Some chemicals or specific uses of chemical have been taken off the list of reportable chemicals. These chemicals are referred to as delisted chemicals. When a chemical is delisted, a company is no longer required to report it even if they continue to use it. However, the quantities of delisted chemicals reported prior to the delisting are still included in the TURA data. As a result, the total quantities reported by that company will be lower following delisting of a chemical, simply because the delisted chemicals are not included, not because the company reduced the amount of chemicals used.
Companies move from one town to another.
This means that when looking at totals for a community, the quantity of toxics used can go up or down not because of toxics use reduction, but instead because companies have moved in or out of the community. Facility identification numbers change. Occasionally that number will change, for example when a facility changes ownership or changes the nature of its business. Some companies claim reportable data as trade secret. In this case, although they still have to report the information, it is not included in the data presented here.