President Obama’s Omnibus Appropriations Act rescinded EPA’s TRI Burden Reduction Rule of 2006. The Act requires that all reports on PBT chemicals (chemicals and chemical categories of “special concern”) be submitted on Form R, the more detailed form. For all other chemicals, the shorter Form A may be used only if the annual reporting amount is 500 lb or less and if the chemical was manufactured, processed, or otherwise used in an amount not exceeding 1 million lb during the reporting year.
Heads Up! EPA recently added 16 chemicals to the TRI list. It is the largest chemical expansion of the program in more than a decade and is effective for the 2011 TRI reporting.
Who Has to Report for TRI
Reports must be filed by facilities that meet all three of the following criteria:
• Your facility has the equivalent of 10 or more full-time employees;
• Your facility is classified in a covered North American Industrial Classification System Code or is a federal facility; and
• You are required to report any EPCRA Section 313 chemical not listed as a persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemical that is manufactured or processed at your facility in excess of 25,000 pounds (lb) per chemical or category over the calendar year, or otherwise used in excess of 10,000 lb per chemical or category over the calendar year. For PBT chemicals, the thresholds are in the range of 10 to 100 lb and are specific to the chemical. The threshold for dioxins, a special PBT, is 0.1 gram.
Two-Part Process
The TRI process has two major components—threshold determinations and actual reporting—which should be handled separately:
•Part One: Identify Section 313 chemicals manufactured, processed, or otherwise used at the site. Then determine quantities of Section 313 chemicals and whether they are manufactured, processed, or otherwise used on-site for the reporting year.
•Part Two: If the threshold is exceeded, identify total releases and off-site transfers, identify other waste management practices, and identify pollution prevention activities.
The TRI-MEweb application (www.epa.gov/tri/report/software) is EPA’s preferred method to comply with EPCRA TRI reporting.