The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week released the preliminary 2009 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data, the earliest data release in the history of the program. The TRI program tracks toxic pollution from thousands of facilities nationwide and is considered one of the most successful environmental programs and a cornerstone of environmental right to know. The preliminary data are now available for the public to download and analyze, maintaining TRI as a vital tool for holding businesses accountable for their pollution and driving changes to prevent pollution.

TRI requires facilities from a broad range of industries to estimate and report to EPA how much toxic pollution they released into the air, water, and land, or transferred offsite. The early release of data in a downloadable "raw" format is an important and now hopefully permanent enhancement to the program. EPA must now dive in to the data and perform its own analyses, while fixing reporting errors and adding late submissions. The agency expects to release its "National Analysis" of the data in December.

The agency should work to identify and explain disturbing pollution trends. For example, what communities have seen steady increases in highly toxic releases, and why? What facilities have greatly increased their releases, and why? Much of this deeper investigation requires EPA to actually call up the facilities and ask them about what they reported – a perk available to a regulator that is hard for a nongovernmental researcher or regular citizen to replicate.

Top polluting facilities and industries should be prominently highlighted. Localities that suffer the greatest from toxic releases should be identified and the sources of the pollution named. The EPA analyses should combine TRI data with various other sets of information, such as biomonitoring data and public health statistics like the location of cancer clusters or high asthma rates. These in depth analyses place the data into a broader context and arm the public and policymakers with the information needed to deal with environmental and public health problems.

The EPA should also explain why the number of facilities reporting to the program has consistently declined for the last several years and identify what enforcement actions are needed, if any.

There are numerous other opportunities to improve TRI, and the agency draws attention to one of them by noting that the BP oil spill will not be reported to TRI. The oil and natural gas extraction industry is exempt from reporting to TRI – just one of many regulatory free rides Big Oil has finagled from our policy makers. Many other industries also get to hide their pollution, as well, such as factory farms, sewage treatment facilities, airlines, and shipping. EPA should take immediate steps to add polluting industry sectors to TRI. A similar expansion of the list of chemicals covered by the program is also overdue.

New Tools
The agency recently added new tools for the public to analyze TRI information. myRight-to-Know is a versatile new Web application designed for mobile devices that uses technology that would be very accessible to anyone familiar with Google maps.

According to the agency:

In addition to helping mobile users locate and identify nearby facilities, the tool helps answer such questions as:
• What chemicals are released to the air, water and land?
• What health effects are associated with the chemicals released?
• What is the facility's history of compliance with U.S. environmental laws?

EPA is boldly moving into newer technologies in a valuable effort to reach citizens using tools that are versatile and the public is comfortable with. To access the test version of the myRight-To-Know application, visit m.epa.gov/myrtk from your mobile or desktop device (sorry - not yet available for Internet Explorer). EPA is still testing the program and public feedback is encouraged.

The EPA also released the TRI Chemical Hazard Information Profiles (TRI-CHIP), a searchable database containing hazard information on TRI chemicals. If you ever wondered what was so bad about the benzene the refinery across the river has been spewing into the air, TRI-CHIP can hook you up with all the frightening details. TRI-CHIP may be a bit too technical for some, but the data are valuable and well worth getting to know.

The new tools and earlier release of data are valuable enhancements to TRI and well serve the public's right to know about what dangerous substances they and their environment are forced to endure. EPA should simultaneously work to keep TRI relevant by expanding and adapting it to provide more information on the toxic threats we face.