EPA’s 2001 Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), the publicly available database of information on toxic chemical releases and other waste management activities by covered industry groups and federal facilities, shows a significant decline of all toxic chemical releases.

According to the TRI, total releases of chemicals decreased by 15.5 percent, or 1.05 billion pounds, from the reporting year 2000 to 2001. Based on trends since the start of the TRI in 1988, chemical releases have decreased by about 54.5 percent.

Looking at all chemical releases, the TRI shows that about 27 percent of chemicals were released to air; four percent to water; four percent to underground injection on- and off-site; and 65 percent to land on- and off-site. For all industries, mercury releases to air decreased by nearly seven percent, and to water, by 25.6 percent.

Releases from chemical manufacturing industries accounted for 9.5 percent of all releases, or about 94.7 million pounds, which is down 14.5 percent from 2000. As in past years, releases from the metal mining industry in 2001 made up a substantial portion of all chemical releases at 45 percent. However, the metal mining industry also achieved a 602.5 million pound decrease, or 20 percent, from the industry’s 2000 releases—the largest absolute reduction, according to the TRI. See www.epa.gov/tri/ for information on EPA’s TRI program.