Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program

You are here: EPA Home
TRI Home
2009 TRI National Analysis

2009 TRI National Analysis

What is the TRI National Analysis?

EPA released the 2009 TRI National Analysis on December 16, 2010. Read the Greenversations blog post "What's in your neighborhood".

The TRI National Analysis is an annual report that displays EPA's analysis of the most recent TRI data. It includes a variety of documents and webpages that outline national and local trends in toxic chemical disposal or other releases to the environment, as well as trends in toxic chemicals managed by TRI facilities. Analyses of certain chemicals of interest, industry sectors, parent companies and geographic areas are also included. The quick facts give a snapshot of the 2009 data.

2009 TRI National Analysis Quick Facts

TRI Reporters: 20,797

On-site and Off-site
Disposal/Other
Releases: 3.37 billion lbs

On-site: 3.00 billion lbs

Air: 0.91 billion lbs
Water: 0.20 billion lbs
Land: 1.71 billion lbs
Underground
Injection: 0.17 billion lbs

Off-site: 0.37 billion lbs

What is the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program

Click on graphic to view the National Analysis Overview

You will need Adobe Reader to view the Portable Document Format (PDF) files.

Additional Information

Briefing Slides (PDF)
(13 pp, 195K)

Q's and A's (PDF)
(9 pp, 175K)

TRI National Analysis Tables & Charts (PDF)

Previous Year's TRI National Analysis Reports

Geo-specific Analyses

State Fact Sheets

Urban
Communities

Large
Aquatic Ecosystems

Indian Country
and
Alaska Native Villages

What is new in the National Analysis this year?

The National Analysis Overview document: This document includes much of the same types of information found in the Key Findings from years past. The Overview, however, provides additional context and explanation about both the TRI program and the chemical trends displayed in the National Analysis. It also includes a more in-depth look at industry sectors, a new section on parent companies, and links to tools and resources to analyze and access TRI data. This year, the Overview document also links to information on EPA efforts to reduce the quantities of TRI chemicals managed by facilities. The Overview is available in the "What does the 2009 TRI National Analysis show?" section of this page.

Geo-specific Analyses: As part of an effort to provide the public with more locally relevant data, the National Analysis now highlights urban communities (Metropolitan Statistical Areas), Large Aquatic Ecosystems (LAEs), and Indian country and Alaska Native Villages. These new analyses are in addition to the state fact sheets that are provided in TRI Explorer. Both the state fact sheets and geo-specific analyses are accessible in the "What does the 2009 TRI National Analysis show?" section of this page.

National Analysis Briefing Slides: The briefing slides available in the "What does the 2009 TRI National Analysis show?" section of this page are the slides used for EPA's internal management briefings. Slides like these are used every year to provide EPA management with the high-level messages and trends for each National Analysis, but this is the first year they have been included on this webpage.

What tools are available to help me conduct my own analysis?

TRI Explorer > is recommended for beginner to advanced users of TRI data. This on-line tool generates reports based on facilities, chemicals, geographic areas, or industry type (NAICS code) at the county, state, and national level. It provides information for on- and off-site disposal or other releases, transfers off-site, and other waste management data.

Envirofacts > is recommended for beginner to advanced users of a wide variety of EPA datasets including TRI. EPA created the Envirofacts Warehouse to provide the public with direct access to information contained in its databases on Air, Chemicals, Facility Information, Grants/Funding, Hazardous Waste, Risk Management Plans, Superfund, Toxic Releases.

TRI.NET > is recommended for users who are familiar with TRI data and need a more powerful tool to efficiently analyze the data. It is a downloadable high performance data engine for querying the TRI. This tool supports large and complex queries and trends with interactive drill-downs and ad hoc query capabilities.

TRI-CHIP > is recommended for the more technical user of TRI data interested in health hazards that TRI chemicals pose to human health. Toxics Release Inventory Chemical Hazard Information Profiles (TRI-CHIP) is a database system containing hazard information for the chemicals on the TRI.

myRTK > is recommended for all users of TRI data, especially mobile users, as it is an EPA Web application designed for mobile devices. For any location or address, myRTK maps nearby facilities that report to TRI, as well as large permit holders that report to EPA Air, Water or Hazardous Waste programs and are expected to produce, manage or release TRI-reportable chemicals. The application compares individual facility releases to releases from other facilities in the county, and other facilities in the same industrial sector. myRTK also provides information about facility compliance under the three principal U.S. environmental statutes: the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

How can I obtain raw TRI data files?

Basic Data Files

Each file contains the most commonly requested data fields submitted by facilities on the TRI Reporting Form R or the Form A Certification Statement.

Basic Plus Data Files

These files collectively contain all the data fields submitted by facilities on the TRI Reporting Form R or the Form A Certification Statement.

Dioxin, Dioxin-Like Compounds and TEQ Data Files

These files include the individually reported mass quantity data for dioxin and dioxin-like compounds reported on the TRI Reporting Form R Schedule 1, along with the associated TEQ data.

What data quality activities has EPA performed for the 2009 TRI National Analysis?

The majority of the 2009 TRI facility submissions were prepared using the TRI-MEweb online reporting software, which includes a number of automated data quality checks. Before publishing the National Analysis, EPA conducts additional in-house data quality analyses. EPA screens the most recent reports and identifies forms with potential errors. Using the list of facilities with potential errors, EPA's headquarters and regional staff call facilities to discuss submissions. When errors are confirmed, EPA prompts facilities to revise those submissions. EPA has conducted data quality calls to identify errors for reporting year 2009 in the following categories:

Year-to-Year Comparison: EPA examines submissions for large changes in disposal or other releases and production-related waste quantities.
Schedule 1 and Congener Order for Dioxin: Incomplete Schedule 1 submission and/or misreported congener order.
Priority Chemicals: Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) routinely compares data collected in the RCRA Biennial Report to TRI data for 32 priority chemicals; OSWER and the TRI Program coordinate to develop data verification calls for these chemicals.
No Certification: Facilities submitted reports but failed to certify them.
Comparison of Sections 5 and 6 to Section 8 of Form R: on-site and off-site releases in Sections 5 and 6, respectively, are compared to the total chemicals released in Sections 8.1 through 8.7 to ensure consistency across Form R sections.
Volatile Organic Compounds: Facilities that reported large quantities of volatile organic chemicals on-site but reported very little or no air releases.
Same Release: Facilities that report the same release quantities on multiple sections of Form R for more than two reporting years.
Invalid Primary NAICS: Facilities that report invalid primary NAICS codes.

For reporting year 2009, EPA contacted approximately 675 facilities. Of these about 48% indicated no change was needed, and about 33% indicated they would revise their submissions. This year, EPA contacted approximately 500 facilities to address possible dioxin reporting issues in the 2008 and 2009 reporting year data. This resulted in an increase in Schedule 1 submissions with Form R dioxin reports. This year, 95% of these reports included Schedule 1 data, which covers over 99% of all dioxin and dioxin-like compound releases for reporting year 2009.

The TRI Program continuously receives and processes revisions to correct data errors from prior years. Where revisions have been made, the data for prior years in the 2009 National Analysis may differ from data for those years in previous reports. EPA does not make independent corrections to the data, and instead relies on facilities to meet their statutory obligation to submit revisions if necessary.

What other information should I consider when using TRI data?

The Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) contains summaries of hazard assessments and EPA regulatory information on over 500 specific chemicals. It is a key source for descriptive and quantitative hazard/risk information, such as oral reference doses and inhalation reference concentrations for chronic, non-carcinogenic health effects; oral slope factors and unit risk for chronic exposure to carcinogens; EPA drinking water health advisories; and summaries of EPA regulatory actions. The system is useful in the risk assessment process.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) TOXNET System makes TRI data and health information accessible to concerned citizens and to businesses and organizations interested in environmental or public health issues. TOXNET offers user-friendly on-line searching.

Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) is a screening tool developed by EPA that analyzes risk factors to put TRI release data into a chronic health context. RSEI is often used by government regulators, communities, journalists, industry and others to examine trends, identify important emissions situations for follow-up, support community-based projects, and initially screen potential impacts of emissions. Information can be sorted in numerous ways such as by chemical, media, geographic areas, etc.

Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry ToxFAQs(TM)
ToxFAQs is a series of summaries about hazardous substances being developed by ATSDR's Division of Toxicology. Information for this series is excerpted from the ATSDR Toxicological Profiles and Public Health Statements. Each fact sheet serves as a quick and easy to understand guide. Answers are provided to the most frequently asked questions about exposure to hazardous substances found around hazardous waste sites and the effects of exposure on human health.

New Jersey Right to Know Hazardous Substances Fact Sheets for 1,600 hazardous substances that include information relating to acute and chronic health hazards, identification, workplace exposure limits, medical tests, handling and storage, definitions, emergency response information for fires, spills and first aid.