9.2. EMERGENCY PLANNING AND COMMUNITY RIGHT-TO-KNOW ACT (EPCRA)

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Enacted in 1986 as Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA) requires emergency planning and disclosure of information on releases and transfers to disposal facilities of hazardous chemicals. Section 313 of EPCRA requires certain businesses to report each year on the amounts of toxic chemicals that their facilities release into the environment and transfer to disposal facilities. As a result of the 1990 Pollution Prevention Act, reporting requirements were expanded beginning in 1991 to include source reduction and recycling information. Data for a given year normally must be submitted by July 1 of the following year, but the deadline for 1995 data was extended to August 1, 1996. EPA then compiles the information and makes it available to the public as the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).

TRI reporting is required of all manufacturing facilities with ten or more employees in the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes 20 through 39 that manufacture, process, or otherwise use one or more of the listed chemicals above certain threshold amounts. Thresholds are 25,000 pounds per year for manufacturing and processing and 10,000 pounds per year for otherwise using. Table 1 shows which industries are included in these codes. Federal facilities were also required to submit their first TRI reports by July 1, 1995 for the 1994 calendar year.

The number of listed chemicals was originally set at 320 but has since been increased. (A few chemicals have also been deleted from the list.) The most significant expansion took place in 1994, when EPA added 286 new chemicals to the list effective for the 1995 calendar year, bringing the number to 654. EPA (March 1995), "Expanding Community Right-to-Know," p. 4. Individuals and organizations can petition EPA to add or remove chemicals from the list.

Also in 1994, EPA streamlined reporting requirements for small businesses. Facilities that have a total annual reportable amount of 500 pounds or less of a TRI chemical, and that manufacture, process, or use 1 million pounds or less of a TRI chemical can now submit a shorter, annual certification statement in lieu of the longer Form R. These streamlined requirements became effective for the 1995 calendar year. "EPA believes that this rule strikes a positive balance between maintaining the community's right-to-know about toxic chemical releases, and the economic costs (both to EPA and industry) of collecting the information." Ibid, p. 5. EPA estimates that the streamlining will result in annual cost savings of about $17.3 million for industry and $700 thousand for EPA. 1994 Toxics Release Inventory, p. A11.

After expanding the number of listed chemicals in what it referred to as phase 1 expansion, EPA turned to phase 2, intended to expand TRI requirements to other industries that have significant releases of listed chemicals and which are related to facilities currently subject to reporting. The expansion will extend reporting requirements to the following seven industries: metal mining, coal mining, electric utilities, commercial hazardous waste treatment, petroleum bulk terminals, chemical wholesalers, and solvent recovery services.

A third phase will focus on expanding the types of data to be collected for the TRI. New data could include chemical use and materials accounting information. This third phase is intended to provide more information on topics such as the results of companies' source reduction efforts and the amounts of chemicals in companies' finished products.

EPA has sought to make TRI information available to industry, environmental groups, and the general public so that they can know about facilities' toxic releases and transfers off-site. This information is available via several media, including printed reports, CD-ROM, and Internet .

See Epa Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Web site.
The emergency planning component of EPCRA calls for the creation of state and local emergency response bodies to plan for toxic releases. It also requires facilities to inform these bodies of the existence of certain hazardous substances on their premises, give immediate notice of accidental releases, and develop response plans to be implemented in the event of such accidents. Information provided by facilities is available to the public.

9.2. EMERGENCY PLANNING AND COMMUNITY RIGHT-TO-KNOW ACT (EPCRA)

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