Document ID: EPA-HQ-TRI-2005-0073-0008
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2005-09-20T04:00Z

5­
1
September
19,
2005
CHAPTER
FIVE
IMPACTS
OF
THE
PROPOSED
RULE
ON
REPORTING
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.
TRI's
publicly
available
database
provides
quantitative
information
on
toxic
chemical
releases
and
other
waste
management
activities.
With
the
collection
of
this
information
starting
in
1987
came
the
ability
for
the
public,
government,
and
the
regulated
community
to
understand
the
magnitude
of
chemical
releases
in
the
United
States,
and
to
assess
the
need
to
reduce
the
releases
and
transfers
of
toxic
chemicals.
TRI
enables
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
system
has
become
a
neutral
yardstick
by
which
progress
can
be
measured
by
all
stakeholders.

EPA
believes
that
the
changes
included
in
this
rulemaking
will
reduce
reporting
burden
and
save
resources
for
regulated
entities
without
compromising
the
usefulness
of
TRI
information
to
the
public.
As
a
consequence
of
this
rulemaking,
a
number
of
TRI
reporting
forms
will
change
from
Form
R
to
Form
A.
For
PBT
chemicals
this
will
be
limited
to
regulated
entities
that
have
no
releases
to
air,
land
or
water
onsite
and
no
transfers
offsite
for
disposal
for
both
production
and
non­
production
related
waste.
These
same
forms
will
be
limited
to
500
lbs
for
recycling,
energy
recovery
or
treatment
for
destruction
in
order
to
qualify
for
the
new
Form
A
eligibility.
For
non­
PBT
chemicals,
expanded
Form
A
eligibility
will
be
extended
to
reports
with
total
releases
less
than
5000
lbs
per
chemical
resulting
in
a
reduction
of
total
release
pounds
reported
of
less
than
0.33
percent
and
a
reduction
of
total
production
related
waste
pounds
of
less
than
0.11
percent.

For
both
PBT
and
non­
PBT
chemical
reporting
forms,
use
of
Form
A
will
result
in
the
information
not
reported
on
the
maximum
amount
of
the
chemical
reported
onsite
at
any
one
time
and
also
the
production
ratio
of
the
chemical.
Form
A
retains
facility
specific
information
such
as
location,
technical
contact
as
well
as
the
chemical
reported
and
its
upper
bound
mass
for
eligibility.
The
impacts
of
not
collecting
these
data
fields
were
not
evaluated
and
will
not
be
discussed
further
in
this
analysis
The
likely
impacts
of
the
New
and
Expanded
Eligibility
for
Form
A
Options
are
discussed
below.

5.1
NEW
ELIGIBILITY
FOR
FORM
A:
PBT
CHEMICALS
This
option
allows
facilities
reporting
on
PBT
chemicals,
except
dioxin
and
dioxin­
like
compounds,
with
zero
disposal
or
other
releases
to
use
Form
A,
provided
they
meet
the
5­
2
September
19,
2005
1,000,000
pound
alternate
reporting
threshold
and
have
500
pounds
or
less
of
total
other
waste
management
quantities
(
i.
e.,
PBT
ARA
or
PRA).
Under
this
option,
2,064
facilities
could
convert
2,703
Form
Rs
to
Form
As.
Eligible
facilities
would
have
zero
disposal
or
other
release
quantities
for
a
PBT
chemical,
therefore
no
data
on
releases
is
not
reported.
Information
would
be
not
reported,
however,
regarding
the
use(
s)
of
the
chemical
(
i.
e.
was
the
chemical
manufactured,
processed,
or
otherwise
used),
the
maximum
amount
of
the
chemical
on
site
at
any
time
during
the
calendar
year,
and
the
production
ratio.
With
regard
to
the
maximum
amount
of
the
chemical
on
site,
information
would
be
not
reported
that,
in
the
past,
has
been
useful
in:

°
emergency
planning
and
response
(
equivalent
data
may
also
be
available
on
Tier
II
reports
required
under
EPCRA
section
312);
°
environmental
data
analyses
(
e.
g.
as
a
proxy
for
throughput);
and
°
compliance
targeting
analyses
(
e.
g.
identifying
facilities
that
are
not
compliant
with
other
EPA
regulatory
programs).

Based
on
an
analysis
of
the
RY2002
data,
EPA
determined
that
the
majority
of
the
forms
eligible
under
this
option
would
be
for
lead
and
lead
compounds,
mercury
and
mercury
compounds,
and
polycyclic
aromatic
compounds
(
PACs).
Information
not
reported
would,
therefore,
also
include:

°
information
on
recycling
small
amounts
of
lead
and
lead
compounds
and
mercury
and
mercury
compounds
­
eligible
facilities
would
not
be
reporting
other
waste
management
quantities
for
lead
and
lead
compounds
or
mercury
and
mercury
compounds
since
most
metals
cannot
be
combusted
for
energy
recovery
or
treated
for
destruction.
Using
RY2002
TRI
data,
EPA
conducted
an
analysis
of
lead
and
mercury
reporters
that
suggested
that
the
amount
recycled
by
eligible
facilities
is
less
than
0.5%
of
total
lead
or
mercury
recycled.
Moreover,
based
on
the
Form
A
certification
statement,
data
users
will
know
that
an
eligible
facility
is
recycling
500
pounds
or
less
of
lead
and
lead
compounds
or
mercury
and
mercury
compounds.
°
information
on
recycling,
energy
recovery,
or
treatment
of
PACs,
including
benzo(
g,
h,
i)
perylene,
and
other
organic
chemicals
­
eligible
facilities
would
be
reporting
recycling,
energy
recovery
(
typically
via
burning
in
a
boiler
or
industrial
furnace),
or
treatment
for
destruction
(
typically
via
incineration).
Using
RY2002
TRI
data,
EPA
conducted
an
analysis
of
PACs,
including
benzo(
g,
h,
i)
perylene,
reporters
that
suggested
that
the
amount
recycled,
recovered
for
energy
or
treated
by
eligible
facilities
is
less
than
1%
of
total
PACs,
including
benzo(
g,
h,
i)
perylene,
recycled,
recovered
for
energy
or
treated.
Moreover,
based
on
the
Form
A
certification
statement,
data
users
will
know
that
the
facility
is
recycling,
treating,
or
recovering
for
energy
500
pounds
or
less
of
PACs.

For
this
information,
however,
the
Form
A
serves
as
a
range
report
or
zero
to
500
lbs.
In
total,
less
than
2
percent
of
Total
Production
Related
Waste
(
Table
5­
1)
would
no
longer
be
reported
on
Form
R
as
a
result
of
this
option,
even
if
all
eligible
facilities
used
Form
A.
Since
it
is
unlikely
that
this
will
happen,
the
actual
impacts
will
likely
be
even
smaller.

Beyond
burden
reduction,
an
additional
benefit
of
this
option
is
its
potential
to
provide
an
incentive
to
eliminate
releases
and
reduce
the
need
for
waste
management.
5­
3
September
19,
2005
5.2
EXPANDED
ELIGIBILITY
FOR
FORM
A:
NON­
PBT
CHEMICALS
The
Expanded
Eligibility
for
Form
A:
Non­
PBT
chemicals
option
extends
the
alternate
reporting
threshold
from
500
pounds
to
5,000
pounds.
Under
this
option,
6,461
facilities
could
convert
12,201
Form
Rs
to
Form
As.
For
forms
qualifying
under
this
option,
specific
release
and
other
waste
management
information
will
no
longer
be
reported
to
TRI
as
well
as
information
regarding
the
use(
s)
of
the
chemical
(
i.
e.
was
the
chemical
manufactured,
processed,
or
otherwise
used),
the
maximum
amount
of
the
chemical
on
site
at
any
time
during
the
calendar
year,
and
the
production
ratio.
However,
data
users
will
know
that
an
eligible
facility
has
no
more
than
5,000
pounds
of
total
production
related
waste
for
each
eligible
Non­
PBT
chemical.

To
evaluate
the
extent
of
data
not
reported,
EPA
examined
the
volume
of
total
releases
and
total
production
related
waste
that
would
no
longer
be
reported.
In
total,
less
than
0.5%
of
total
releases
and
less
than
0.2%
of
total
production
related
waste
would
no
longer
be
reported
to
TRI.
At
the
chemical­
specific
level,
Table
5­
2
shows
that
for
the
majority
of
chemicals
(
79%),
less
than
10%
of
their
total
releases
would
no
longer
be
reported.
However,
for
7%
of
chemicals,
between
50%
and
99%
of
their
releases
pounds
would
no
longer
be
reported
and
for
6%
of
chemicals,
100%
of
their
release
pounds
would
no
longer
be
reported.
Table
5­
2
shows
similar
results
for
total
production
related
waste.
Specifically,
for
93%
of
chemicals,
less
than
10%
of
their
total
production
related
waste
would
no
longer
be
reported.
However,
for
6%
of
chemicals,
100%
of
their
total
production
related
waste
pounds
would
no
longer
be
reported.
A
complete
listing
of
the
pounds
of
total
releases
and
total
production
related
waste
that
would
no
longer
be
reported
by
chemical
is
presented
in
Table
A­
1
in
Appendix
A.
Data
not
reported
associated
with
alternate
Form
A
thresholds
of
500,
1,000,
and
2,000
pounds
are
presented
in
Tables
B­
16
through
B­
18
in
Appendix
B.

Extending
the
alternate
reporting
threshold
will
also
affect
the
distribution
of
TRI
reporting
at
the
community
level.
EPA
evaluated
the
impact
of
this
option
to
local
communities
using
a
postal
zip
code
analysis.
As
shown
in
Table
5­
3
if
the
alternate
reporting
threshold
is
extended
to
5,000
lbs,
7%
of
all
zip
codes
containing
TRI
reporters
would
not
have
TRI
information
reported
for
TRI
chemicals
on
Form
R;
22%
of
all
zip
codes
containing
TRI
reporters
would
not
have
TRI
information
reported
on
Form
R
for
at
least
one
facility;
and
45%
of
all
zip
codes
containing
TRI
reporters
would
not
have
TRI
information
reported
on
the
Form
R
on
at
least
one
TRI
chemical.
The
results
of
this
analysis
at
the
500,
1,000
pound,
and
2,000
pound
alternate
thresholds
can
be
found
in
Table
B­
19
in
Appendix
B.
5­
4
September
19,
2005
TABLE
5­
1
PERCENTAGE
OF
TOTAL
RELEASE
AND
TOTAL
PRODUCTION
RELATED
WASTE
POUNDS
NOT
REPORTED
DUE
TO
NEW
AND
EXPANDED
FORM
A
ELIGIBILITY
TOTAL
RELEASE
LBS
NOT
REPORTED
PERCENTAGE
OF
ALL
TOTAL
RELEASE
LBS
TOTAL
PRODUCTION
RELATED
WASTE
LBS
NOT
REPORTED
PERCENTAGE
OF
TOTAL
PRODUCTION
RELATED
WASTE
NEW
ELIGIBILITY
FOR
FORM
A:
PBT
CHEMICALS
OPTION
(
SECTIONS
8.2­
8.8)
0
0%
12,855,836
1.0%

EXPANDED
ELIGIBILITY
FOR
FORM
A:
NON­
PBT
CHEMICALS
OPTION
(
SECTIONS
8.1­
8.7)
14,164,380
0.32%
25,369,199
0.10%

TABLE
5­
2
PERCENT
OF
CHEMICALS
WITHIN
VARIOUS
RANGES
OF
RELEASES
AND
PRODUCTION
RELATED
WASTE
THAT
WOULD
BE
ELIGIBLE
FOR
FORM
A
REPORTING
Percent
of
Pounds
Eligible
for
Form
A
Reporting
Total
Releases
(
Section
8.1)
Total
Production
Related
Waste
(
Sections
8.1­
8.7)

100%
of
pounds
6%
6%

99
­
50%
of
pounds
7%
0%

49
­
10%
of
pounds
9%
4%

9
­
>
0%
of
pounds
44%
58%

0%
of
pounds
35%
31%

TABLE
5­
3
ZIP
CODES
ELIGIBLE
FOR
FORM
A
REPORTING
Number
of
Zip
Codes
Percent
of
Total
Zip
Codes
Containing
Form
Rs
Average
Number
of
Form
Rs
per
Zip
Code
Zip
codes
with
at
least
one
Form
R
newly
eligible
for
Form
A
4,063
45%
9.1
Zip
codes
with
all
form
R's
newly
eligible
for
Form
A
665
7%

Note:
Based
on
the
RY2002
Frozen
TRI
data,
there
are
8,960
five­
digit
zip
codes
with
TRI
Form
R
data.

Source:
Frozen
RY2002
TRI
data.
5­
5
September
19,
2005