Document ID: EPA-HQ-TRI-2005-0073-0004
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2005-09-20T04:00Z

1­
1
September
19,
2005
CHAPTER
ONE
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.
42
U.
S.
C.
§
§
11001­
11050.
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,
transfer,
and
waste
management
activity
of
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
pollution
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).
1
Since
the
inception
of
the
TRI
Program,
EPA
has
implemented
measures
to
reduce
the
reporting
burden
on
the
regulated
universe,
and
make
TRI
reporting
as
user
friendly
as
possible.
These
measures
include
compliance
assistance
activities,
such
as
industry­
specific
guidance
and
annual
training
workshops.
EPA
also
reduced
the
time
spent
completing
the
required
TRI
forms
by
developing
the
Toxics
Release
Inventory
 
Made
Easy
(
TRI­
ME)
software
and
adding
the
Form
A
certification.
In
January
2005,
EPA
proposed
the
TRI
Reporting
Forms
Modification
Rule
(
79
FR
1674,
January
10,
2005)
that
included
general
options
for
reducing
the
time,
cost,
and
complexity
of
the
reporting
requirements
imposed
on
facilities.
(
EPA
refers
to
this
rulemaking
as
the
"
Phase
1"
burden
reduction
rulemaking.)

EPA
is
proposing
additional
options
for
streamlining
TRI
reporting.
The
purpose
of
this
proposed
rule
is
to
provide
additional
burden
reduction
options
without
compromising
the
quality
of
toxic
chemical
release
data
and
of
other
waste
management
information.
This
additional
set
of
burden
reduction
options
will
be
referred
to
hereafter
as
the
"
Phase
2"
burden
reduction
rulemaking.

This
report
analyzes
the
economic
effects
of
the
Phase
2
burden
reduction
options.
To
understand
the
effects
of
the
proposed
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
proposed
rule
and
organization
of
the
report.

1
The
term
"
EPCRA
section
313"
properly
refers
to
only
the
statutory
requirements,
while
the
term
"
TRI"
properly
refers
to
the
database
that
stores
the
information
collected
both
under
EPCRA
section
313
and
under
section
6607
of
the
PPA.
However,
the
terms
are
have
often
been
used
interchangeably
by
the
public
to
refer
to
the
statute,
the
regulatory
requirements,
the
reporting
form,
the
database,
and/
or
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
September
19,
2005
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).

Because
this
rule
is
being
proposed
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
onsite
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
a
Standard
Industrial
Classification
(
SIC)
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
C.
F.
R.
§
372.25.
Over
600
toxic
chemicals
and
chemical
compound
categories
are
currently
on
the
list
of
TRI
chemicals.
1­
3
September
19,
2005
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.
TRI
data
are
available
to
the
public
in
a
variety
of
formats,
including
disk,
online
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
educate
themselves
on
the
presence
of
toxic
chemicals
in
the
environment,
and
use
that
improved
information
to
engage
in
a
meaningful,
productive
dialogue
with
industry
and
with
all
levels
of
government.
In
general,
TRI
data
have
proven
to
be
a
powerful
tool
in
environmental
decisionmaking

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.
Treatment
or
disposal
should
be
considered
only
after
source
reduction
and
recycling
have
been
eliminated
as
options.
Section
6607
of
the
PPA
supplemented
the
information
reported
under
EPCRA
section
313
by
requiring
facilities
to
also
report
information
on
their
pollution
prevention,
recycling,
and
other
waste
management
activities.
The
data
elements
required
by
the
Pollution
Prevention
Act
are
included
as
section
8
of
Form
R.

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
EPA
may
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
remainder
are
chemicals
either
regulated
or
identified
as
concerns
under
other
1­
4
September
19,
2005
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
rulemaking
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.
2
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
millionpound
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.

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).
Prior
to
this
action,
reporting
was
limited
to
facilities
in
the
manufacturing
sector
(
SIC
codes
20­
39)
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
2
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
5
September
19,
2005
 
Chemicals
and
allied
products­
wholesale,
 
Petroleum
bulk
terminals
and
plants­
wholesale,
and
 
Solvent
recovery
services.

The
first
reports
from
these
facilities
were
submitted
in
1999
for
reporting
year
1998.

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
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
grams.
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.

1.2
DESCRIPTION
OF
THE
PROPOSED
RULE
As
described
above,
EPA
has
implemented
a
number
of
burden
reduction
measures.
To
build
upon
these
efforts,
EPA
conducted
a
TRI
Stakeholder
Dialogue
between
Fall
2002
and
early
2004.
During
this
dialogue,
improvements
to
the
TRI
reporting
process
were
identified
and
a
number
of
burden
reduction
options
associated
with
TRI
reporting
were
explored.
After
reviewing
these
improvements
and
reporting
options,
EPA
has
decided
to
proceed
with
burden
reduction
rulemakings
in
three
phases:
Phase
1)
relatively
simple,
modifications
to
the
reporting
forms
and
Phase
2)
new
and
expanded
eligibility
for
Form
A
and
Phase
3)
alternate
year
reporting
for
all
or
some
reporters.

EPA
is
proposing
two
options
that
it
believes
may
reduce
reporting
burden
for
TRI
facilities.
Some
facilities
may
qualify
for
both
options,
however,
for
different
chemicals.
Although
these
options
could
be
proposed
separately,
EPA
is
combining
the
options
in
the
proposed
rule.
The
following
sections
outline
the
specific
options
that
are
proposed.

1.2.1
New
Eligibility
for
Form
A:
PBT
Chemicals
This
option
allows
facilities
reporting
on
PBT
chemicals
(
except
dioxin
and
dioxin­
like
compounds)
with
no
disposal
or
other
releases
(
Section
8.1)
and
positive
waste
management
quantities
in
Sections
8.2
­
8.8,
to
use
Form
A.
Facilities
must
also
not
manufacture,
process,
or
otherwise
use
more
than
1,000,000
pounds
of
the
chemical
and
must
have
less
than
or
equal
to
500
pounds
of
total
waste
management
quantities
in
Sections
8.2
through
8.8.
Note
that
the
500
pound
annual
reportable
amount
(
ARA)
is
calculated
differently
for
this
option
than
the
current
approach
for
Form
A.
For
this
option,
reporting
facilities
will
sum
sections
8.2
through
8.8
(
8.8
is
non­
production
related
waste)
to
determine
if
their
annual
PBT
reportable
amount
(
PRA)
is
less
than
or
equal
to
500
pounds.
To
use
the
New
Eligibility
for
Form
A:
PBT
Chemicals
Option,
Section
8.8
quantities
cannot
include
release
or
disposal
quantities.
This
approach
differs
from
1­
6
September
19,
2005
the
current
Form
A
reporting
requirements
in
that
EPA
is
proposing
to
have
reporters
also
include
Section
8.8
quantities
when
calculating
the
PRA.
Since
this
option
is
now
available
to
PBT
chemicals
(
except
dioxin
and
dioxin­
like
compounds),
which
are
of
special
concern,
the
Agency
believes
it
is
appropriate
to
include
all
release
and
other
waste
management
quantities
in
the
PRA,
including
non­
production
related
quantities.
If
this
calculation
totals
less
than
or
equal
to
500
pounds,
the
reporting
facility
may
use
Form
A
to
report
in
lieu
of
Form
R.

1.2.2
Expanded
Eligibility
for
Form
A:
Non­
PBT
Chemicals
TRI
reporters
are
currently
able
to
take
advantage
of
the
alternate
reporting
threshold
if
they
have
an
ARA
of
500
pounds
or
less.
The
ARA
is
the
total
of
all
quantities
released
(
on­
and
off­
site,
but
excluding
catastrophic
events),
treated,
recovered,
recycled,
and
combusted
at
the
facility,
plus
all
amounts
transferred
off­
site
from
the
facility
for
the
purpose
of
recycling,
energy
recovery,
treatment,
and/
or
disposal.
This
option
extends
the
existing
Form
A
eligibility
criteria
and
allows
a
facility
reporting
on
Non­
PBT
chemicals
with
an
ARA
of
5,000
lbs
or
less
to
use
Form
A,
provided
they
meet
the
1,000,000
pound
alternate
reporting
threshold.
EPA
is
also
taking
comment
on
two
alternate
annual
reportable
amounts
(
1,000
lbs
and
2,000
lbs)
for
this
option.

1.3
ORGANIZATION
OF
THIS
REPORT
This
report
examines
the
potential
burden
and
cost
savings
to
industry
that
would
result
from
the
broad,
comprehensive
set
of
regulatory
burden
reduction
options
described
above.
This
report
also
estimates
the
other
impacts
of
the
rule.
The
remainder
of
the
report
is
organized
as
follows:

Chapter
2
presents
the
methodology
used
to
estimate
the
unit
burden,
unit
costs,
and
impacts
of
the
proposed
Phase
2
rule.
Chapter
3
presents
the
total
burden
and
cost
savings
associated
with
the
proposed
rule.
Chapter
4
evaluates
the
benefits
of
the
proposed
rule.
Chapter
5
presents
the
impacts
of
the
proposed
rule
on
reporting