Small Entity Analysis ..................................................................................................................... vi

ES.7 Benefits of the Final Rule ..............................................................................................................vii

Chapter 1 – Background and Overview of Analysis.............................................................................1-1

1.1 Overview of TRI...........................................................................................................................1-1

1.2 Chemicals for Addition to TRI .....................................................................................................1-5

1.3 Organization of This Report .........................................................................................................1-5

Chapter 2 – Estimates of the Number of Additional Forms and Affected Facilities .........................2-1

2.1 Background...................................................................................................................................2-1

2.2 Methodology.................................................................................................................................2-2

2.3 Estimation of the Number of Forms and Facilities.....................................................................2-12

2.4 Summary of the Total Number of Forms and Facilities under the Final Rule............................2-15

Chapter 3 – Cost Estimates.....................................................................................................................3-1

3.1 Introduction...................................................................................................................................3-1

3.2 Industry Burden and Cost Estimates.............................................................................................3-1

3.3 EPA Costs.....................................................................................................................................3-7

3.4 Total Costs....................................................................................................................................3-8

Chapter 4 – Small Entity Analysis..........................................................................................................4-1

4.1 Introduction...................................................................................................................................4-1

4.2 Impact on Small Entities...............................................................................................................4-1

4.3 Definitions of Small Entities.........................................................................................................4-1

4.4 Methodology Overview ................................................................................................................4-2

4.5 Summary of Results....................................................................................................................4-11

Chapter 5 – Benefits.................................................................................................................................5-1
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Table of Tables

Table ES-1: Total Estimated Forms and Facilities Under the Final Rule....................................................iv

Table ES-2: Industry Reporting Burden .......................................................................................................v

Table ES-3: Summary of Total Costs of the Final Rule ..............................................................................vi

Table ES-4: Summary of Universe for Small Entity Impact Analyses.......................................................vii

Table ES-5: Summary of Impacts on Small Parent Entities Affected by the Final Rule............................vii

Table 2-1: 2012 U.S. Production of NP.....................................................................................................2-1

Table 2-2: 2007 U.S. Consumption of NP.................................................................................................2-2

Table 2-3: Primary Sectors Manufacturing, Processing, or Otherwise Using NP .....................................2-3

Table 2-4: All Facilities and Estimated TNPP Processors for NAICS Codes Processing TNPP ..............2-5

Table 2-5: Estimated TNPP Processors by Employment Size Class for NAICS Codes 

Processing TNPP....................................................................................................................2-6

Table 2-6: TNPP and NP Processing per Facility by Employment Size Class..........................................2-6

Table 2-7: RY2012 TRI Reporting for the Potential Proxy Chemicals Across All Industry 

Sectors....................................................................................................................................2-9

Table 2-8: Manufacture and General Uses of NP and Potential Proxy Chemicals..................................2-10

Table 2-9: Estimated Forms and Facilities from Chemical Manufacturers Under the Final 

Rule ......................................................................................................................................2-13

Table 2-10: Estimated Forms and Facilities from Epoxy Resin Manufacturers Under the Final 

Rule ......................................................................................................................................2-14

Table 2-11: Estimated Forms and Facilities from TNPP Processors Under the Final Rule ....................2-14

Table 2-12: Estimated Forms and Facilities from Wholesalers and Waste Treatment Under 

the Final Rule .......................................................................................................................2-15

Table 2-13: Total Estimated Forms and Facilities Under the Final Rule.................................................2-16

Table 3-1: The Derivation of the Weighted Average Wage Rate (2013$) ................................................3-5

Table 3-2: Total Estimated Forms Under the Final Rule...........................................................................3-6

Table 3-3: Industry Reporting Burden.......................................................................................................3-6

Table 3-4: Industry Reporting Cost ...........................................................................................................3-7

Table 3-5: Summary of Total Costs of Final Rule.....................................................................................3-8

Table 4-1: Small Business Size Standards for Industries Affected by the Final Rule ...............................4-2

Table 4-2: Summary of Universe for Small Entity Impact Analyses for Actual Facilities........................4-5

Table 4-3: Summary of Impacts on Small Parent Entities Affected by the Final Rule (Actual 

Facilities) ...............................................................................................................................4-6

Table 4-4: Distribution of Potentially Affected Facilities by Employment Size Class..............................4-7

Table 4-5: Distribution of Potentially Affected Facilities by Revenue Size Class....................................4-7

Table 4-6: Parent Company Distribution by Employment Size Class.......................................................4-8

Table 4-7: Parent Company Distribution by Revenue Size Class..............................................................4-8

Table 4-8: Summary of Impacts on Small Parent Entities Affected by the Final Rule 

(Modeled Facilities) .............................................................................................................4-10
iii 5/7/2014

Executive Summary

ES.1 Introduction

Under section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), and section 

6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA), certain facilities are required to file annual reports to the 

United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and to states on their releases, transfers, and other 

waste management practices for certain toxic chemicals if they are manufactured, processed, or otherwise 

used above certain threshold amounts. This information is included in a publicly available database 

known as the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI).

Currently, there are 594 chemicals and 30 chemical categories on the list of chemicals subject to EPCRA 

section 313 requirements.

1 EPCRA section 313(d) authorizes EPA to add chemicals to the list of 

reportable substances. Under the final rule, EPA adds a nonylphenol category that includes the following 

chemical mixtures or individually listed chemicals:

 4-Nonylphenol (CAS 104-40-5);

 Isononylphenol (CAS 11066-49-2);

 Nonylphenol (CAS 25154-52-3);

 4-Isononylphenol (CAS 26543-97-5);

 4-Nonylphenol, branched (CAS 84852-15-3); and

 Nonylphenol, branched (CAS 90481-04-2).

Throughout this analysis, nonylphenol (NP) refers to all of these chemical mixtures or individually listed 

chemicals.

ES.2 Need for Rule

EPA believes that NP meets the EPCRA Section 313(d)(2)(C) criteria for listing because of its toxicity to 

aquatic organisms. Further, EPA believes that facilities currently manufacture, process, or otherwise use 

these chemicals above TRI thresholds and therefore will file TRI reports based on the analysis presented 

in this document. 

ES.3 Addition of Chemicals

NP is produced in large volumes, with uses that lead to widespread release to the aquatic environment. 

NP is persistent in the aquatic environment, moderately bioaccumulative, and extremely toxic to aquatic 

organisms. NP’s main use is in the manufacture of nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs). NPEs are nonionic 

surfactants that are used in a wide variety of industrial applications and consumer products. NPEs, though 

less toxic than NP, are also highly toxic to aquatic organisms, and in the environment degrade to more 

environmentally persistent NP. NP has also been detected in human breast milk, blood, and urine and is 

associated with reproductive and developmental effects in rodents. NP has been identified as an endocrine 

disruptor, and is one of five endocrine disruptor compounds nominated by the National Toxicology 

Program (NTP) for reproductive assessment studies (NTP, 2010).

ES.4 Estimated Reporting Activity

The number of additional TRI reports expected due to the final rule is summarized in Table ES-1.

 

1

Includes the addition of o-Nitrotoluene to the list of reportable chemicals on November 7, 2013.
iv 5/7/2014

Table ES-1: Total Estimated Forms and Facilities Under the Final Rule

NAICS NAICS Description

Forms Facilities

Form R Form A Total

First 

Time 

Filers

Existing 

Filers Total

325 Chemical Manufacturing 3 1 4 4 0 4

325188 All Other Basic Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing 2 0 2 0 2 2

325192 Cyclic Crude and Intermediate Manufacturing 1 0 1 0 1 1

325199 All Other Basic Organic Chemical Manufacturing 10 2 12 0 12 12

325211 Plastics Material and Resin Manufacturing 2 1 3 0 3 3

325212 Synthetic Rubber Manufacturing 1 0 1 0 1 1

325510 Paint and Coating Manufacturing 5 3 8 0 8 8

325520 Adhesive Manufacturing 1 1 2 0 2 2

325611 Soap and Other Detergent Manufacturing 1 0 1 0 1 1

325612 Polish and Other Sanitation Good Manufacturing 1 0 1 1 0 1

325613 Surface Active Agent Manufacturing 1 0 1 0 1 1

325998 All Other Miscellaneous Chemical Product and 

Preparation Manufacturing 2 1 3 0 3 3

326113 Unlaminated Plastics Film and Sheet (except 

Packaging) Manufacturing 1 0 1 0 1 1

326199 All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing 6 1 7 0 7 7

424690 Other Chemical and Allied Products Merchant 

Wholesalers 2 1 3 0 3 3

562211 Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal 3 0 3 0 3 3

562213 Solid Waste Combustors and Incinerators 1 0 1 0 1 1

Total 43 11 54 5 49 54

ES.5 Costs of the Final Rule

The final rule will result in associated costs to both industry and EPA. Affected facilities will spend time 

reporting the required information to EPA on Form R or Form A. The Agency will spend time processing 

new forms. 

ES.5.1 Industry Costs

For the final rule, the burden and cost potentially incurred by industry are estimated using the RatioBased Burden Methodology (RBBM) which is a simplified formulation of the previously employed 

burden methodology.2 Estimating reporting burden using RBBM produces a more stable estimate that 

reflects overall “average” reporting conditions at affected facilities. According to RBBM, reporting 

activities can be divided into two groups: 

 Form Activities, consisting of rule familiarization, reporter compliance determination, 

calculations and form completion, and recordkeeping and submission; and 

 Non-Form Activities, consisting of supplier notification and non-reporter compliance 

determination. 

 

2 Revising TRI Burden to Ratio-Based Methodology, TRI Regulatory Development Branch, TRI Program Division, 

Office of Information Analysis and Access, Office of Environmental Information, January 2011, EPA Docket ID 

Number EPA-HQ-OEI-2010-0825.
v 5/7/2014

Form Activity burden is estimated using the variable Nominal Form R unit burden to represent average 

burden incurred by filers to file a Form R. The Nominal Form R unit burden is set at 35.70516 hours.3

Form A burden is closely linked to that of Form R, and is therefore quantified by the ratio A/R (set at 

0.615), thus reflecting the burden of a Form A as 61.5 percent of the burden of a Form R. Form Activity 

Burden can be calculated using the Nominal Form R unit burden, the A/R ratio, and the number of Forms 

R and Forms A expected to be filed due to the final rule. RBBM combines Form Activity Burden with 

Non-Form Activity Burden (consisting of supplier notification and non-reporter compliance 

determination) in order to calculate Steady State Total Burden, which is the ongoing burden estimated to 

be incurred by filers due to the final rule (previously referred to as “Subsequent Year Burden”). To 

represent the elevated level of effort incurred by both filers reporting to TRI for the first-time and those 

already reporting to TRI but considering the requirements of the final rule for the first time, a First-Time 

Filer Factor (FTFf) is computed at 2.1. 

The costs potentially incurred by industry are estimated using the weighted average wage rate, WAWR,

representing the average loaded cost for a mix of Managerial, Technical and Clerical labor per hour of 

TRI reporter burden. The WAWR is calculated using data from Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employer 

Costs for Employee Compensation, updated quarterly. As of March 12, 2014, the WAWR is calculated at 

$49.25.

4

Table ES-2 presents the total industry cost of the final rule in the first year of the rule and in the steady 

state. 

Table ES-2: Industry Reporting Burden

Form R 

(#)

Form A 

(#)

Form R Burden 

(hours)

Form A Burden 

(hours)

Total Burden 

(hours)

Total Cost

(2011$)

First Year

43 11

3,224 508 3,731 $183,773

Steady State 1,535 242 1,777 $87,511

ES.5.2 EPA Costs

In general, EPA incurs burden and costs for five categories of activities related to the TRI program: data 

processing, outreach and training, information dissemination, policy and petitions, and compliance and 

enforcement. These activities involve both fixed (e.g., rent for the EPCRA reporting center) and variable 

costs (activities such as data processing that depend on the number of forms submitted). As a result of the 

final rule, the Agency is only expected to incur variable costs associated with data processing.

As of January 21, 2014, all non-trade secret forms must be submitted electronically. EPA estimates that 

the processing cost for TRI-MEweb submissions is $3.33 per form.5 Therefore, the total form processing 

burden for EPA associated with Form R and Form A submissions under the final rule is estimated at

$180. 

 

3 The burden of 35.70516 includes the addition of .00516 hours of burden associated with the new Dioxin Reporting 

Requirements promulgated in May 10, 2007, and accounted for in the 2011 ICR (Docket# EPA-HQ-OEI-2010-

0835.

4 See derivation of the WAWR in Section 3.2.1.

5 Source: Personal communication with Juan Parra, TRI Information and Outreach Branch. January 9, 2012. 

Updated to 2013 dollars using the Employment Cost Index.
vi 5/7/2014

ES.5.3 Summary of Costs

The total cost of the final rule to industry and EPA is estimated at $183,953 in the first year of the rule 

and $87,691 in the steady state.6 Table ES-3 summarizes the total costs to industry and EPA as a result of

the final rule.

Table ES-3: Summary of Total Costs of the Final Rule

Description First Year Steady State

Industry Cost $183,773 $87,511

Agency Cost $180 $180 

Total Cost $183,953 $87,691

ES.6 Small Entity Analysis

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) of 1980 (5 U.S.C. § 601 et. seq.) requires Federal agencies to 

assess the effects of regulations on small entities, and in some instances, to examine alternatives to the 

regulations that may reduce adverse economic effects on significantly impacted small entities. The RFA 

requires agencies to prepare an initial and final regulatory flexibility analysis for each rule unless the 

Agency certifies that the rule would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of 

small entities.

This analysis uses estimated annual cost impact percentages to measure potential impacts on small 

entities. The cost impact percentage is defined as annual compliance costs resulting from the final rule as 

a percentage of annual revenues or sales. For purposes of determining small entity impacts, comparing 

annual compliance costs to annual revenues provides a reasonable indication of the magnitude of the 

regulatory burden relative to a commonly available and objective measure of a company's business 

volume. Where regulatory costs represent a small fraction of a typical firm's revenue, the impacts of the 

regulation are likely to be minimal.

Cost impact percentages are calculated for the incremental compliance costs incurred during the first year 

of the rule and in the steady state. The incremental reporting burden and cost associated with this final

rule are estimated using the Ratio-Based Burden Methodology (RBBM), described above.

Seventy facilities are expected to report under the final rule. The universe of potentially affected facilities 

was estimated using EPA’s TSCA Inventory Update Reporting (IUR) Database, the Directory of World 

Chemical Producers (DWCP), other available publications, and existing TRI reporters. The method used 

to estimate the universe of affected facilities is discussed in detail in Chapter 2. 

The 54 potentially affected facilities can be divided into the following two groups:

 Actual Facilities – 25 facilities potentially subject to the final rule’s reporting requirements, 

where the identity of each facility is known. 

 Modeled Facilities – 29 facilities, where the identity of the individual facilities is unknown but 

where it was possible to estimate the total number of potentially subject facilities by NAICS code 

via the proxy chemical method and the consumption method, as described in Chapter 2. 

 

6 The steady state burden created by the rule would be added to the steady state burden of TRI reporting in general 

during ICR development.
vii 5/7/2014

The estimation of revenue, employment, and impact figures for these two groups of facilities is performed 

separately. The universe of affected facilities, parent companies, and affected small parent entities is 

summarized in Table ES-4. 

Table ES-4: Summary of Universe for Small Entity Impact Analyses 

Number of facilities estimated to experience an impact 54

Number of parent companies 43

Number of small parent entities 39

The estimated impacts on small parent entities under the final rule are presented in Table ES-5. All 39 of 

the affected small parent entities would incur cost impacts of less than 1% in the first year of the rule and 

in the steady state.

Table ES-5: Summary of Impacts on Small Parent Entities Affected by the Final Rule 

Cost Impact Category Affected Small Entities in 1st Year Affected Small Entities in Steady State

# % # %

Less than 1% 39 100% 39 100%

1% to 3% 0 0% 0 0%

Greater than 3% 0 0% 0 0%

ES.7 Benefits of the Final Rule

The benefits of the final rule include improved understanding, awareness, and decision making related to 

the provision and distribution of information on releases and waste management of NP. The provision of 

information can lead to follow-on activities that create additional costs and benefits. In particular, this 

information can lead to voluntary initiatives by industry to review production processes, set goals for 

reductions in emissions, and institute “good neighbor” policies.

EPA has not attempted to monetize the benefits of the final rule due to the lack of quantitative 

information characterizing the range of users and non-users of TRI data and the substantial analytical 

challenges associated with conducting an analysis that accurately predicts behavioral responses to the 

provision of information. In addition, the potentially large numbers of beneficiaries who are not TRI data 

users, or who are otherwise unaware of the data (e.g., general public), further limits EPA’s ability to 

quantify potential benefits. However, the experience since the first forms were submitted to TRI in 1987 

suggests that reporting under EPCRA section 313 has produced real gains in understanding about 

communities’ exposure to toxic chemicals. In its report entitled: How are the Toxics Release Inventory 

Data Used? – Government, Business, Academic, and Citizen Uses, EPA has documented numerous 

examples of how multiple stakeholders have used TRI data (US EPA, 2003). Moreover, a cursory search 

on GoogleScholarTM reveals thousands of academic articles referencing the Toxics Release Inventory. 

Listing NP, and the subsequent use of the reported information, should provide similar gains in 

understanding of this particular chemical. EPA believes that NP meets the statutory toxicity criteria of 

section 313, and is at least as toxic as some of the chemicals for which Congress initially believed there 

were net benefits due to reporting (i.e., the initial list of section 313 chemicals). 
viii 5/7/2014

Literature Cited

CDC (2009).Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). National Health and Nutrition 

Examination Survey (NHANES). http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm

Revising TRI Burden to Ratio-Based Methodology, TRI Regulatory Development Branch, TRI Program 

Division, Office of Information Analysis and Access, Office of Environmental Information, 

January 20011, EPA Docket ID Number EPA-HQ-OEI-2010-0825.

U.S. CB (2010). Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB). http://www.census.gov/econ/susb

U.S. EPA. (2006) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Inventory Update Reporting (IUR): NonConfidential 2006 TSCA Inventory Update Rule (IUR) Records.

http://cfpub.epa.gov/iursearch/index.cfm?s=chem. (Accessed Dec 9, 2009).

U.S. EPA (2011a). Supporting Statement for Information Collection Request Number (ICR) 1363.21, 

OMB Number 2025-0009: TRI Form R and Form A Toxic Chemical Release Reporting. 

February 2011.

U.S. EPA (2003). How are the Toxics Release Inventory Data Used? – Government, Business, Academic, 

and Citizen Uses. EPA 260-R-002-004. May 2003.
1-1 5/7/2014

Chapter 1– Background and Overview of Analysis

The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), also known as Title III of the 

Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA), created a broad range of emergency 

response planning and reporting requirements for manufacturers, processors, and users of toxic chemicals 

in the United States. Under section 313 of EPCRA, certain facilities are required to submit annual reports 

to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and to States on their release(s), transfer(s), 

and waste management activities for certain toxic chemicals if they are manufactured, processed, or 

otherwise used above thresholds amounts. In addition, the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) of 1990 

requires these same facilities to report prevention, recycling, and other waste management information for 

these same chemicals. EPA maintains the data collected under EPCRA section 313 and the PPA in a 

database known as the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).7

EPCRA section 313(f)(1) contains default reporting thresholds for facilities. These reporting thresholds 

are 25,000 pounds for toxic chemicals that are manufactured (including imported) or processed, and 

10,000 pounds for toxic chemicals that are otherwise used. Facilities that meet these reporting thresholds, 

as well as other reporting criteria, are required to submit annual reports. Under this rule, reporting would 

be required for nonylphenol (NP) which EPA considers to be highly toxic to the aquatic environment, has 

been detected in human breast milk, blood, and urine, and is associated with reproductive and 

developmental effects in rodents. 

This report analyzes the economic impacts of the final rule. To understand the effects of the final rule, 

however, it is first necessary to understand how EPCRA section 313 and TRI currently operate. This 

chapter provides an overview of TRI followed by a description of the rule and organization of the report. 

1.1 Overview of TRI

In 1986, Congress passed the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). The 

law was passed in response to the accidental release of methyl isocyanate gas in Bhopal, India, in 

December 1984, and to a number of chemical accidents in the United States, including one in Institute, 

West Virginia. These accidental releases highlighted the lack of information readily available to the 

public about toxic chemicals being manufactured, processed, used, and transported within their 

communities. EPCRA is based on the premise that the public has the right to know about the use of 

chemicals, as well as their routine and accidental releases. The broad purposes are to encourage planning 

for response to accidental chemical releases as well as daily management of routine releases, and to 

provide the public and government agencies with information about the presence, release, and 

management of toxic chemicals.

EPCRA contains four main provisions:

 Planning for chemical emergencies (sections 301-303),

 Emergency notification of chemical accidents and releases (section 304),

 Reporting of hazardous chemical inventories (sections 311-312), and

 Toxic chemical release reporting (section 313).

 

7 The term EPCRA section 313 properly refers to only the statutory requirements, while the term TRI properly refers 

to the database where the information collected under section 313 and under section 6607 of the PPA is stored. 

However, the terms have often been used interchangeably by the public to refer to the statute, the regulatory 

requirements, the reporting form, the database, and EPA's program to manage the data. In deference to common 

usage, the terms EPCRA section 313 and TRI are sometimes used interchangeably in this report where doing so will 

make the report simpler and easier to read.
1-2 5/7/2014

Because this rule falls under section 313 (and not the other sections of EPCRA), the remainder of this 

overview deals only with the TRI provisions of section 313.

The first regulations implementing EPCRA section 313 were promulgated on February 16, 1988 (53 FR 

4500), and are codified at 40 CFR part 372. Under these original regulations, owners or operators of 

regulated facilities must complete the Toxic Chemical Release Inventory Reporting Form R, which 

includes information on releases to air, water, and land, as well as on-site waste treatment and transfers of 

the chemical to off-site locations. 

A facility must report under section 313 if it meets all of the following three criteria: 

1. It is in an Industrial Classification code covered by the regulations;

2. It has ten or more full-time employees (or the hourly equivalent of 20,000 hours); and

3. It manufactures, processes, or otherwise uses any of the listed toxic chemicals or chemical 

categories above the applicable reporting threshold.

Facilities must submit the forms each calendar year to both EPA and the State in which the facility is 

located by July 1 of the following year.

A completed Form R must be submitted for each toxic chemical manufactured, processed, or otherwise 

used over threshold levels at each regulated facility as described in 40 CFR part 372. For most chemicals, 

threshold levels are set at 25,000 lbs for manufacturing and processing and 10,000 lbs for otherwise use

(40 CFR § 372.25). Over 600 toxic chemicals and chemical compound categories are currently on the list 

of TRI chemicals.

TRI is unique among environmental databases because of the multimedia data it collects, and because it 

was designed for public access. EPCRA requires that EPA “establish and maintain in a computer 

database a national toxic chemical inventory based on data submitted to the Administrator” (42 U.S.C. § 

11023(j)). EPA maintains the section 313 data in the national TRI database and makes the data available 

to the public in a variety of formats, including on-line and CD-ROM. With its broad dissemination, TRI 

data is used extensively by the public. Facilities use the data obtained through TRI to better understand 

their operations, and make better use of pollution prevention opportunities. Public-interest groups use the 

data to inform themselves about the presence of toxic chemicals in the environment, and use that 

knowledge to engage in a meaningful, productive dialogue with industry and all levels of government. In 

general, TRI data have proven to be a powerful tool in environmental decision-making.

1.1.1 Pollution Prevention Act

In 1990, Congress passed the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA), which adopted as national policy an 

environmental hierarchy that establishes pollution prevention as the first choice among waste 

management options (42 U.S.C. §§ 13101-13109). For waste that cannot be prevented at the source, 

recycling is considered the next best option, and treatment or disposal should be considered only after 

source reduction and recycling options have been eliminated. Section 6607 of the PPA requires facilities 

to also report information on their pollution prevention, recycling, and other waste management activities. 

This information complements the information reported under EPCRA section 313 by providing 

information about the waste management activities related to the reported chemicals. The data elements 

required by the Pollution Prevention Act are included as Section 8 of Form R.
1-3 5/7/2014

1.1.2 Changes to the List of Chemicals

When Congress passed EPCRA it provided an initial list of approximately 300 chemicals and chemical 

categories subject to TRI reporting. The statutory list was derived from chemical lists used in New Jersey 

and Maryland. Congress also included a provision in EPCRA that allows EPA to amend the list of 

chemicals subject to TRI reporting. Under section 313(d), EPA has the authority to add a chemical to the 

list if it determines that the chemical can cause or can be reasonably anticipated to cause:

 Adverse acute human health effects at concentration levels reasonably likely to exist beyond 

facility site boundaries as a result of continuous or frequently recurring releases;

 In humans, cancer or teratogenic effects, serious or irreversible reproductive dysfunctions, 

neurological disorders, heritable genetic mutations, or other chronic health effects; or

 A significant adverse effect on the environment. See, 42 U.S.C.§ 11023(d).

EPA has added chemicals to the list through its authority under section 313(d). Most notably, EPA added 

286 chemicals and chemical categories to the list of toxic chemicals subject to TRI on November 30, 

1994 (59 FR 61432). The majority of these chemicals are pesticides. Many of the remaining chemicals 

are either regulated or identified as concerns under other environmental statutes such as the Clean Air 

Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

EPA may delete a chemical from the list if it does not meet any of the above criteria found in 313(d). 

According to section 313(e) of EPCRA, any person may petition EPA to add or delete a chemical from 

the list on the basis of whether or not it meets the above criteria (see 42 U.S.C. § 11023(e)). All changes 

to the list are made through the rulemaking process under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA).

1.1.3 Alternate Threshold

On November 30, 1994, EPA finalized the “TRI Alternate Threshold for Facilities with Low Annual 

Reportable Amounts” (59 FR 61488). This rule was intended to reduce the compliance burden associated 

with EPCRA section 313. It established a streamlined reporting option for facilities where the annual 

reportable amount of a listed chemical released or managed does not exceed 500 pounds.8 Such facilities 

have the option of applying an alternate manufacture, process, or otherwise use threshold of 1 million 

pounds to that chemical, instead of the standard thresholds of 10,000 or 25,000 pounds. If a facility does 

not exceed the 1 million-pound threshold, then that facility is eligible to submit Form A for that chemical 

instead of Form R. Form A is a simplified reporting form that includes facility identification information 

and identifies the chemical or chemical category being reported. The form must be submitted on an 

annual basis.

1.1.4 Executive Order 12856

On August 3, 1993, Executive Order 12856, “Federal Compliance with Right-to-Know Laws and 

Pollution Prevention Requirements” was signed by the President (58 FR 41981). The Executive Order 

requires federal facilities to comply with EPCRA requirements beginning with the 1994-reporting year. 

The Executive Order also asks all federal agencies to set a voluntary goal of 50% reduction from baseline 

quantities of their releases and transfers by 1999.

 

8 The annual reportable amount is equal to the combined total quantities recycled, combusted for energy recovery, 

treated, or released. It can be calculated as is the sum of data elements 8.1 through 8.7 on Form R.
1-4 5/7/2014

1.1.5 Changes to the List of Industries 

On May 1, 1997, EPA added facilities in seven industry groups to the list of facilities subject to the 

reporting requirements of section 313 (62 FR 23833). The first reports from these facilities were required 

to be submitted in 1999 for reporting year 1998. Prior to this action, reporting was limited to facilities in 

the manufacturing sector and federal facilities. This action added facilities in the following sectors: 

 Metal mining, 

 Coal mining,

 Electric utilities,

 Commercial hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities

 Chemicals and allied products-wholesale,

 Petroleum bulk terminals and plants-wholesale, and

 Solvent recovery services.

1.1.6 Changes for Certain PBT Chemicals

On October 29, 1999, EPA lowered reporting thresholds to 10 or 100 pounds for certain TRI chemicals 

(persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals, or PBT chemicals) that are of concern because of their 

toxicity and tendency to persist and bioaccumulate (64 FR 58666). EPA also added to TRI certain PBT 

chemicals that were not already listed including a dioxin category with a reporting threshold of 0.1 gram. 

At this time EPA made other changes to PBT chemical reporting, such as disallowing the use of the de 

minimis exemption, range reporting, and Form A reporting for PBT chemicals (40 CFR § 372.28(b)). On 

January 17, 2001, EPA lowered the reporting threshold for lead and lead compounds to 100 pounds and 

applied the same limitations as are applied to other PBT chemicals (40 CFR § 372.28).

1.1.7 Toxic Chemical Release Reporting Using North American Industry Classification System 

(NAICS) Rule

On June 6, 2006, EPA published a final rule requiring facilities reporting to TRI to use North American 

Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes in place of the Standard Industry Classification (SIC) 

codes previously used on TRI reporting forms. This rule required facilities that report to TRI to use 2002 

NAICS codes on reporting Form R and the Form A Certification Statement. The 2007 NAICS Revision 

Final Rule published on June 9, 2008, required facilities to use 2007 NAICS codes on TRI reporting 

forms. NAICS reporting requirements were revised again on July 18, 2013. Under the 2012 NAICS 

Revision Final Rule, facilities are required to use 2012 NAICS codes when submitting forms for reporting 

years 2013 and beyond.

1.1.8 TRI Dioxin and Dioxin-like Compounds Toxic Equivalency (TEQ) Information Rule- Final 

Rule 

On May 10, 2007, the Toxics Release Inventory Program issued a final rule expanding reporting

requirements for the dioxin and dioxin-like compounds category. There are seventeen distinct members of 

this chemical category that are included on the EPCRA section 313 list of toxic chemicals. The final rule 

requires that, in addition to the total grams released for the entire category, facilities must report the 

quantity for each individual member on a new Form R Schedule 1. EPA will then use the individual mass 

quantity data to calculate TEQ values that will be made available to the public along with the mass data. 

The final rule also removes the requirement to report the single distribution of compounds in the category.
1-5 5/7/2014

1.2 Chemicals for Addition to TRI

1.2.1 Addition of Nonylphenol

Nonylphenol (NP) is produced in large volumes, with uses that lead to widespread release to the aquatic 

environment. NP is persistent in the aquatic environment, moderately bioaccumulative, and extremely 

toxic to aquatic organisms. NP’s main use is in the manufacture of nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs). 

NPEs are nonionic surfactants that are used in a wide variety of industrial applications and consumer 

products. NPEs, though less toxic than NP, are also highly toxic to aquatic organisms, and in the 

environment degrade to more environmentally persistent NP. NP has also been detected in human breast 

milk, blood, and urine and is associated with reproductive and developmental effects in rodents. NP has 

been identified as an endocrine disruptor, and is one of five endocrine disruptor compounds nominated by 

the National Toxicology Program (NTP) for reproductive assessment studies (NTP, 2010).

1.3 Organization of This Report

This report examines the potential increase in reporting burden that would result from adding NP to the 

list of EPCRA section 313 reportable chemicals due to EPA’s concern regarding the chemical’s toxicity 

and evidence of pervasive human and environmental exposure to it. This report also estimates the costs to 

industry and EPA associated with the reporting burden and other impacts of the rule. The remainder of this

report is organized as follows:

Chapter 2 summarizes the expected number of reports and facilities 

affected by the final rule.

Chapter 3 presents the methodology used to estimate the burden and 

costs as well as the results of the analysis. 

Chapter 4 examines the impacts of the final rule on small parent entities 

as required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980. 

Chapter 5 evaluates the benefits of the final rule.
1-6 5/7/2014

Literature Cited

CDC (2009). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). National Health and Nutrition 

Examination Survey (NHANES). http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm

Dugal, M. 2005. Nitrobenzene and Nitrotoluenes. Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology.

EPA (2006). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Inventory Update Reporting (IUR): NonConfidential 2006 TSCA Inventory Update Rule (IUR) Records.

http://cfpub.epa.gov/iursearch/index.cfm?s=chem. (accessed Dec 9, 2009).

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 1994. Screening information dataset 

(SIDS) initial assessment profile on the OECD high production volume chemical 2-nitrotoluene. 

Accessed on December 13th, 2011. 

http://webnet.oecd.org/hpv/UI/SIDS_Details.aspx?Key=9698bce4-484f-4299-932e1c3a53d20c51&idx=0

(NTP, 2010) NTP Assessment of the Immunotoxicity of Nonylphenol (endocrine Disruptor) (CASRN 

84852-15-3) in Male and Female Sprague-Dawley Rats. August 4, 2010. 

http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/index.cfm?objectid=BB4C2228-F1F6-975E-7E4955ACF48023ED
2-1 5/7/2014

Chapter 2– Estimates of the Number of Additional Forms and 

Affected Facilities

This chapter presents the estimate of the number of additional forms and affected facilities as a result of 

the addition of a nonylphenol category to the list of TRI-reportable chemicals. Under the final rule, EPA 

will add a nonylphenol category that will include the following chemical mixtures or individually listed

chemicals:

 4-Nonylphenol (CAS 104-40-5);

 Isononylphenol (CAS 11066-49-2);

 Nonylphenol (CAS 25154-52-3);

 4-Isononylphenol (CAS 26543-97-5);

 4-Nonylphenol, branched (CAS 84852-15-3); and

 Nonylphenol, branched (CAS 90481-04-2).

Throughout this analysis, nonylphenol (NP) refers to all of these chemicals mixtures or individually listed 

chemicals.

Background information on NP is provided in Section 2.1 of this chapter. The methods and associated 

assumptions used to estimate reporting for the nonylphenol category are presented in Section 2.2. In 

Section 2.3, the estimated reporting (forms and facilities) resulting from the manufacture, processing or 

otherwise using of NP is presented for each industry sector. Section 2.4 provides a summary of expected 

reporting from the potentially affected universe of facilities.

2.1 Background

NP is composed of a nine carbon alkyl group bound to a phenol ring. NP is manufactured by alkylation of 

phenol with propylene trimer (also known as branched nonene) in the presence of an acidic ion-exchange 

resin catalyst (Vazquez-Duhalt et al., 2005). Due to variance in both the branching of the alkyl chain and 

the position of the alkyl chain on the phenol ring, commercial NP is not a single chemical structure, but 

rather a complex mixture of branched nonylphenol isomers (APERC, 2010).9

The production volume10 reported under the TSCA Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) in 2012 for the most 

widely produced nonylphenol isomer, 4-nonylphenol, branched (CAS 84852-15-3), is 209.7 million lb, as 

shown in Table 2-1. No production volume was reported in the 2012 CDR for the other four isomers in 

the nonylphenol category.

Table 2-1: 2012 U.S. Production of NP

CASRN Description

Aggregated 

Production Volume

(lb)

25154-52-3 Nonylphenol 46,915

84852-15-3 4-Nonylphenol, branched 209,708,422

Source: 2012 CDR (U.S. EPA, 2013)

 

9 During alkylation, the propylene trimer preferentially binds to the para or 4th position of the phenol ring and to a 

lesser extent binds to the ortho or 2nd position of the phenol ring (APERC, 2009). The Alkylphenols & Ethoxylates 

Research Council (APERC) considers 4-nonylphenol, branched (CAS 84852-15-3) to be most descriptive of 

commercially available NP (APERC, 2010).

10 Production volume includes manufactured volume plus imports.
2-2 5/7/2014

As shown in Table 2-2, most of the NP consumed in the U.S. is processed as a reactant to manufacture

other chemicals (ICIS, 2007), primarily nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPE). NPE are nonionic surfactants 

used in a wide variety of industrial applications and consumer products. NP is also processed as a reactant 

to manufacture tris-nonylphenol phosphite (TNPP), which is an additive used in plastic and rubber 

products, and a variety of other chemicals including additives for motor oil, oilfield demulsifiers, and 

polymer resins. In addition to use as a reactant, NP is used in direct end uses including use as a 

formulation component in epoxy resin.

Table 2-2: 2007 U.S. Consumption of NP

Percentage of Total

Nonionic surfactants (e.g. NPE) 80%

Phosphite Antioxidants (e.g. TNPP) 10%

Miscellaneous 10%

Source: ICIS, 2007

2.2 Methodology

This section describes the methods used to estimate reporting for the nonylphenol category. In Section 

2.2.1, the general approach used to identify the industrial uses of NP by industry sector is presented. The 

three methods used to estimate the number of forms and facilities are presented in Sections 2.2.2: Actual 

Facilities, 2.2.3: Consumption Method, and 2.2.4: Proxy Chemical Method. Methods used to estimate 

numbers of Forms A and Forms R are presented in Section 2.2.5. Methods used to estimate existing filers 

and first time filers are presented in Section 2.2.6.

2.2.1 General Approach

Due to the widespread use of NP, characterizing all potential reporters in all potentially affected industries 

was not feasible. Therefore, this analysis focused on the sectors that capture the majority of the 

manufacturing and processing of NP. This method assumed that most reports for the nonylphenol 

category will come from these sectors. Although reports may be filed for the nonylphenol category by 

facilities in additional sectors not considered by this analysis, few reports are expected from these other 

sectors compared to the total number of reports expected under the final rule.

The primary sectors manufacturing, processing, or otherwise using NP were identified based on 

information available from:

 TSCA CDR U.S. EPA, 2013), 

 2013 Directory of World Chemical Producers (CIS, 2013),

 Existing TRI reporters (U.S. EPA, 2014),

 Environment Canada: 2012 National Pollutant Release Inventory (EC, 2013), and

 Other available publications. 

The primary sectors are listed in Table 2-3.
2-3 5/7/2014

Table 2-3: Primary Sectors Manufacturing, Processing, or Otherwise 

Using NP

Sector NAICS NAICS Description

Chemical 

Manufacturers

325a Chemical Manufacturing

325188 All Other Basic Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing

325192 Cyclic Crude and Intermediate Manufacturing

325199 All Other Basic Organic Chemical Manufacturing

325211 Plastics Material and Resin Manufacturing

325212 Synthetic Rubber Manufacturing

325611 Soap and Other Detergent Manufacturing

325612 Polish and Other Sanitation Good Manufacturing

325613 Surface Active Agent Manufacturing

325998 All Other Miscellaneous Chemical Product and 

Preparation Manufacturing

Epoxy Resin

Manufacturers

325510 Paint and Coating Manufacturing

325520 Adhesive Manufacturing

TNPP Processors

326112 Plastics Packaging Film and Sheet (including 

Laminated) Manufacturing

326113 Unlaminated Plastics Film and Sheet (except 

Packaging) Manufacturing

326150 Urethane and Other Foam Product (except 

Polystyrene) Manufacturing

326199 All Other Plastics Product Manufacturin1g

326211 Tire Manufacturing (except Retreading)

326299 All Other Rubber Product Manufacturing

Wholesalers and Waste 

Treatment

424690 Other Chemical and Allied Products Merchant 

Wholesalers

562211 Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal

562213 Solid Waste Combustors and Incinerators

a Any facilities where the six-digit NAICS code could not be determined were classified under 

NAICS 325: Chemical Manufacturing for this analysis.

For each sector identified, the potential number of forms and facilities was estimated by NAICS code.

When possible, the potential reporting was estimated based on actual facilities (described in Section 

2.2.2). However, for some facilities processing or otherwise using nonylphenol, due to the limited amount 

of available information, it was necessary to construct models to estimate the potential reporting from 

some facilities processing or otherwise using NP. The following two methods were used to estimate the 

number of forms and facilities: 

 Consumption method – where sufficient data were available, the number of forms and facilities 

was estimated by allocating NP processing across Economic Census employment classes 

(described in Section 2.2.3), and

 Proxy chemical method – where data were not available to use the consumption method, the 

number of forms and facilities was estimated by using TRI reporting of a proxy chemical in 

relevant sectors (described in Section 2.2.4).
2-4 5/7/2014

2.2.2 Actual Facilities

Companies or facilities manufacturing or importing NP or chemicals manufactured from NP may be 

identified in the open literature. Based on this information, the number of facilities manufacturing NP, 

importing NP, or facilities processing NP as a reactant to manufacture other chemicals expected to report 

the nonylphenol category was estimated based on actual companies or facilities identified in the TSCA 

CDR (U.S. EPA, 2013), Directory of World Chemical Producers (CIS, 2013), and other available 

publications.

In order to determine the NAICS codes for the facilities identified by the above sources, these facilities 

were matched to their TRI Facility IDs by searching existing TRI data for facilities by name, parent 

company name, and address and using EPA’s Facility Registry System (FRS) linkage. If a parent 

company rather than a facility was identified in the literature, existing TRI data and company websites 

were reviewed to determine the most appropriate facility within the corporate structure likely to report to 

TRI and to identify the appropriate TRI Facility ID. The actual facilities identified were classified under

the following six-digit NAICS codes:

 NAICS 325188: All Other Basic Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing

 NAICS 325192: Cyclic Crude and Intermediate Manufacturing

 NAICS 325199: All Other Basic Organic Chemical Manufacturing

 NAICS 325211: Plastics Material and Resin Manufacturing

 NAICS 325212: Synthetic Rubber Manufacturing

 NAICS 325611: Soap and Other Detergent Manufacturing

 NAICS 325612: Polish and Other Sanitation Good Manufacturing

 NAICS 325613: Surface Active Agent Manufacturing

 NAICS 325998: All Other Miscellaneous Chemical Product and Preparation Manufacturing

If a facility’s six-digit NAICS code could not be determined (i.e., facilities for which identity was

withheld as confidential business information (CBI) in the 2012 CDR), that facility was classified in the 

three-digit NAICS code 325, Chemical Manufacturing, for this analysis.

2.2.3 Consumption Method

When specific facility production data were not available, the consumption model was used to estimate 

the amount of NP processed per facility as well as potential reporting for the nonylphenol category. The 

consumption method was used to estimate reporting for the nonylphenol category for the TNPP 

processors11, which were expected to be classified in the following NAICS codes: 

 NAICS 326112: Plastics Packaging Film and Sheet (including Laminated) Manufacturing

 NAICS 326113: Unlaminated Plastics Film and Sheet (except Packaging) Manufacturing

 NAICS 326150: Urethane and Other Foam Product (except Polystyrene) Manufacturing

 NAICS 326199: All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing

 NAICS 326211: Tire Manufacturing (except Retreading)

 NAICS 326299: All Other Rubber Product Manufacturing

TNPP is used by facilities in these sectors as a stabilizer and antioxidant to protect rubber, vinyl

polymers, polyolefins, and styrenics (Lorenc et al., 2003). TNPP is also used as a stabilizer in plastic 

films including plastic food packaging (Vazquez-Duhalt et al., 2005) and in rubber tires (ECHA, 2008).

 

11Nonylphenol is reacted with phosphorus trichloride (PCl3) to produce tris-nonylphenol phosphite (TNPP; CAS 

26523-78-4).
2-5 5/7/2014

NP is present as an unreacted impurity in TNPP solutions in concentrations up to 5% (ECHA, 2008). 

Additionally, NP is manufactured as an impurity from hydrolysis of TNPP during processing of TNPP 

(ECHA, 2008). Subsequently, many facilities processing TNPP are expected to process NP as an impurity 

at concentrations above 1% and therefore would not be eligible for the de minimis exemption.

In order to estimate the number of TNPP processing facilities that would be expected to report the 

nonylphenol category due to processing NP in excess of the 25,000 lb reporting threshold, the amount of 

TNPP processing per facility was estimated assuming the processing of TNPP per employee was 

constant. The amount of NP processed as an impurity was then correlated to TNPP processing. Because 

the amount of TNPP processing was not expected to be constant among facilities, the consumption 

method uses TNPP consumption data and Economic Census data to estimate the amount of processing at 

each facility. 

The number of U.S. facilities processing TNPP was not known. However, 25-35 facilities in Europe were 

reported to have processed a total of 17.6 million lb (8,000 tons) of TNPP in 2001 (ECHA, 2008). Using 

the mid-point of the facility range, 30 facilities processed on average 587,000 lb of TNPP per facility

. U.S. production volume of TNPP was 

approximately 36.1 million lb in the 2012 CDR (U.S. EPA, 2013). Assuming that current U.S. facilities 

process on average the same amount of TNPP as the European facilities, it would take approximately 62

U.S. facilities to process 36.1 million lb of TNPP .

U.S. Census Bureau’s Economic Census, Manufacturing Industry Series provided industry statistics 

including facility and employee count by NAICS codes and by tiered employment size classes for each 

NAICS code. The U.S. Census definition of establishment is assumed to be identical the TRI definition of 

facilities within this analysis. The number of facilities processing TNPP (62) was assumed to be 

distributed among the NAICS codes in proportion to the number of establishments in each NAICS code, 

presented in Table 2-4. 

Table 2-4: All Facilities and Estimated TNPP Processors for NAICS Codes 

Processing TNPP

Facility Type NAICS Code

326112 326113 326150 326199 326211 326299 Total

All facilitiesa 351 661 685 7311 137 784 9929

TNPP Processors 2 4 4 46 1 5 62

aU.S. Census (2010a)

NAICS 326112: Plastics Packaging Film and Sheet (including Laminated) Manufacturing

NAICS 326113: Unlaminated Plastics Film and Sheet (except Packaging) Manufacturing

NAICS 326150: Urethane and Other Foam Product (except Polystyrene) Manufacturing

NAICS 326199: All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing

NAICS 326211: Tire Manufacturing (except Retreading)

NAICS 326299: All Other Rubber Product Manufacturing

The number of estimated TNPP processing facilities in each NAICS code was then distributed by

employment size class, presented in Table 2-5, in proportion to the total number of facilities in each 

employment size class (U.S. Census, 2010a).
2-6 5/7/2014

Table 2-5: Estimated TNPP Processors by Employment Size Class for NAICS 

Codes Processing TNPP

Employment Size Class NAICS Code

326112 326113 326150 326199 326211 326299 Total

0 to 4 employees 0 1 1 10 1 1 14

5 to 9 employees 0 0 0 7 0 1 8

10 to 19 employees 0 0 1 8 0 1 10

20 to 49 employees 1 1 1 8 0 1 12

50 to 99 employees 1 1 1 6 0 1 10

100 to 249 employees 0 1 0 6 0 0 7

250 to 499 employees 0 0 0 1 0 0 1

500 to 999 employees 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1,000 to 2,499 employees 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

2,500 employees or more 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

All facilities 2 4 4 46 1 5 62

NAICS 326112: Plastics Packaging Film and Sheet (including Laminated) Manufacturing

NAICS 326113: Unlaminated Plastics Film and Sheet (except Packaging) Manufacturing

NAICS 326150: Urethane and Other Foam Product (except Polystyrene) Manufacturing

NAICS 326199: All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing

NAICS 326211: Tire Manufacturing (except Retreading)

NAICS 326299: All Other Rubber Product Manufacturing

With the number of facilities processing TNPP estimated, the amount of TNPP processed per facility was 

estimated based on employment. The total number of facilities and employees in each employment size 

class were then summed for the six NAICS codes and the average number of employees per employment 

size class was determined, as shown in Table 2-6. In some cases, the total number of employees in certain 

employment size classes was withheld by the U.S. Census Bureau to prevent disclosure that would 

identify an individual business. In applying the consumption method, withheld data were approximated 

from known sector-wide totals. 

The total number of employees at facilities processing TNPP for each employment size class was 

estimated by multiplying the number of TNPP facilities by the average number of employees per facility. 

The total amount of TNPP processed (36.1 million lb) was then distributed by employment size class 

proportionally to the total number of employees at facilities processing TNPP. The amount of TNPP 

processed per facility for each employment size category was then estimated by dividing the amount 

TNPP processed by the number of TNPP processing facilities. The amount of NP processed per facility 

for each employment size category was then estimated as a fraction of the amount of TNPP processed. 

The fraction of NP in TNPP was assumed to be constant at 2.5% for all facilities and includes any NP 

manufactured as an impurity from hydrolysis of TNPP during processing of TNPP. This concentration 

was selected because it represents half of the upper bound value of 5% NP in TNPP solutions (ECHA, 

2008). These calculations are shown in Table 2-6.

Table 2-6: TNPP and NP Processing per Facility by Employment Size Class

Employment Size 

Class

TNPP 

Facilities

Average 

Number of 

Employees 

Per Facility

Number of 

Employees at 

Facilities 

Processing TNPP

TNPP 

Processed 

(lb)

TNPP 

Processed 

per Facility

(lb)

NP 

Processed 

per Facility

(lb)

0 to 4 employees 14 2.6 36 473,712 33,837 846

5 to 9 employees 8 6.8 54 710,568 88,821 2,221

10 to 19 employees 10 14.0 140 1,842,212 184,221 4,606

20 to 49 employees 12 32.6 391 5,145,036 428,753 10,719

50 to 99 employees 10 70.1 701 9,224,221 922,422 23,061

100 to 249 employees 7 155.5 1,088 14,316,622 2,045,232 51,131

250 to 499 employees 1 336.8 337 4,434,468 4,434,468 110,862

All establishments 62 2,747 36,146,839
2-7 5/7/2014

2.2.4 Proxy Chemical Method

The proxy chemical method was used where insufficient data were available to apply the actual facilities 

method or the consumption method. Under the proxy chemical method, a TRI-reportable chemical was 

identified that has the following characteristics:

 Similar in physical and/or chemical properties as NP,

 Produced or consumed in similar volumes relative to NP, and

 Manufactured similarly and/or used for similar purposes as NP across the relevant industry 

sectors.

It was then assumed that the number of facilities reporting and forms submitted in RY2012 for the proxy 

chemical is a good approximation of the number of nonylphenol facilities and forms expected under the 

final rule. The proxy chemical method was used to estimate the number of forms and facilities expected to 

report the nonylphenol category in the following NAICS codes: 

 NAICS 325510: Paint and Coating Manufacturing

 NAICS 325520: Adhesive Manufacturing

 NAICS 424690: Other Chemical and Allied Products Merchant Wholesalers

 NAICS 562211: Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal 

 NAICS 562213: Solid Waste Combustors and Incinerators

As described below, dimethylamine was identified as the proxy chemical for Other Chemical and Allied 

Products Merchant Wholesalers, Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal and Solid Waste Combustors 

and Incinerators. However, dimethylamine was not expected to be a suitable proxy chemical for the 

specialized case of nonylphenol use in the manufacture of epoxy resins occurring in Paint and Coating 

Manufacturing and Adhesive Manufacturing. Instead, dibutyl phthalate was selected as the proxy 

chemical in these NAICS codes.

Manufacturing and General Use of NP

A proxy chemical that best matches the manufacturing and general use of NP across all industry sectors

was used to estimate the number of forms and facilities expected to report for the nonylphenol category 

for the following NAICS codes:

 NAICS 424690: Other Chemical and Allied Products Merchant Wholesalers,

 NAICS 562211: Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal,

 NAICS 562213: Solid Waste Combustors and Incinerators.

Facilities in these three NAICS codes provide services to multiple industry sectors and as such, their 

activities are defined by the demands of all industry sectors. It was expected that the ideal proxy chemical 

for NP in these three NAICS codes would be one that is manufactured and used similarly across all 

industry sectors relative to NP.

Potential TRI-reportable proxy chemicals were identified through TSCA CDR reporting based on 

similarities to nonylphenol. In the 2012 CDR, 4-nonylphenol, branched (CAS 84852-15-3) is 

characterized by manufacturers as follows: 
2-8 5/7/2014

 Production volume (aggregated): 210 million lb

 Maximum concentration (at manufacture or import site): > 90%, and

 Physical form(s): liquid.

The following five TRI-reportable chemicals were identified as having the same physical characteristics 

as NP and production volume within 20% (i.e., 168 to 252 million lb) of that of NP in the 2012 CDR and 

were therefore considered to be potential proxy chemicals for NP for this analysis:

 Carbon tetrachloride (CAS 56-23-5),

 Methyl acrylate (CAS 96-33-3),

 Dimethylamine (CAS 124-40-3),

 Toluene-2,4-diisocyanate (CAS 584-84-9), and

 N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (CAS 872-50-4).

To identify the proxy chemical that best matches the manufacturing and general uses across all industry 

relative to NP, TRI Form R, Part II, Section 3: Activities and Uses of the Toxic Chemical at the Facility 

(hereinafter referred to as ‘Form R Section 3’) data were analyzed for the four potential proxy chemicals. 

In Form R Section 3, facilities indicate whether the chemical was manufactured (Form R Section 3.1), 

processed (Form R Section 3.2), and/or otherwise used (Form R Section 3.3) at the facility. Further 

delineation of each of these activities is indicated, for example, whether a chemical was manufactured 

onsite (3.1a) or imported (3.2b), whether it was manufactured for on-site use/processing (3.1c), for sale or 

distribution in commerce (3.1d), and whether it was manufactured as a byproduct (3.1e) or impurity 

(3.1f). RY2012 reporting including Form R Section 3 data for these five chemicals across all industry 

sectors is summarized in Table 2-7.
2-9 5/7/2014

Table 2-7: RY2012 TRI Reporting for the Potential Proxy Chemicals Across All Industry Sectors

Chemical Forms Form 

R

a

Form 

A

b

Form R Section 3.1: Manufacture

(number of times activity is indicated)

Form R Section 3.2: Process

(number of times activity is 

indicated)

Form R Section 3.3: 

Otherwise Use

(number of times 

activity is indicated)

3.1a 3.1b 3.1c 3.1d 3.1e 3.1f 3.2a 3.2b 3.2c 3.2d 3.2e 3.3a 3.3b 3.3c

Carbon tetrachloride 46 46 0 27 2 10 4 19 10 8 2 0 3 4 8 3 21

Methyl acrylate 60 52 8 0 8 5 3 0 0 41 4 0 3 0 1 1 9

Dimethylamine 63 52 11 7 2 4 3 4 1 39 6 0 3 2 1 0 9

Toluene-2,4-diisocyanate 47 33 14 0 2 2 0 0 0 17 11 3 4 1 1 1 7

N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone 379 326 53 12 7 9 9 2 2 10 108 4 39 5 84 64 135

Source: U.S. EPA (2014)

a Since a facility may report more than one Section 3 activity on a TRI Form R, the total number of Section 3 activities may be greater than the number of Forms R.

b Facilities submitting Form A do not report Section 3 activities.

Activities Listed under Form R, Part II, Section 3

Section 3.1a: Manufacture, produce 

Section 3.1b: Manufacture, import

Section 3.1c: Manufacture for on-site use/processing

Section 3.1d: Manufacture for sale/distribution

Section 3.1e: Manufacture as a byproduct

Section 3.1f: Manufacture as an impurity

Section 3.2a: Process as a reactant

Section 3.2b: Process as a formulation component

Section 3.2c: Process as an article component

Section 3.2d: Process, repackaging

Section 3.2e: Process as an impurity

Section 3.3a: Otherwise use as a chemical processing aid

Section 3.3b: Otherwise use as a manufacturing aid

Section 3.3c: Otherwise use, ancillary
2-10 5/7/2014

Using Form R Section 3 data, the manufacture and general uses of NP as well as the proxy chemicals 

across all industry sectors are compared in Table 2-8. 

Table 2-8: Manufacture and General Uses of NP and Potential Proxy Chemicals

(All Industry Sectors)

Manufacturing or Use of 

the Chemical

Form R 

Relevant 

Data

Nonylphenol

Carbon 

tetrachloride

Methyl 

acrylate

DimethylamineToluene-2,4-

diisocyanate

N-Methyl-2-

Pyrro-lidone

Manufactured domestically Section 3.1a X

a X X X

Primarily processed as a 

reactant Section 3.2a X

b X X X

Processed as an impurity Section 3.2e X

c X X X X

Minimal or not otherwise 

used as a chemical 

processing aid or 

manufacturing aid

Section 3.3a,

Section 3.3b X

d X X X

a As described in Section 2.3.1, NP is manufactured domestically.

b As described in Section 2.1, most NP is processed as a reactant to manufacture other chemicals.

c As described in Section 2.3.3, NP is processed as an impurity by TNPP processors.

d Otherwise uses of nonylphenol as a chemical processing aid or manufacturing aid have not been identified.

As shown in Table 2-8, of the potential proxy chemicals, dimethylamine best matches the manufacturing 

and general use of NP across all industry sectors. Specifically, both dimethylamine and NP are primarily 

processed as reactants, manufactured domestically, processed as impurities, and are minimally or not 

otherwise used as a chemical processing aid or manufacturing aid. Thus, dimethylamine was identified as 

the proxy chemical that best matches the general use of NP.

Use of NP by Epoxy Resin Manufacturers

As mentioned above, the use of NP by epoxy resins manufacturers differs from the general uses of NP in 

other industry sectors. Therefore, it was necessary to identify a proxy chemical that best matches the use 

of NP in epoxy resin manufacturing to estimate the number of forms and facilities expected to report the 

nonylphenol category for the following NAICS codes where epoxy resin is manufactured:

 NAICS 325510: Paint and Coating Manufacturing and

 NAICS 325520: Adhesive Manufacturing.

NP is also processed as a formulation component by epoxy resin manufactures. In epoxy resin 

formulations, NP is primarily used as a nonreactive diluent to decrease the viscosity of uncured 

formulations and as a plasticizer to increase flexibility and durability in cured resins (Pham and Marks, 

2004). NP also acts as a nonreactive accelerant, most commonly in conjunction with amine curing agents 

(Huntsman, 2005).

The following three TRI-reportable chemicals were identified through literature as potential proxy 

chemicals for NP in epoxy resin manufacturing:

 Dibutyl phthalate (CAS 84-74-2),

 Triethylamine (CAS 121-44-8), and

 Phthalic anhydride (CAS 85-44-9).
2-11 5/7/2014

These chemicals were identified as potential proxy chemicals for the following reasons:

 All three chemicals have some similar chemical and physical properties to NP: 

o liquid at standard conditions of temperature and pressure.

o phenolic compounds (except triethylamine).

 All three chemicals are likely consumed in similar volumes relative to NP in epoxy resins.

 All three chemicals have some similar uses in epoxy resin relative to NP:

o dibutyl phthalate is a nonreactive diluent and plasticizer (Pham and Marks, 2004).

o phthalic anhydride and triethylamine are curing agents (Pham and Marks, 2004).

Dibutyl phthalate was identified as the best proxy chemical for NP for Paint and Coating Manufacturing

and Adhesive Manufacturing because both chemicals are used as diluents and plasticizers and both are 

phenolic compounds. While NP acts as an accelerant in reducing cure times, it is not used as a stand-alone 

curing agent whereas triethylamine and phthalic anhydride are used in this application. Reporting for the 

nonylphenol category was expected to equal RY2012 reporting for dibutyl phthalate in the Paint and 

Coating Manufacturing and Adhesives Manufacturing NAICS codes.

2.2.5 Forms A and Forms R

Some facilities manufacturing, processing or otherwise using NP were expected to meet the Alternate 

Threshold and thus be eligible to file a Form A for the nonylphenol category. For example, it is likely that 

some facilities will meet the Alternate Threshold by processing relatively low amounts of NP in processes 

where releases and waste management are limited. Activity, release and waste management data 

necessary to evaluate Form A applicability could not be estimated due to the limited available 

information. Therefore, other methods using proxy chemical data were used to estimate the number of 

Forms A.

Chemical Manufacturers

To estimate the number of Forms A potentially expected from actual facilities, the percentage of 

dimethylamine forms filed as Forms A in RY2012 in NAICS 325: Chemical Manufacturing was 

determined (18.5%). This percentage was then multiplied by the number of NP forms expected from 

actual facilities to estimate the number of Forms A expected from NAICS 325: Chemical Manufacturing. 

Dimethylamine was used since it was the proxy chemical identified to best reflect the manufacturing and 

general use of NP.

Epoxy Resin Manufacturers

Using the proxy chemical method for epoxy resin manufacturers, the numbers of Forms A and Forms R

for the nonylphenol category were expected to be equal to the number of Forms A and Forms R for 

dibutyl phthalate in RY2012 in NAICS 325510: Paint and Coating Manufacturing and NAICS 325520: 

Adhesive Manufacturing.

TNPP Processors

To estimate the number of Forms A potentially expected from TNPP processors, the percentage of all 

forms filed as Forms A in RY2012 in NAICS 326: Plastic and Rubber Products Manufacturing was 

determined (9.7%). The percentage of RY2012 Forms A in NAICS 326 (9.7%) was then multiplied by the 

number of forms for the nonylphenol category expected from the TNPP processors to estimate the 

number of Forms A. 
2-12 5/7/2014

Wholesalers and Waste Treatment

Using the proxy chemical method for wholesalers and waste treatment, the numbers of Forms A and

Forms R for the nonylphenol category were expected to be equal to the number of Forms A and Forms R

for dimethylamine in RY2012 in the following NAICS codes:

 NAICS 424690: Other Chemical and Allied Products Merchant Wholesalers,

 NAICS 562211: Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal, and 

 NAICS 562213: Solid Waste Combustors and Incinerators.

2.2.6 Existing Filers and First Time Filers

Facilities were classified as either existing filers or first time filers. Existing filers are defined as facilities 

that reported to TRI at least once during the period RY2008 – 2012. First time filers are defined as 

facilities that have never reported to TRI or have not reported to TRI since RY2007. Facilities with

identities withheld as CBI in the 2012 CDR were conservatively assumed to be first time filers.

As described in Section 2.2.2, TRI Facility IDs were identified for actual facilities. A facility was 

identified as an existing filer if the appropriate TRI Facility ID was identified and that facility reported to 

TRI at least once during the period RY2008 – 2012.

In order to estimate existing versus first time filers for facilities modeled by the consumption or proxy 

chemical methods, the average annual percentage of new filers for RY2008 to RY2012 across all 

chemicals (3.7%)1 was multiplied by the number of facilities expected to report the nonylphenol category 

to calculate the expected number of first time filers.

2.3 Estimation of the Number of Forms and Facilities

This section presents the estimated reporting for the nonylphenol category for each of the sectors in Table 

2-3. Specifically, the estimated number of forms and facilities is presented in Section 2.3.1 for chemical 

manufacturers, in Section 2.3.2 for epoxy resin manufacturers, in Section 2.3.3 for TNPP processors and 

in Section 2.3.4 for wholesalers and waste treatment.

2.3.1 Estimation of the Number of Forms and Facilities from Chemical Manufacturers

Estimated reporting for the nonylphenol category from chemical manufacturers includes both facilities 

manufacturing NP and facilities processing NP to manufacture other chemicals. Using the method 

described in Section 2.2.2, a total of six facilities domestically manufacturing or importing NP and a total 

of 25 facilities processing NP as a reactant to manufacture other chemicals were identified. Because two 

of the six facilities manufacturing or importing NP also process NP as a reactant to manufacture other 

chemicals, a total of 29 facilities manufacturing, importing or processing NP as a reactant were identified. 

All facilities identified as manufacturing NP or processing NP as a reactant to manufacture other 

chemicals were expected to meet the TRI reporting requirements for the nonylphenol category. 

Specifically, the average manufacturing and processing volumes were estimated to be on the order of 8

million lb processed per facility and 35 million lb manufactured per facility.2 Because the estimated 

 

1 First time filers: RY2008 – 4.5%, RY2009 –3.5%, RY2010 – 3.8%, RY2011 – 3.0%, RY2012 – 3.9%

2 Average processing volume per facility was calculated by dividing the lower bound of the reported production 

volume for 4-nonylphenol, branched (CAS 84852-15-3; 100 million lb; IUR, 2006) by the 25 facilities identified as 

processing NP as a reactant to manufacture other chemicals . Likewise, the average 

manufacturing per facility was calculated using the six facilities identified as manufacturing or importing 

NP .
2-13 5/7/2014

average manufacturing and processing volumes were magnitudes greater than reporting thresholds, all 

facilities manufacturing NP or processing NP as a reactant to manufacture other chemicals were assumed 

to be: 1) manufacturing or processing NP above the 25,000 lb reporting thresholds, and 2) above the 

employment threshold of 10 or more fulltime employees, which was verified by 2012 CDR data. 

Using the method for estimating Forms A described in Section 2.2.5, five Forms A are estimated. 

Because the distribution of Forms A across chemical manufacturers was unknown, Forms A are assumed 

to be distributed across the relevant NAICS codes in proportion to the number of reporting facilities 

identified in each NAICS code. In addition, of the 29 facilities, 25 were identified as existing filers and 

five were either identified as having not previously reported to TRI or their identity could not be verified 

and are expected to be first time filers.

Estimated reporting by chemical manufacturers under the final rule by NAICS code is presented in Table 

2-9.

Table 2-9: Estimated Forms and Facilities from Chemical Manufacturers Under the Final Rule

NAICS NAICS Description

Forms Facilities

Form 

R

Form 

A

Total

First 

Time 

Filers

Existing 

Filers Total

325 Chemical Manufacturing 3 1 4 4 0 4

325188 All Other Basic Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing 2 0 2 0 2 2

325192 Cyclic Crude and Intermediate Manufacturing 1 0 1 0 1 1

325199 All Other Basic Organic Chemical Manufacturing 10 2 12 0 12 12

325211 Plastics Material and Resin Manufacturing 2 1 3 0 3 3

325212 Synthetic Rubber Manufacturing 1 0 1 0 1 1

325611 Soap and Other Detergent Manufacturing 1 0 1 0 1 1

325612 Polish and Other Sanitation Good Manufacturing 1 0 1 1 0 1

325613 Surface Active Agent Manufacturing 1 0 1 0 1 1

325998 All Other Miscellaneous Chemical Product and 

Preparation Manufacturing 2 1 3 0 3 3

Total 24 5 29 5 24 29

2.3.2 Estimation of the Number of Forms and Facilities from Epoxy Resin Manufacturers

As described in Section 2.2.4, since appropriate sector level consumption data were not available to 

estimate potential reporting from epoxy resin manufacturers, the proxy chemical method was used. 

Potential reporting for the nonylphenol category due to the final rule was estimated to be equal to 

RY2012 reporting for dibutyl phthalate with ten facilities reporting in NAICS 325510: Paint and Coating 

Manufacturing and NAICS 325520: Adhesives Manufacturing NAICS codes.

Using the method for estimating first time filers described in Section 2.2.6, no facilities are expected to be 

first time filers. Estimated reporting under the final rule by epoxy resin manufacturers is presented in

Table 2-10.
2-14 5/7/2014

Table 2-10: Estimated Forms and Facilities from Epoxy Resin Manufacturers Under the 

Final Rule

NAICS NAICS Description

Forms Facilities

Form R Form A Total

First 

Time 

Filers

Existing 

Filers Total

325510 Paint and Coating Manufacturing 5 3 8 0 8 8

325520 Adhesive Manufacturing 1 1 2 0 2 2

Total 6 4 10 0 10 10

2.3.3 Estimation of the Number of Forms and Facilities from TNPP Processors

As described in Section 2.2.3, the consumption method was used to generate estimates of the number of 

forms and facilities from TNPP processors expected to report the nonylphenol category in the following 

NAICS codes: 

 NAICS 326112: Plastics Packaging Film and Sheet (including Laminated) Manufacturing

 NAICS 326113: Unlaminated Plastics Film and Sheet (except Packaging) Manufacturing

 NAICS 326150: Urethane and Other Foam Product (except Polystyrene) Manufacturing

 NAICS 326199: All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing

 NAICS 326211: Tire Manufacturing (except Retreading)

 NAICS 326299: All Other Rubber Product Manufacturing

As shown in Table 2-6, seven facilities in the ‘100 to 249 employees’ employment size class and one

facility in the ‘250 to 499 employees’ employment size class, for a total of eight facilities in two NAICS 

codes3, were estimated to process NP in excess of 25,000 lb and are therefore expected to report the 

nonylphenol category. 

Using the method for estimating Forms A described in Section 2.2.5, one Form A is estimated. The one 

expected Form A is assumed to be from NAICS 326199: All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing.

Using the method for estimating first time filers described in Section 2.2.6, no first time filers are 

estimated. Estimated reporting under the final rule by TNPP processors is presented in Table 2-11. 

Table 2-11: Estimated Forms and Facilities from TNPP Processors Under the Final Rule

NAICS NAICS Description

Forms Facilities

Form R Form A Total

First 

Time 

Filers

Existing 

Filers Total

326112 Plastics Packaging Film and Sheet (including 

Laminated) Manufacturing 0 0 0 0 0 0

326113 Unlaminated Plastics Film and Sheet (except 

Packaging) Manufacturing 1 0 1 0 1 1

326150 Urethane and Other Foam Product (except 

Polystyrene) Manufacturing 0 0 0 0 0 0

326199 All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing 6 1 7 0 7 7

326211 Tire Manufacturing (except Retreading) 0 0 0 0 0 0

326299 All Other Rubber Product Manufacturing 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total 7 1 8 0 8 8

 

3 Using the consumption method, no facilities were expected to processes NP in excess of 25,000 lb in four of the 

six NAICS codes containing TNPP processors. As such, no facilities are expected to report for the nonylphenol 

category in these NAICS codes. 
2-15 5/7/2014

2.3.4 Estimation of the Number of Forms and Facilities from Wholesalers and Waste 

Treatment

Using the proxy chemical method described in Section 2.2.4, reporting for the nonylphenol category 

under the final rule was estimated to equal RY2012 reporting for dimethylamine in NAICS 424690: Other 

Chemical and Allied Products Merchant Wholesalers, NAICS 562211: Hazardous Waste Treatment and 

Disposal and NAICS: 562213: Solid Waste Combustors and Incinerators.

Using the method for estimating first time filers described in Section 2.2.6, no first time filers are 

estimated. Estimated reporting under the final rule by Wholesalers and Waste Treatment facilities is 

presented in Table 2-12.

Table 2-12: Estimated Forms and Facilities from Wholesalers and Waste Treatment Under the 

Final Rule

NAICS NAICS Description

Forms Facilities

Form R Form A Total

First 

Time 

Filers

Existing 

Filers

Total

424690 Other Chemical and Allied Products Merchant 

Wholesalers 2 1 3 0 3 3

562211 Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal 3 0 3 0 3 3

562213 Solid Waste Combustors and Incinerators 1 0 1 0 1 1

Total 6 1 7 0 7 7

2.4 Summary of the Total Number of Forms and Facilities under the Final

Rule

Total reporting is presented in Table 2-13. From the potentially affected universe of facilities, a total of 54

forms from 54 facilities across 16 six-digit NAICS codes4are expected to be submitted for the 

nonylphenol category under the final rule. Of these 54 forms, 43 are expected to be Forms R and 11 are 

expected to be Forms A. Of the 54 facilities, 49 are expected to be existing filers and five are expected to 

be first time filers.

 

4 The four facilities where six-digit NAICS code could not be determined were classified in the three-digit NAICS 

325: Chemical Manufacturing for this analysis.
2-16 5/7/2014

Table 2-13: Total Estimated Forms and Facilities Under the Final Rule

NAICS NAICS Description

Forms Facilities

Form R Form A Total

First 

Time 

Filers

Existing 

Filers Total

325 Chemical Manufacturing 3 1 4 4 0 4

325188 All Other Basic Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing 2 0 2 0 2 2

325192 Cyclic Crude and Intermediate Manufacturing 1 0 1 0 1 1

325199 All Other Basic Organic Chemical Manufacturing 10 2 12 0 12 12

325211 Plastics Material and Resin Manufacturing 2 1 3 0 3 3

325212 Synthetic Rubber Manufacturing 1 0 1 0 1 1

325510 Paint and Coating Manufacturing 5 3 8 0 8 8

325520 Adhesive Manufacturing 1 1 2 0 2 2

325611 Soap and Other Detergent Manufacturing 1 0 1 0 1 1

325612 Polish and Other Sanitation Good Manufacturing 1 0 1 1 0 1

325613 Surface Active Agent Manufacturing 1 0 1 0 1 1

325998 All Other Miscellaneous Chemical Product and 

Preparation Manufacturing 2 1 3 0 3 3

326113 Unlaminated Plastics Film and Sheet (except 

Packaging) Manufacturing 1 0 1 0 1 1

326199 All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing 6 1 7 0 7 7

424690 Other Chemical and Allied Products Merchant 

Wholesalers 2 1 3 0 3 3

562211 Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal 3 0 3 0 3 3

562213 Solid Waste Combustors and Incinerators 1 0 1 0 1 1

Total 43 11 54 5 49 54
2-17 5/7/2014

Literature Cited

APERC. 2009. Comments on the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality Draft Development Of A 

Priority Persistent Pollutant List (P3L) for Oregon. Accessed July 21st 2011. 

http://www.aperc.org/docs/FINAL_APERC_Comments_to_Oregon_3-27-09.pdf

APERC. 2010. Alkylphenols& Ethoxylates Research Council Comments on the Working Document 

Regarding Pollution Prevention Planning for Nonylphenol and its Ethoxylates Used in the Wet 

Processing Textile Industry and Effluents from Textile Mills that Use Wet Processing. Accessed May 20th, 

2011. http://www.aperc.org/docs/attachment_textileworking.htm

Chemical Information Services (CIS). 2013. 2013 Directory of World Chemical Producers (DWCP). 

Environment Canada (EC). 2013. 2012 National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI).

European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). 2008. Annex XV, Transitional Report: Tris(nonylphenyl) 

phosphite (TNPP).

Huntsman. 2005. Curing Agents and Accelerators for Epoxy Resins. Accessed August 2nd, 2011. 

http://www.huntsman.com/performance_products/Media/Curing_Agents_and_Accelerators_for_Epoxy_

Resins.pdf

ICIS. 2007. Nonylphenol. Accessed May 2011.

http://www.icis.com/Articles/2007/06/25/4503346/nonylphenol.html

Lorenc, J. F., G. Lambeth, and W. Scheffer. 2003. Alkylphenols. Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical 

Technology.

Pham, H. Q. and M. J. Marks. 2004. Epoxy Resins. Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology.

U.S. EPA. 1989. Economic Analysis of the Additions to the SARA Section 313 List of Toxic Chemicals.

U.S. EPA. 1996. A Statistical Model of TRI Reporting.

U.S. EPA. 2013. 2012 Chemical Data Reporting (CDR). April 4, 2013 version. Accessed March, 2014. 

http://www.epa.gov/oppt/iur/

U.S. EPA. 2014. TRI RY2012 National Analysis Dataset. Data accessed March 2014.

U.S. Census Bureau. 2010a. NAICS 326: Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing; 2007 Economic 

Census: Industry Statistics for Subsectors and Industries by Employment Size. Accessed August 11th, 

2011. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IBQTable?_bm=y&-ds_name=EC0731SG3&-

NAICS2007=326&-_lang=en

U.S. Census Bureau. 2010b. NAICS 326299: All Other Rubber Product Manufacturing; 2007 Economic 

Census: Industry Statistics for Subsectors and Industries by Employment Size. Accessed August 11th, 

2011. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IBQTable?_bm=y&-ds_name=EC0731SG3&-

NAICS2007=326299&-_lang=en

Vazquez-Duhalt, R, F. Marquez-Rocha, E. Ponce, A. F. Licea, M.T. Viana. 2005. Nonylphenol, An 

Integrated Vision of a Pollutant. Scientific Review. Applied Ecology and Environmental Research 4(1): 

1-25.
3-1 5/7/2014

Chapter 3 – Cost Estimates

3.1 Introduction

This chapter presents the estimated industry and EPA costs associated with the final rule that would add a 

nonylphenol category, hereafter referred to as nonylphenol (NP), to the list of TRI-reportable chemicals. 

EPA is concerned about NP due to its toxicity to aquatic organisms, as well as the evidence of pervasive 

human and environmental exposure to the chemical. In Section 3.2, the methodology used to estimate 

industry burden and cost is described. Section 3.3 details the estimated burden and cost to EPA. In 

Section 3.4, the total burden and cost of the final rule are summarized.

3.2 Industry Burden and Cost Estimates

The burden and cost potentially incurred by industry as a result of the final rule are estimated using the 

Ratio-Based Burden Methodology (RBBM) which is a simplified formulation of the previously employed 

burden methodology.

1 Sections 3.2.1 and 3.2.2 describe the methodology used to estimate industry burden 

and cost, respectively. Sections 3.2.3 and 3.2.4 present estimates of total industry burden and cost, 

respectively. 

3.2.1 Estimation of Reporting Burden

Compared to the previous method used to estimate reporting burden RBBM simplifies calculations, 

supports internal consistency, and sharpen transparency while retaining the components of the previous 

methodology. The foundation of RBBM is its use of ratio models to maintain relationships between 

interrelated categories of reporting activities. Reporting activities can be divided into two distinct groups: 

Form Activities, consisting of rule familiarization, reporter compliance determination, calculations and 

form completion, and recordkeeping and submission; and Non-Form Activities, consisting of supplier 

notification and non-reporter compliance determination. Specifically, the following activities may be 

undertaken under the final rule.

Form Activities 

Rule Familiarization: Staff at a facility that is reporting under EPCRA §313 for the first time must 

read the reporting package and become familiar with the reporting requirements. This activity 

includes the time needed to review instructions as well as the time needed to train personnel to 

respond to a collection of information. 

Reporter Compliance Determination: Staff at reporting facilities must make the determination 

that the facility meets the criteria for EPCRA §313 reporting. This activity includes the time 

required to become familiar with the definitions, exemptions, and threshold requirements under 

the TRI Program, to review the list of TRI chemicals, and to conduct preliminary threshold 

determinations to determine if the facility is required to report. 

Calculations and Form Completion: Facility staff must gather data and perform calculations to 

provide the information required on the form. This activity includes the time required to search 

data sources and the time to complete and review the information. 

 

1 Revising TRI Burden to Ratio-Based Methodology, TRI Regulatory Development Branch, TRI Program Division, 

Office of Information Analysis and Access, Office of Environmental Information, January 2011, EPA Docket ID 

Number EPA-HQ-OEI-2010-0835.
3-2 5/7/2014

Recordkeeping and Submission: Facility staff must maintain recordkeeping systems and submit 

the report to EPA and the state in which the facility is located. This activity includes the time 

required to transmit or otherwise disclose the information. 

Non-Form Activities 

Supplier Notification: Certain suppliers of mixtures or trade name products containing reportable 

substances must annually notify their customers of the product's composition if the customer is 

subject to EPCRA §313 reporting. This activity includes the time required to inform customers 

either by letter or through the materials safety data sheet (MSDS) for the product. Under the final 

rule, EPA assumes that the number of facilities that might be required to provide supplier 

notifications would only be a small fraction of potential supplier notifications in connection with 

the TRI program overall. Therefore, no additional supplier notification burden is estimated in 

connection with the final rule. 

Non-Reporter Compliance Determination: In any given reporting year, a group of eligible 

facilities will complete compliance determination but will not file a Form R or Form A. The 

activity is the same as is presented above under Form Activities; however, given that compliance 

determination applies to all other facilities in NAICS code-eligible sectors (with ten or more 

employees)—including those that ultimately do not report to TRI—the latter category is 

accounted for in this separate activity. For this final rule, it is assumed that the addition of NP

constitutes a modest change when compared to the total number of chemicals subject to the 

program. Thus, it is assumed that the non-reporter compliance determination burden is already 

included in the existing compliance determination burden estimates. 

The skills required to comply with the section 313 reporting requirements (including the requirements 

associated with section 6607 of the PPA) are expected to vary from facility to facility, depending upon 

factors such as: the complexity of the facility's processes and activities; the chemicals used at the facility; 

and the types of use and disposition of TRI chemicals at the facility. Individuals responsible for 

determining whether their facility is required to report and, if so, completing a Form R and Form A report 

(or multiple Form R and Form A reports) will often have an engineering, scientific, or technical 

background. These functions, however, do not require an engineering or other similar degree.

At a minimum, an understanding of the facility’s chemical purchases and production processes are

needed. Necessary skills may include the ability to evaluate and interpret records, understand material 

safety data sheets, and determine throughput or production volumes. Depending on the facility, estimates 

may be calculated using: (1) existing data collected under federal, state, or local regulations; (2) emissions 

factors; (3) design data supplied by the equipment manufacturer; (4) mass balance techniques; or (5) 

engineering calculations. Each technique requires varying skills and levels of sophistication to complete. 

EPA industry- and chemical-specific guidance documents will assist reporters in making the necessary 

calculations to comply with the section 313 reporting requirements. In addition to technical labor, 

requirements for managerial and clerical staff are also considered when estimating costs.

Estimating reporting burden using RBBM produces a burden estimate that reflects overall “average” 

reporting conditions at reporting facilities. In RBBM, the variable Nominal Form R unit burden is used as 

a base number for the entire methodology, and reflects the burden incurred by reporters to undertake all 

Form Activities for filing a Form R, thereby preserving the previous methodology’s burden totals. The 

Nominal Form R unit burden is set at 35.70516 hours.2 

 

2 The burden of 35.70516 includes the addition of .00516 hours of burden associated with the Dioxin Reporting 

Requirements promulgated in May 10, 2007, and accounted for in the 2011 ICR (Docket# EPA-HQ-OEI-2010-

0835.
3-3 5/7/2014

The estimated reporting burden for Form A is closely linked to that of Form R, and is quantified by the 

ratio A/R (set at .615), reflecting the burden of a Form A as 61.5% of the burden of a Form R. This 

relationship implies that filing a Form A instead of a Form R yields a 38.5% burden reduction per 

chemical. 

Form Activity Burden can be calculated using the Nominal Form R unit burden, the A/R ratio, and the 

number of Forms R and Forms A expected to be filed due to the final rule. RBBM combines Form 

Activity Burden and Non-Form Activity Burden (consisting of supplier notification and non-reporter 

compliance determination) in order to calculate Steady State Total Burden, which is the ongoing annual 

burden estimated to be incurred by filers due to the final rule (previously referred to as “Subsequent Year 

Burden”). This calculation is presented in Equation 1. 

Equation 1: Steady State Total Burden Calculation

Steady State Total Burden = Form R Activity Burden + Form A Activity Burden + Non-Form Activity Burden

Where: 

Form R Activity Burden = (# Form R) * (Nominal Form R Unit Burden) 

Form A Activity Burden = (# Form A) * (A/R) * (Nominal Form R Unit Burden) 

Non-Form Activity Burden = Supplier Notification + Non-Reporter Compliance Determination 

And: 

A/R = 0.615 

Nominal Form R Unit Burden = 35.70516 hours per Form R 

As in the previous methodology, the Steady State Total Burden does not incorporate any first-time filer 

impacts because those impacts are present only in the first year of reporting under the final rule. First time 

filer impacts account for the elevated level of effort incurred by both: 1) filers reporting to TRI for the 

first-time and 2) filers already reporting to TRI but considering the requirements of the final rule for the 

first time. To represent that impact, a First-Time Filer Factor (FTFf) is computed at 2.1. FTFf has the 

following interpretation: “for any comparison of first-time filer to ongoing filer burden, the elevated 

startup effort is roughly twice the normal ongoing burden.”3 Using FTFf, first year burden is calculated

by multiplying the Steady State Total Burden by FTFf, as in Equation 2.

Equation 2: First Year Total Burden Calculation

First Year Total Burden = Steady State Total Burden * FTFf

Where:

Steady State Total Burden is calculated as in Equation 1.

FTFf = 2.1

3.2.2 Estimation of Reporting Cost

To estimate reporting cost, RBBM uses the Weighted Average Wage Rate (WAWR), which is the average 

loaded cost for a mix of Managerial, Technical, and Clerical labor per hour of TRI reporter burden. The 

WAWR reflects the total cost to employ an individual and includes the cost of salaries, fringe benefits

 

3 Revising TRI Burden to Ratio-Based Methodology, TRI Regulatory Development Branch, TRI Program Division, 

Office of Information Analysis and Access, Office of Environmental Information, January 2011, EPA Docket ID 

Number EPA-HQ-OEI-2010-0825.
3-4 5/7/2014

(e.g., paid leave), health insurance, retirement savings, legally required benefits, and other overhead costs, 

such as office space, furniture, equipment and computers, supplies and other business expenses. 

According to feedback from existing TRI filers, the role of each labor category in the TRI reporting 

process at the facility level is as follows:

 Managerial staff are responsible for reviewing and certifying the accuracy of all TRI submissions 

and supporting documentation, including calculations, data sources, and assumptions. 

Managerial staff are briefed by technical staff once annually regarding TRI submissions and any 

changes to TRI reporting requirements. All sections of the Form are reviewed by managerial 

staff at this time.

 Technical staff possess the facility knowledge and familiarity with the TRI program required to 

understand which processes and activities at the facility should be considered in making threshold 

determinations for TRI chemicals. Technical staff gather the required data, make threshold 

determinations, calculate release and waste management quantities, and enter the required data on 

the TRI form, either by hand or electronically using TRI reporting software. Technical staff are 

also responsible for briefing managerial staff once annually regarding TRI submissions and any 

changes to TRI reporting requirements.

 Clerical staff are responsible for organizing, photocopying, and cataloging all TRI submissions 

and supporting documentation in accordance with TRI recordkeeping requirements. Note that as 

reporting facilities move toward filing TRI reports electronically, clerical time is minimized.

As presented in Table 3-1, the Managerial, Technical, and Clerical wage rates are composites of the BLS 

rates for ‘Wages and Salaries’ and ‘Total Benefits’ by labor category. The sum of ‘Wages and Salaries’ 

and ‘Total Benefits’ is equal to ‘Total Compensation.’ The Managerial labor rate is defined as the 

average hourly wages and salaries for the “Management, Business, and Financial” occupational category. 

The Technical labor rate is defined as the average hourly wages and salaries for the “Professional and 

Related” occupational category. The Clerical labor rate is defined as the average hourly wages and 

salaries for the “Office and Administrative Support” occupational category. 

Based on information provided by the chemical industry and chemical industry trade associations, an 

additional loading factor of 17 percent is applied to ‘Wages and Salaries’ for general overhead.4 The sum 

of ‘Total Compensation’ and ‘Overhead’ is equal to ‘Total Loaded Hourly Wage Rate.’ The hourly wage 

rates are $68.45 for managerial personnel, $50.64 for technical personnel, and $26.28 for clerical 

personnel, all in 2013 dollars, as presented in Table 3-1.

The WAWR is derived using hourly labor rates and the relative weight or contribution of each labor 

category derived using Engineering Studies conducted by Abt Associates. The relative fixed weights 

assigned are 0.03 for Managerial, 0.89 for Technical, and 0.08 for Clerical.5 Multiplying each labor 

category’s by its appropriate weight yields a single weighted average wage rate of $49.25.

 

4 Heiden Associates, Final Report: A Study of Industry Compliance Costs Under the Final Comprehensive 

Assessment Information Rule, Prepared for the Chemical Manufacturers Association, December 14, 1989.

5 As derived using the Abt Associates Engineering Study (TRI Reporting Burden Estimates, Memo from Hilary 

Eustace, David Cooper, Susan Day, Abt Associates to Paul Borst, EPA, July 16, 2004) and discussed in the Revising 

TRI Burden to Ratio-Based Methodology (TRI Regulatory Development Branch, TRI Program Division, Office of 

Information Analysis and Access, Office of Environmental Information, January 2011, EPA Docket ID Number 

EPA-HQ-OEI-2010-0825).
3-5 5/7/2014

Table 3-1: The Derivation of the Weighted Average Wage Rate (2013$)

Wage Type Managerial Technical Clerical

Wages and Salaries $42.35 $32.04 $16.27

Total benefits $18.90 $13.15 $7.24 

Overhead $7.20 $5.45 $2.77

Total Loaded Rate $68.45 $50.64 $26.28

Labor Burden Weights 0.03 0.89 0.08

Weighted Average Wage Rage (WAWR) $49.25

Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employer Costs for Employee Compensation. Table 9. Released March 12, 2014. 

The Steady State Total Cost incurred by filers in subsequent years of the final rule, is calculated by 

multiplying the WAWR by the Steady State Total Burden. Similarly, to calculate First Year Total Cost

incurred by filers in the first year of the final rule, the First Year Total Burden is multiplied by the WAWR 

(see Equation 3).

Equation 3: Steady State and First Year Cost Calculation

Steady State Total Cost = Steady State Total Burden * WAWR

First Year Total Cost = First Year Total Burden * WAWR

3.2.3 Total Industry Reporting Burden Estimates

The Steady State Total Burden estimated to be incurred by filers in subsequent years of this final rule is 

calculated by multiplying the estimated number of Forms R by the Nominal Form R Unit Burden, 

multiplying the number of Forms A by the A/R ratio and the Nominal Form R Unit Burden, and summing 

the two products. Non-Form Activity burden is negligible and assumed to be zero.6

The number of Forms R and Forms A estimated to be filed by industry sectors potentially affected by the 

final rule is presented in Table 3-2. Equation 4 presents the Steady State Total Burden calculation for this 

final rule. First Year Burden is calculated by multiplying the Steady State Total Burden by 2.1, the FTFf

factor (Equation 5).

 

6 For supplier notification, it is assumed that the number of facilities that might be required to provide supplier 

notifications would only be a small fraction of potential supplier notifications in connection with the TRI program 

overall. For non-reporter compliance determination, it is assumed that the addition of NP constitutes a modest 

change when compared to the total number of chemicals subject to the program.
3-6 5/7/2014

Table 3-2: Total Estimated Forms Under the Final Rule

NAICS NAICS Description

Forms

Form R Form A Total

325a Chemical Manufacturing 3 1 4

325188 All Other Basic Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing 2 0 2

325192 Cyclic Crude and Intermediate Manufacturing 1 0 1

325199 All Other Basic Organic Chemical Manufacturing 10 2 12

325211 Plastics Material and Resin Manufacturing 2 1 3

325212 Synthetic Rubber Manufacturing 1 0 1

325510 Paint and Coating Manufacturing 5 3 8

325520 Adhesive Manufacturing 1 1 2

325611 Soap and Other Detergent Manufacturing 1 0 1

325612 Polish and Other Sanitation Good Manufacturing 1 0 1

325613 Surface Active Agent Manufacturing 1 0 1

325998 All Other Miscellaneous Chemical Product and Preparation Manufacturing 2 1 3

326113 Unlaminated Plastics Film and Sheet (except Packaging) Manufacturing 1 0 1

326199 All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing 6 1 7

424690 Other Chemical and Allied Products Merchant Wholesalers 2 1 3

562211 Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal 3 0 3

562213 Solid Waste Combustors and Incinerators 1 0 1

Total 43 11 54

a Any chemical manufacturing facilities where the six-digit NAICS code could not be determined were classified under NAICS 325: Chemical 

Manufacturing for this analysis.

Equation 4: Steady State Total Burden Incurred by Reporters under the Final Rule

1,777 hours = [(43* 35.70516) + (11*.615*35.70516) + 0]

Equation 5: First Year Total Burden Incurred by Reporters under the Final Rule

3,731 hours = 1,777 * 2.1

As shown in Table 3-3, industry would incur 3,731 hours of reporting burden in the first year of the rule. 

In the steady state, industry reporting burden would equal 1,777 hours.

Table 3-3: Industry Reporting Burden

Form R (#) Form A (#)

Form R 

Burden 

(hours)

Form A Burden 

(hours) Total Burden 

(hours)

First Year

43 11

3,224 508 3,731

Steady State 1,535 242 1,777
3-7 5/7/2014

3.2.4 Total Industry Reporting Cost Estimates

As shown in Equations 6 and 7, the costs incurred in the first year and steady state of the rule are 

calculated by multiplying the burden by the WAWR. 

Equation 6: Steady State Total Cost Incurred by Filers under the Final Rule

$87,511 = 1,777 hours * $49.25

Equation 7: First Year Cost Incurred by Filers under the Final Rule

$183,773= 3,731 hours * $49.25

Table 3-4 shows that industry would incur a cost of $183,773 in the first year, and 87,511 in the steady 

state as a result of the final rule.

Table 3-4: Industry Reporting Cost

Form R (#) Form A (#) Total Cost (2011$)

First Year

43 11

$183,773

Steady State $87,511

3.3 EPA Costs

The burden and cost to EPA to process Form R and Form A reports are based on information 

characterizing the resources used by the Agency in previous years. For the TRI program in general, EPA 

incurs burden and costs for five categories of activities: data processing, outreach and training, 

information dissemination, policy and petitions, and compliance and enforcement. 

The estimates of EPA burden and costs are separated into fixed and variable components. Activities and 

expenses that are not affected by small changes in the number of reports submitted annually are reported as 

fixed costs. These activities and expenses include rent for the EPCRA Reporting Center, development 

costs for data access tools, compliance assistance measures, and other activities and expenses listed 

above. There are no additional fixed costs to the Agency associated with the final rule. The incremental 

burden, or the variable component, is the type of burden that varies depending on the number of forms, 

particularly concerning forms processing. 

Following implementation of the TRI Electronic Reporting Rule, as of January 21, 2014, all non-trade 

secret forms must be submitted electronically. EPA estimates that the processing cost for TRI-MEweb 

submissions is $3.33 per form.7In this analysis, it is conservatively assumed that processing costs for 

Form R and Form A are the same. Therefore, the total form processing burden for EPA associated with 

Form R and Form A submissions under the final rule is estimated at $180. 

 

7 Source: Personal communication with Juan Parra, TRI Information and Outreach Branch. January 9, 2012. 

Updated to 2013 dollars using the Employment Cost Index.
3-8 5/7/2014

3.4 Total Costs

The total cost of the final rule to industry and EPA is estimated at $183,953 in the first year of the rule 

and $87,691 in the steady state.8 Table 3-5 summarizes the total costs to industry and EPA as a result of

the final rule.

Table 3-5: Summary of Total Costs of Final Rule

Description First Year Steady State

Industry Cost $183,773 $87,511

Agency Cost $180 $180 

Total Cost $183,953 $87,691 

 

8 The steady state burden created by the rule would be added to the steady state burden of TRI reporting in general 

during ICR development.
3-9 5/7/2014

Literature Cited

Abt Associates Inc. (2004). Engineering Studies. TRI Reporting Burden Estimates, Memo from Hilary 

Eustace, David Cooper, Susan Day, Abt Associates to Paul Borst, EPA, July 16, 2004.

Heiden Associates (1989). Final Report: A Study of Industry Compliance Costs Under the Final 

Comprehensive Assessment Information Rule, Prepared for the Chemical Manufacturers 

Association, December 14, 1989.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2014, January 31). Table 4. COMPENSATION (NOT SEASONALLY 

ADJUSTED): Employment Cost Index for total compensation, for civilian workers, by 

occupational group and industry. Retrieved February 12, 2014, from Employment Cost Index: 

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/eci.toc.htm

U.S.DOL (2014). Employer Costs for Employee Compensation – December 2013. Table 9. U.S. 

Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Washington D.C., March 12, 2014.

U.S. EPA (2011a). Supporting Statement for Information Collection Request Number (ICR) 1363.21, 

OMB Number 2025-0009: TRI Form R and Form A Toxic Chemical Release Reporting. 

February 2011.

U.S. EPA (2011b). Revising TRI Burden to Ratio-Based Methodology (TRI Regulatory Development 

Branch, TRI Program Division, Office of Information Analysis and Access, Office of 

Environmental Information, January 2011, EPA Docket ID Number EPA-HQ-OEI-2010-0825
4-1 5/7/2014

Chapter 4 – Small Entity Analysis

4.1 Introduction

This chapter addresses the potential impacts of the final rule on small entities. Specifically, Section 4.2 

discusses the Regulatory Flexibility Act and its applicability to small entities under the final rule. In 

Section 4.3, definitions of small entities for the industry groups affected by the final rule are provided. 

Section 4.4 describes the general methodology used to determine if the final rule results in a significant 

economic impact to a substantial number of small entities. Finally, Section 4.5 summarizes the results for 

all small entities affected by the final rule.

4.2 Impact on Small Entities

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) of 1980 (5 U.S.C. § 601 et. seq.) requires Federal agencies to 

assess the effects of regulations on small entities, and in some instances, to examine alternatives to the 

regulations that may reduce adverse economic effects on significantly impacted small entities. The RFA 

requires agencies to prepare an initial and final regulatory flexibility analysis for each rule unless the 

Agency certifies that the rule would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of 

small entities.

Since 1980, the RFA has required Federal agencies to assess the economic impacts of their actions on 

small entities, including businesses, nonprofit agencies, and governments. Section 604 of the RFA, as 

amended by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) of 1996, requires an 

agency to perform a regulatory flexibility analysis for a rule unless the Agency certifies under section 

605(b) that the regulatory action would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of 

small entities. The RFA does not specifically define “a significant economic impact on a substantial 

number” of small entities. 

4.3 Definitions of Small Entities

The RFA uses the definition of “small business” found in the Small Business Act, which authorizes the 

Small Business Administration (SBA) to define “small business” by regulation. This analysis uses the 

SBA’s definition of a small business for each industry.1 

SBA's small business size definitions vary by industry. In establishing size standards, SBA considers a 

number of economic and market characteristics that may allow a business of concern to exercise 

dominance in an industry. Size standards are based on criteria such as annual receipts or number of 

employees that represent a measure of these characteristics. These standards represent the largest size 

that a for-profit enterprise (together with its affiliates) may be and still qualify as a small business. 

The SBA small business size standards are expansive, classifying most businesses as “small.” For

example, the default SBA size standard for manufacturing industries is 500 employees. According to 

information compiled for SBA by the Bureau of the Census, 277,572 of 281,644 manufacturing firms 

have fewer than 500 employees (USSBA, 2011). Therefore, at least 98.5 percent of manufacturing firms 

would be classified as small businesses according to the SBA definition. In fact, this percentage is 

actually higher, since for certain industrial classification codes within manufacturing, the SBA size 

 

1 SBA's size standards can be found at: http://www.sba.gov/content/table-small-business-size-standards
4-2 5/7/2014

standard is 750, 1,000, or 1,500 employees. Table 4-1 lists the small business size standards for the 

industries affected by the final rule. 

Table 4-1: Small Business Size Standards for Industries Affected by the Final Rule

NAICS NAICS Description SBA Standard

213111 Drilling Oil and Gas Wells 500 (empls)

325 Chemical Manufacturing 500 (empls)

325110 Petrochemical Manufacturing 1,000 (empls)

325188 All Other Basic Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing 1,000 (empls)

325199 All Other Basic Organic Chemical Manufacturing 1,000 (empls)

325211 Plastics Material and Resin Manufacturing 750 (empls)

325412 Pharmaceutical Preparation Manufacturing 750 (empls)

325510 Paint and Coating Manufacturing 500 (empls)

325520 Adhesive Manufacturing 500 (empls)

325611 Soap and Other Detergent Manufacturing 750 (empls)

325613 Surface Active Agent Manufacturing 500 (empls)

325998 All Other Miscellaneous Chemical Product and Preparation Manufacturing 500 (empls)

326112 Plastics Packaging Film and Sheet (including Laminated) Manufacturing 500 (empls)

326113 Unlaminated Plastics Film and Sheet (except Packaging) Manufacturing 500 (empls)

326150 Urethane and Other Foam Product (except Polystyrene) Manufacturing 500 (empls)

326199 All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing 750 (empls)

326211 Tire Manufacturing (except Retreading) 1,000 (empls)

326299 All Other Rubber Product Manufacturing 500 (empls)

331210 Iron and Steel Pipe and Tube Manufacturing from Purchased Steel 1,000 (empls)

332812 Metal Coating, Engraving (except Jewelry and Silverware), and Allied Services to Manufacturers 500 (empls)

424690 Other Chemical and Allied Products Merchant Wholesalers 100 (empls)

424720 Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers (except Bulk Stations and Terminals) 100 (empls)

523130 Commodity Contracts Dealing 7,000,000 ($)

523920 Portfolio Management 7,000,000 ($)

551112 Offices of Other Holding Companies 7,000,000 ($)

561110 Office Administrative Services 7,000,000 ($)

562211 Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal 35,500,000 ($)

562213 Solid Waste Combustors and Incinerators 35,500,000 ($)

The RFA defines “small governmental jurisdictions” as governments of cities, counties, towns, school 

districts, or special districts with populations of less than 50,000 people. No small governmental 

jurisdictions are expected to incur a burden as a result of the final rule.

The RFA defines “small organizations” as any “not-for-profit enterprise that is independently owned and 

operated and is not dominant in its field.” No small organizations are expected to incur a burden as a 

result of the final rule.

4.4 Methodology Overview

This analysis uses annual cost impact percentages to measure potential impacts on small parent entities. 

The cost impact percentage is defined as annual compliance costs resulting from the final rule as a 

percentage of annual revenues or sales. For purposes of determining small parent entity impacts, annual 

compliance costs are compared to annual revenues to estimate the magnitude of the regulatory burden 
4-3 5/7/2014

relative to a commonly available and objective measure of a company's business volume. Where 

regulatory costs represent a small fraction of a typical firm's revenue, the impacts of the regulation are 

likely to be minimal.

Cost impact percentages are calculated for the incremental compliance costs incurred during the first year 

of the rule and in the steady state. The incremental reporting cost associated with this final rule is 

estimated using the Ratio-Based Burden Methodology (RBBM), which is a simplified formulation of the 

previously employed burden methodology. Estimating reporting burden using RBBM produces a burden 

estimate that reflects overall “average” reporting conditions at reporting facilities.2 According to RBBM, 

in the steady state, the average burden incurred from submitting a Form R equals 35.70516 hours. The 

burden incurred from submitting a Form A is 61.5% of the burden of a Form R. To reflect the additional 

reporting burden incurred during the first year of the rule by both filers reporting to TRI for the first-time 

and those already reporting to TRI but considering the requirements of the final rule for the first time, 

RBBM assumes that reporting burden is 2.1 that of each forms’ burden in the steady state. To calculate 

the corresponding cost of these burdens, a weighted average wage rate, WAWR, is calculated, representing 

the average loaded cost for a mix of Managerial, Technical and Clerical labor per hour of TRI reporter 

burden. The WAWR is calculated with data from Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employer Costs for 

Employee Compensation, updated quarterly. As of March 12, 2014, the WAWR is calculated at $49.25. 

Applying the WAWR to the estimated burden of filing a Form R yields a cost of $3,693 and $1,758 in the 

first year of the rule and in the steady state, respectively.

Fifty-four facilities are expected to report under the final rule. The universe of potentially affected 

facilities was estimated using EPA’s TSCA Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) Database, the Directory of 

World Chemical Producers (DWCP), other available publications, and existing TRI reporters. The exact 

method used to estimate the universe of affected facilities is discussed in detail in Chapter 2. 

The 54 potentially affected facilities can be divided into the following two groups:

 Actual Facilities – 25 facilities potentially subject to the final rule’s reporting requirements, 

where the identity of each facility is known. 

 Modeled Facilities – 29 facilities, where the identity of the individual facilities is unknown but 

where it was possible to estimate the total number of potentially subject facilities by NAICS code 

via the proxy chemical method, as described in Chapter 2. 

For these two groups of facilities, although the estimation of revenues, employment, and impacts are 

derived separately, the general methodology used to estimate the impacts on small parent entities consists 

of the following steps:

Step 1: Identify the universe of affected NP facilities.3

 

2 For more details on RBBM see Chapter 3 of this economic analysis, and Revising TRI Burden to Ratio-Based 

Methodology, TRI Regulatory Development Branch, TRI Program Division, Office of Information Analysis and 

Access, Office of Environmental Information, January 20011, EPA Docket ID Number EPA-HQ-OEI-2010-0825.

3 The term “affected facilities” is used in this report to denote facilities that meet the TRI reporting requirements and 

are expected to submit at least one form for NP. A Form R is completed for a single chemical. Facilities may 

submit more than one Form R if they manufacture, process, or otherwise use more than one listed TRI chemical. 

Form A permits multiple chemical reports on the same form if the facility meets alternate threshold requirements. 

An “affected” company is a company owning at least one “affected” facility.
4-4 5/7/2014

Step 2: Characterize the relationships between facilities and their parent companies in the 

affected universe.

Step 3: Estimate annual revenue of parent companies4in the affected universe.

Step 4: Identify small parent entities based on SBA definitions.

Step 5: Develop small parent entity compliance cost estimates, based on the number of 

facilities per parent company estimated in Step 2.

Step 6: Calculate the small parent entity cost impact ratio, defined as the compliance costs as

a percentage of annual revenue, as a measure of regulatory burden. 

Step 7: Estimate the number and percentage of small parent entities with parent-level impact 

percentages in each of three categories: (1) less than one percent of annual revenue; 

(2) between one and three percent of annual revenue; and (3) greater than or equal to 

three percent of annual revenue.

The following sections describe how revenue and business size data (based on revenue and employment) 

were used to characterize impacts on small parent entities of actual and modeled facilities in affected 

industries.

4.4.1 Actual Facilities

Of the 54 facilities estimated to be affected by the final rule, 25 (44%) are identified as specific facilities 

currently manufacturing or importing NP. An additional four specific facilities in NAICS 325 were 

identified using TSCA CDR data, as detailed in Chapter 2. However, as these facilities’ data are 

confidential business information, impacts to the four facilities in this NAICS code are estimated in 

Section 4.4.2: Modeled Facilities. For these facilities, the cost impact percentages are calculated using the 

compliance costs per facility, the number of facilities per parent company for small parent entities, and 

the annual revenues for each of the small parent entities. 

Identification of Small Entities and Generation of Revenue Data

For each parent company, revenue and employment data was obtained from Dun and Bradstreet’s (D&B) 

Private Data Portal (Version 2.6.0, accessed on March 11, 2014). D&B provides a range of data for over 

11 million business locations, including data on number of employees, line of business, key financial 

indicators, business size, and parent/headquarters.

Where D&B data was incomplete or outdated, alternative resources, such as Bloomberg Businessweek 

(http://investing.businessweek.com), MantaTM, HooversTM, and individual company website documents 

were used to identify company size and revenue data. Using this information, it was possible to classify 

parent companies as small parent entities using the SBA defined standards for the affected industries. 

The revenue and business size data used in this analysis represent data for global ultimate parent 

companies that own one or more facilities in the industries affected by the final rule.5 The 25 actual 

 

4 For the purposes of this report, “parent company” denotes an ultimate parent company owning an affected facility

(regardless of the size of the facility); “small parent entity” denotes a small ultimate parent company (as defined by 

the Small Business Administration threshold) owning an affected facility.

5 The global ultimate parent is the uppermost parent or headquarters that encompasses all directly related branches, 

subsidiaries, or parents of a specific business at a specific location. This analysis assumes that a facility, as defined 

under TRI, is equivalent to a location as defined by D&B. A “facility,” subject to EPCRA section 313 reporting 

requirements, means all buildings, equipment, structures, and other stationary items that are located on a single site 

or on contiguous or adjacent sites, and which are owned or operated by the same person, that is classified under an 

SIC code covered by the regulations, has 10 or more employees or the equivalent, and manufactures, processes, or 
4-5 5/7/2014

facilities identified as currently manufacturing or importing NP under consideration, were linked to 22 

parent companies, all of which had revenue and size information available in D&B. 

The ultimate parent data obtained from D&B includes available revenue data for all subsidiaries, 

divisions, and branches of that parent, including those not individually affected under the rule. The 

number of potentially affected facilities per parent company, however, represents the number of facilities 

owned by that parent company that are expected to perform compliance activities for the final rule (not 

the total number of facilities per parent company). The universe of actual facilities and their parents is 

summarized in Table 4-2.

Table 4-2: Summary of Universe for Small Entity Impact 

Analyses for Actual Facilities

Number of actual facilities estimated to experience an impact 25

Number of parent companies 22

Number of small parent entities 18

Estimating Compliance Cost

To evaluate the potential impact of the final rule, this analysis uses the number of facilities per parent 

company for small parent entities, the number of reports filed per facility, and the annual revenue for each 

small entity. Of the 22 parent companies identified, 18 (82%) were classified as small parent entities 

(Table 4-2), each owning one affected facility estimated to file one Form R.6 

Estimating Cost Impact Ratios

Cost impact percentages for the first year and the steady state were calculated for each small parent entity 

by dividing compliance costs (for all affected facilities owned by the parent company) by the parent 

company’s annual revenue. The estimated impacts on small parent entities owning actual facilities under 

the final rule are presented in Table 4-3 below. All 18 of the affected small parent entities would have 

cost impacts of less than 1% in the first year and in the steady state. In the first year, there would be a 

maximum impact of 0.0582% and a minimum impact of less than 0.0001%. The mean and median 

impacts for the first year would be 0.0106% and 0.0034%, respectively. 

In the steady state, there would be a maximum impact of 0.0277 % and a minimum impact of 0.0001%. 

The mean and median impacts in the steady state would be approximately 0.005% and 0.0016%, 

respectively.

 

otherwise uses any of the listed toxic chemicals or chemical categories above the specific reporting thresholds. For 

some industries this may not correspond exactly to the definition of a location by D&B.

6 The number of forms estimated to be submitted by actual facilities is derived in Chapter 2. It was not possible to 

determine which facilities would file what type of Form under the final rule, therefore, in the small entity analysis it 

was conservatively assumed that all additional forms would be Forms R. 
4-6 5/7/2014

Table 4-3: Summary of Impacts on Small Parent Entities Affected by the Final Rule (Actual 

Facilities)

Cost Impact Category

Affected Small Entities in 1st Year Affected Small Entities in Steady State

# % # %

Less than 1% 18 100% 18 100%

1% to 3% 0 0% 0 0%

Greater than 3% 0 0% 0 0%

Median Impact 0.0034% 0.0016%

Maximum Impact 0.0582% 0.0277%

Note: An “affected entity” is a company that is identified to be a parent of the affected facility identified in Chapter 2.

4.4.2 Modeled Facilities

For 29 facilities7, reporting was estimated and impacts modeled by using revenue and employment data 

available by NAICS code from the U.S. Census of Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB) (U.S. CB, 2010). 

The SUSB provides annual data for U.S. business establishments by geography, industry, and enterprise 

size, covering all business establishments with paid employees. The data provided annually includes 

counts of establishments, firms, employees, and payroll. Data on total receipts are also provided by SUSB 

every five years (most recently, for 2007). The data available from the SUSB can therefore be used to 

identify the number of small parent entities affected under the final rule, construct annual revenue, and 

calculate cost impact ratios.

As mentioned earlier, a sector’s small business definition is based on either its annual revenue or number 

of employees, depending on the sector. The SUSB provides information tabulated by employment size or 

revenue size. For the affected sectors with employment-based small business definitions, profiles were 

developed for employment size categories. For the two affected sector with revenue-based small business 

definitions, NAICS 562211and 562213 (Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal and Solid Waste 

Combustors and Incinerators, respectively), a profile was developed for each revenue size category. 

Identify Universe of Potentially Affected Facilities

In order to characterize facility-parent relationships and determine whether the parents of the affected

facilities are small parent entities, the universe of facilities modeled in Chapter 2 was distributed across 

SUSB employment8and revenue size classes (depending on the sector) for each affected NAICS code 

(Table 4-4 and Table 4-5). Specifically, the total NP facility count in each NAICS code was multiplied 

by the number of establishments in the particular revenue or employment size class, and divided by the 

total number of establishments in the NAICS code. 

 

7

Includes four identified facilities for whom all business information is confidential.

8 Employment size classes refer to the parent entity size. Parent entities of facilities required to report to TRI should 

have at least the same number of employees as the facility it owns. Therefore, employment size categories with less 

than 10 employees were not used in the analysis (i.e., facilities expected to report were not distributed into these size 

categories, and revenue data from these categories was not used to construct estimated small parent entity revenues).
4-7 5/7/2014

Table 4-4: Distribution of Potentially Affected 

Facilities by Employment Size Class

Employment Size Class # Facilities

10-19 employees 4

20-99 employees 11

100-499 employees 3

500+ employees 7

Total 25

Table 4-5: Distribution of Potentially Affected 

Facilities by Revenue Size Class

Revenue Size Class # Facilities

<100,000 0

100,000-499,999 2

500,000-999,999 0

1,000,000-2,499,999 2

2,500,000-4,999,999 0

5,000,000-7,499,999 0

7,500,000-9,999,999 0

10,000,000-14,999,999 0

15,000,000-19,999,999 0

20,000,000-24,999,999 0

25,000,000-29,999,999 0

30,000,000-34,999,999 0

35,000,000-39,999,999 0

40,000,000-44,999,999 0

45,000,000-49,999,999 0

50,000,000-74,999,999 0

75,000,000-99,999,999 0

100,000,000+ 0

Total 4

Note: Numbers may not sum due to rounding applied in distributing small 

numbers of facilities expected to report across Census size categories.

Characterize Facility-Parent Relationships

Compliance costs and impacts are estimated at the parent company level, where a parent company may 

own one or more facilities. Therefore, it was necessary to estimate the number of NP facilities per parent 

company, which was done by dividing the number of establishments by the number of firms in the SUSB 

data for each NAICS/employment or revenue size class. The distribution of facilities derived in the 

previous section was then divided by this number to obtain a count of NP parent companies for each 

NAICS/revenue or employment size class combination. The counts of parent companies are shown in 

Table 4-6 and Table 4-7 below. 
4-8 5/7/2014

Table 4-6: Parent Company Distribution by 

Employment Size Class

Employment Size Class # Parent Companies

10-19 employees 4

20-99 employees 10

100-499 employees 3

500+ employees 1

Total 18

Table 4-7: Parent Company Distribution by 

Revenue Size Class

Revenue Size Class # Parent Companies

<100,000 0

100,000-499,999 2

500,000-999,999 0

1,000,000-2,499,999 1

2,500,000-4,999,999 0

5,000,000-7,499,999 0

7,500,000-9,999,999 0

10,000,000-14,999,999 0

15,000,000-19,999,999 0

20,000,000-24,999,999 0

25,000,000-29,999,999 0

30,000,000-34,999,999 0

35,000,000-39,999,999 0

40,000,000-44,999,999 0

45,000,000-49,999,999 0

50,000,000-74,999,999 0

75,000,000-99,999,999 0

100,000,000+ 0

Total 3

Estimate Annual Revenue of Parent Companies

The SUSB data include the total annual receipts (defined as the revenue for goods produced or 

distributed, or services provided) for each NAICS/revenue or employment size class combination. For 

each of the affected sectors with modeled facilities, EPA calculates average revenue per small entity using 

the appropriate employment size or revenue size tabulation. To make this calculation, the total revenue 

and total number of firms are summed across all small revenue or employment size classes for each 

NAICS code.9 The total revenue of all small revenue or employment size classes is then divided by the 

number of small firms to calculate an average revenue per small firm for each NAICS code.

In some cases, total revenue for a revenue class was not provided in the SUSB data because doing so 

would disclose the operations of an individual establishment or firm. In these cases the revenue is 

interpolated by substituting the midpoint of the revenue size class for the average revenue for the 

 

9

In cases where the small business definition was between the upper and lower bounds of the employment or 

revenue size category provided in the 2007 Statistics of U.S. Businesses, the entire size category is classified as 

small.
4-9 5/7/2014

NAICS/revenue size class combination with missing data. For this analysis, data by employment size 

class was fully populated; therefore no further interpolation was required.

Because the SUSB data reflect 2007 annual revenue, it was necessary to inflate the revenue to current 

dollars using one of several indices. The Industrial Production Index (IPI) measures the amount of 

industrial output from certain industries and is used to inflate annual revenue in the manufacturing 

(NAICS 32) sectors to 2013 dollars (U.S. Federal Reserve, 2013). All other affected sectors (NAICS 42 

and 56) are inflated based on the change in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 2007 to 2011, which is a 

measure of overall economic output (BEA, 2012).

Estimate Number of Small Parent Entities

EPA estimates the number of small parent entities in each NAICS code by distributing the total number of 

NP facilities in each NAICS code among the employment or revenue size classes based on the overall 

distribution of establishments amongst the size classes in the SUSB data. The estimated number of 

facilities in each size category was divided by the number of establishments per firm in the Census data to 

estimate the number of parent entities in each size category. Because the SUSB provides data broken 

down by employment and revenue size class, it was possible to identify the number of small firms in each 

sector. Using this method, it was estimated that the 29 modeled facilities are owned by 21 parent 

companies, all of which are classified as small parent entities. Note that, according to the SUSB data, 

more than 90 percent of firms in the affected NAICS codes have revenues or employment below the SBA 

threshold. In addition, due to the small universe of affected facilities that is distributed among the size 

classes based on the SUSB data and the resulting effects of rounding10, all parent companies are classified 

as small entities. 

Estimate Parent Entity Compliance Costs

Compliance cost is estimated at the parent company level; therefore it was necessary to determine the 

average number of facilities per small parent entity in each affected NAICS. The average number of 

affected facilities per small parent entity is estimated at one in all affected NAICS codes, with the 

exception of NAICS 562211, where the average number of affected facilities per small parent entity is 

estimated at two. Some facilities manufacturing, processing or otherwise using NP were expected to meet 

the Alternate Threshold and thus be eligible to file a Form A for NP. However, activity, release and waste 

management data necessary to evaluate Form A applicability could not be estimated due to the limited 

available information, therefore it was not possible to meaningfully distribute the type of form filed across 

affected facilities. As a result, it was conservatively assumed that all forms filed would be Forms R. It is 

estimated that the 29 modeled facilities would each file one Form R under the final rule, incurring a cost 

of $3,693 in the first year of the rule and $1,758 in the steady state. 

Estimate Cost Impact Ratios

To calculate the cost impact ratios, the first year and steady state compliance costs are divided by the 

average revenue per small parent entity for each affected sector. As presented in Table 4-8, no small 

parent entity is estimated to incur impacts higher than 1 percent under the final rule.

 

10 For example, for NAICS 325520, distributing NP parent entities according to the SUSB distribution of parent 

entities for the NAICS overall results in less than 0.5 NP parent entities above the SBA threshold, which rounds to 0.
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Table 4-8: Summary of Impacts on Small Parent Entities Affected by the Final Rule

(Modeled Facilities)

NAICS Description

Small 

Parent 

Entities 

(#)

Average 

Revenues 

(2013$)

First Year 

Cost

Steady 

State Cost

First Year 

Impacts

Steady 

State 

Impacts

325 Chemical Manufacturing 3 $24,731,485 $3,693 $1,758 0.019% 0.009%

325510 Paint and Coating 

Manufacturing 6 $10,021,632 $3,693 $1,758 0.044% 0.021%

325520 Adhesive Manufacturing 1 $14,572,551 $3,693 $1,758 0.030% 0.014%

326113

Unlaminated Plastics 

Film and Sheet (except 

Packaging) 

Manufacturing

1 $15,901,433 $3,693 $1,758 0.024% 0.011%

326199 All Other Plastics 

Product Manufacturing 6 $19,966,724 a $3,693 $1,758 0.019% 0.009%

424690

Other Chemical and 

Allied Products Merchant 

Wholesalers

1 $19,141,344 $3,693 $1,758 0.025% 0.012%

562211b Hazardous Waste 

Treatment and Disposal 2 $3,051,601 $7,386 $3,516 0.484% 0.230%

562213 Solid Waste Combustors 

and Incinerators 1 $2,509,821 $3,693 $1,758 0.147% 0.070%

a Revenues in Census data are presented for >500 employees in aggregate, and no parent entities in this analysis are estimated in the >500 employee 

size category. Therefore, so as not to overestimate revenues by including parent entities with >750 employees, the calculation of the average small 

parent entity revenue for NAICS 326199 is restricted to employment size categories from 10 to 499 employees.

b The average number of affected facilities per small parent entity in NAICS 562211 is estimated to be 2, therefore, the first year and steady state cost 

of filing a Form R is doubled.

Sensitivity Analyses 

Because many sectors have a small number of affected facilities (and therefore a small number of affected 

small parent entities), the small entity analysis calculates cost impact ratios using a single average small 

parent entity revenue that takes into account the distribution of small parent entity revenues in the sector. 

In order to ensure possible impacts to the smallest parent entities are not masked, the following sensitivity 

analyses were conducted. 

In Scenario One, impacts were calculated using SUSB data for only the smallest employment or revenue 

size categories with expected small parent entities as follows: 

 For the employment-based sectors, impacts were calculated against the average revenue of the 

10-19 employees and 20-99 employees size categories separately; 

 For the hazardous waste treatment and disposal sector, one parent entity is expected to report in 

the $100,000-$499,000 size category, so impacts were calculated using the lower bound of the 

category ($100,000 inflated to 2013 dollars); and 

 For the solid waste combustors and incinerators sector, since a single facility (corresponding to a 

single small parent entity) is expected to report, it is assumed the facility could potentially be in 

the lowest revenue category (<$100,000). Because there is no lower bound for this category, the 

average revenue for the size category is used.

Under this scenario, impacts of >3% are incurred by two small parent entities (of the 20 total small parent 

entities) in the first year and in the steady state: one small parent entity in the hazardous waste treatment 

and disposal sector, and one small parent entity in the solid waste combustors and incinerators sector. 
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Impacts were <1% for the remaining small parent entity in the hazardous waste treatment and disposal 

sector and for all employment-based sectors.

Note that while impacts above 1% are estimated in Scenario One, the parent entity revenues used in this 

scenario are unrealistically low, and impacts are therefore likely to be overstated. Scenario Two uses 

sector-specific wage data and an assumption of a minimum of ten full-time employees per reporting 

facility to develop more realistic impact estimates. 

In Scenario Two, impacts were calculated by estimating the lowest revenues considered possible for a 

facility employing only 10 employees. Revenues were constructed using sector-specific (at the four-digit 

NAICS level) wage data obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment 

Statistics data series (BLS 2012), inflated to 2013 dollars (BEA 2014). For each sector, a loaded wage 

was calculated by adding estimated benefits to the hourly wage obtained from BLS’ OES11 and overhead 

(assumed to be 17% of hourly wages). This loaded wage rate was multiplied first by 2,080 (the number of 

working hours in a year) and next by 10 (the number of full-time employees a facility must employ to be 

required to report to TRI) to obtain an estimate of the minimum revenue a facility required to report to 

TRI should have. Note that this method does not account for costs and revenues not directly related to 

employment, such as input costs, operational costs, facility costs, and profits. It is therefore assumed that 

the estimated revenues obtained using this method are substantially lower than is realistic for a facility 

that would report to TRI.

Per-facility compliance costs were divided by estimated revenues to obtain estimated cost impact ratios. 

Because each facility is assumed to have revenues equal to the minimum revenues necessary to meet the 

TRI reporting threshold, parent-entity impacts must be equal to or less than facility-level impacts. (For 

example, in the hazardous waste treatment and disposal sector, it is estimated that each parent entity owns 

two affected facilities; both the compliance costs and per-facility revenues are therefore doubled, yielding 

the same cost impact percentage as incurred by a single facility.)

Under this scenario, no modeled parent entity incurs impacts of >1%. Because this method estimates the 

minimum revenue of a parent entity whose facilities are subject to TRI reporting, it can be assumed that 

no parent entities in any sector incur impacts of >1%.

Under either scenario, it is presumed that this rule will not have a significant impact on a substantial 

number of small entities given that fewer than 100 small parent entities are impacted by the rule, less than 

20% of affected small parent entities incur impacts of >1%, and less than 20% of small parent entities 

incur impacts of >3%.

4.5 Summary of Results

The 54 facilities estimated to report under the final rule were linked to 43 parent companies, 39 (91%) of 

which were categorized as small parent entities. Twenty-five of the 54 facilities were identified as actual 

facilities and could be linked to 22 actual parent companies, 18 of which were identified as small parent 

entities. For these 18 actual parent companies, small parent entity impacts are estimated to be less than 

1% of annual revenue in the first year of the rule and in the steady state. 

For the 29 modeled facilities (including four facilities identified with confidential business information), 

it was estimated that the affected facilities are owned by 21 parent companies, all of which are classified 

 

11 Benefits were calculated using the average ratio of benefits to total compensation for all workers in private 

industry from BLS’ Employer Costs of Employee Compensation data series (DOL 2014).
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as small parent entities. Small parent entity impacts are estimated to be less than 1% of annual average 

revenue in the first year of the rule and in the steady state. 
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Literature Cited

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce. 2014. National Income and 

Products Accounts Table, Table 1.1.9. Implicit Price Deflators for Gross Domestic Product. 

<http://www.bea.gov/index.htm>

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), U.S. Department of Commerce, 2012. Occupational Employment 

Statistics. May 2012 National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates. 

<http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrci.htm>

U.S. CB (2010). Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB). http://www.census.gov/econ/susb

U.S.DOL (2014). Employer Costs for Employee Compensation – December 2013. Table 9: Private 

industry, goods-producing and service-providing industries, by occupational group. U.S. 

Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Washington D.C., March 12, 2014. 

< http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.t09.htm>

U.S. EPA (2011a). Supporting Statement for Information Collection Request Number (ICR) 1363.21, 

OMB Number 2025-0009: TRI Form R and Form A Toxic Chemical Release Reporting. 

February 2011.

U.S. Federal Reserve. 2014. Federal Reserve Statistical Release: Industrial Production and Capacity 

Utilization. Release Date February 14, 2014. 

<http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/current/default.htm>

U.S. SBA (2014). Table of Small Business Size Standards Matched to North American Industry 

Classification System Codes. U.S. Small Business Administration. January 22, 2014. 

SBA's size standards can be found at: http://www.sba.gov/content/small-business-size-standards

U.S. SBA (2011). United States Small Business Administration. Office of Advocacy – Research and 

Statistics – Data on Small Business – All Industries by NAICS Codes, 2008: Employer Firms & 

Employment by Employment Size of Firm by NAICS Codes, 2008. Information from the Small 

Business Administration on the Internet. 

http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/us_naics6.pdf. Downloaded on August 10, 2011.
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Chapter 5– Benefits

In enacting the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) of 1986 and the 

Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) of 1990, Congress recognized the significant benefits of providing 

information on the presence, releases and waste management of toxic chemicals. The Toxics Release 

Inventory (TRI) has proven to be one of the most powerful forces in empowering the federal government, 

state and local governments, industry, environmental groups, and the general public to fully participate in 

an informed dialogue about the environmental impacts of toxic chemicals in the United States. The TRI 

database provides several types of information, including quantitative information on toxic chemical 

releases and other waste management practices. Starting in 1987, the collection of this information 

enhanced the ability for the public, government, and the regulated community to understand the breadth 

and magnitude of chemical releases in the United States, and to assess the need to reduce the releases and 

transfers of toxic chemicals. TRI data enable all interested parties to establish credible baselines, to set 

realistic goals for environmental progress, and to measure progress in meeting these goals over time. As 

such, the TRI Program has become a yardstick by which progress can be measured by all interested or 

affected stakeholders. 

The information reported to TRI increases community knowledge and awareness of the quantities of toxic 

chemicals released to the environment as well as the potential pathways of exposure to those chemicals. 

This knowledge then:

 Improves scientific understanding of the health and environmental risks of toxic chemicals; 

 Allows the public to make informed decisions on where to work and live; 

 Enhances the ability of corporate leaders and purchasers to more accurately gauge a facility’s 

potential environmental liabilities; 

 Provides reporting facilities with information that can be used to save money as well as reduce 

emissions; and 

 Assists federal, state, and local authorities in making better decisions on acceptable levels of toxic 

chemicals in the environment.

The benefits of the final rule include improved understanding, awareness, and decision making related to 

the provision and distribution of information on releases and waste management of NP. The provision of 

information can lead to follow-on activities that create additional costs and benefits. In particular, this 

information can lead to voluntary initiatives by industry to review production processes, set goals for 

reductions in emissions, and institute “good neighbor” policies. If an individual facility owner or operator 

perceives that the additional information generated to comply with the section 313 reporting requirements 

provide them with valuable information about their operations and how they might be modified, then 

changes can be implemented to reduce releases of TRI chemicals. 

Making TRI information available to the public may provide incentives for facilities to reduce TRI 

chemical releases, and in some cases it may encourage facilities to reduce releases where such changes 

would not be in the facility’s best interest if the information about the releases was not in the public 

domain. Social benefits derived from voluntary follow-on activities may include decreased costs of waste 

treatment and disposal, lower probability of accidental releases and lower clean-up costs in the event of 

such releases, reduced contamination of natural resources from decreased land disposal, improved air and 

water quality, and reduced risks to human health. Such social benefits are partially offset by the social 

costs to implement the changes, such as installing scrubbers and substituting materials that are less toxic 

but more expensive. The net social benefits of the information provided by the final rule and the possible 

follow-on activities equal the difference between the total benefits and the total costs of the activities that

lead to the reduction in releases.
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The potential benefits of additional TRI reporting can be understood by examining the ways in which 

different groups of affected stakeholders—consumers, industry, non-federal governments and the general 

public—use the TRI data. Consumers may use the data to make more informed decisions about the 

products they buy and to enter into constructive dialogue with the firms in their communities that release 

NP. Facilities may find opportunities for waste reduction and cost savings through developing reporting 

data required under the final rule. Non-federal governments may use the data in lieu of, or in support of, 

their own environmental protection activities. In addition, non-users of the TRI data benefit from its 

public provision whenever others use of the data results in improvements in environmental quality.

Some examples of the ways in which various stakeholders have utilized TRI data include: 

 Use of the Data by Community and Public Interest Groups: Communities use TRI data to begin 

dialogues with local facilities and to encourage them to reduce their emissions, develop pollution 

prevention plans, and improve safety measures. Public interest groups use the data to educate the 

public about toxic chemical emissions and potential risk, and in environmental justice activities.

 Use of the Data by Education and Research Institutions: The TRI data are used in many 

environmental education programs, particularly at the high school and university levels. Students 

learn about toxic chemical releases, the potential health and environmental effects of those 

releases, pollution prevention activities and opportunities, and the social and political aspects of 

environmental protection. Some organizations also conduct educational outreach programs using 

TRI data. 

 Use of the Data by the Financial and Business Communities: Investment analysts use TRI data to 

provide recommendations to clients seeking to make environmentally sound investments. 

Insurance companies look to TRI data as one indication of potential environmental liabilities. 

Consultants and others use the data to identify business opportunities, such as marketing pollution 

prevention and control technologies to TRI reporting facilities. Demand for environmental 

performance information by investors, insurance companies, and the public has led many 

companies to develop environmental annual reports similar to annual reports on financial 

performance traditionally prepared for investors.

 Industry Use of TRI Data: TRI data are used by industry for activities such as developing waste 

reduction strategies and improving companies’ understanding of their own production processes. 

Industry also uses TRI submission information to show environmental progress and as a starting 

point for engaging with communities. 

 Government Use of TRI Data: Government organizations such as the media-specific and core 

offices at EPA, EPA Regional offices, and other national, state, and local government agencies 

routinely use the TRI data. TRI data are used to: develop inspection targeting and enforcement 

tools; analyze and prioritize long-term trends in waste minimization; identify candidates for the 

National Primary Drinking Water Regulations; to coordinate environmental data internationally 

through agreements and organizations such as the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, 

and to set priorities and allocate increasingly scarce environmental protection resources to the 

most pressing problems.

EPA has not attempted to monetize the benefits of the final rule due to the lack of quantitative 

information characterizing the range of users and non-users of TRI data and the substantial analytical 

challenges associated with conducting an analysis that accurately predicts behavioral responses to the 

provision of information. In addition, the potentially large numbers of beneficiaries who are not TRI data 

users, or who are otherwise unaware of the data (e.g., general public), further limits EPA’s ability to 

quantify potential benefits.

The experience since the first forms were submitted to TRI in 1987 suggests that reporting under EPCRA 

section 313 has produced real gains in understanding about communities’ exposure to toxic chemicals. In 
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its report entitled: The Toxics Release Inventory in Action: Media, Government, Business, Community and 

Academic Uses of TRI, EPA has documented numerous examples of how multiple stakeholders have used 

TRI data (US EPA, 2013). Moreover, a cursory search on GoogleScholarTM reveals thousands of 

academic articles referencing the Toxics Release Inventory. Listing NP, and the subsequent use of the 

reported information, should provide similar gains in understanding of this particular chemical. EPA 

believes that NP meets the statutory toxicity criteria of section 313, and is at least as toxic as some of the 

chemicals for which Congress initially believed there were net benefits due to reporting (i.e., the initial 

list of section 313 chemicals).
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Literature Cited

U.S. EPA (2013). The Toxics Release Inventory in Action: Media, Government, Business, Community and 

Academic Uses of TRI. 

http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/documents/tri_in_action_final_report_july_2013.pdf.