SARA Title III

SARA Title III Program
Section 313 - Toxics Release Inventory

What is TRI? | Reporting requirements | Submitting reports | 2006 Report

What's new?

DEQ Releases 2006 TRI Report

Reporting Year 2006 Toxics Release Inventory Report for the Commonwealth of Virginia was released on March 26, 2008. http://www.deq.virginia.gov/sara3/3132006.html

TRI Training
EPA region III consultants will be conducting TRI Training Workshops for RY2007 on April 21^stat DEQ's PRO office in Glen Allen, VA and April 23^rd at DEQ's WCRO office in Roanoke, VA. For more information go to http://envr.abtassoc.com/tritraining/TRIReg.exe

TRI-MEweb New Internet Reporting Application

EPA released the TRI-Meweb, new Internet-based reporting application, to facilities in states participating in the TRI State Exchange. Reporting software and guidance are available at:

http://www.epa.gov/tri/report/software/index.htm

TRI-ME Tutorial Announcement

The TRI Program is pleased to announce the release of the TRI-ME Tutorials instructional videos. The tutorials are available at:

http://www.epa.gov/tri/report/trime/tutorials

The purpose of the tutorials is to assist facilities with using TRI-ME and submitting forms via the Central Data Exchange (CDX) for Reporting Year (RY) 2007. Each tutorial is approximately four minutes long and it includes video and audio to assist users.

How can I View the Tutorials?

To view the TRI-ME Tutorials, you will need the following:

Internet access
Web Browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.)
Macromedia Flash capability (test if your computer has Flash)

Once you access the TRI-ME Tutorial webpage, simply click on the tutorial icon to begin. A “loading” screen will be shown as the tutorial is loading. Depending on the speed of your internet access, the tutorial could begin in seconds or it could take minutes. Once the main page appears, you will have access to several topics. You will also see the topics that are currently under construction. We hope to have the under construction topics ready by late spring. To assist facilities, the TRI-ME software will provide links to the TRI-ME Tutorial page.

Can I Use the Tutorials for My TRI Workshops?

The TRI-ME Tutorials will be helpful in educating facilities about TRI-ME and CDX. The use of the tutorials is encouraged for the TRI Workshops. However, some workshop classrooms will not be equipped with Internet access. I plan to bring a CD version of the Tutorials for distribution to the TRI National Meeting.

Contact Information

If you have any questions or problems with the tutorials, please feel free to contact Josh Woodyard at 202 566 0738 or woodyard.joshua@epa.gov.

We are excited to announce that Virginia is one of fourteen states that are participating in the on-line, simultaneous submission of TRI data to both EPA and the state. Facilities submitting their reporting year 2004 data using the TRI-ME software over the Internet via EPA's Central Data Exchange, or CDX, can have the submission simultaneously sent to EPA and to Virginia. The only provision is that the facility must have submitted TRI information in a previous year and have a TRI Facility Identification Number, or TRIFID. This simultaneous submission eliminates the need for duplicate reporting and paper copies. In other words, your facility can make one on-line submission rather than two paper or disk submissions. This should reduce the reporting burden on facilities, and help minimize any differences between EPA's Public Data Release and the Virginia TRI Report.

EPA Region III Spring 2008 TRI Workshops

U.S. EPA 2006 TRI Reporting Year Updates

EPA TRI : Reporting Materials and Guidance

2005 Virginia TRI Report and Data

2004 Virginia TRI Report and Data

2003 Virginia TRI Report and Data

2002 Virginia TRI Report and Data

Virginia TRI stakeholders meeting - October 15, 2003

Recent TRI Programmatic Activities, Guidance, Regulations, Court Decisions

EPA Ruling North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes for TRI Reporting

EPA‘s Burden Reduction Proposed Rule (Phase II)

EPA Denies National Mining Association Overburden Petition

EPA's Toxics Release Inventory Stakeholder Dialogue

EPA final TRI guidance document for lead and lead compounds

New lower reporting thresholds for lead and lead compounds -Effective for reporting year 2001 reports which are due by July 1, 2002

EPA response to April 23, 2001 letter submitted on behalf of the National Mining Association (NMA)

EPA federal register notice - Chromite Ore from the Transvaal Region of South Africa (PDF)

Reporting requirements for persistent bioaccumulative toxic (PBT)chemicals - Effective beginning with reporting year 2000 reports due July 2001

EPA's final guidance document for dioxin and dioxin-like compounds category

EPA bulletin: Reporting requirements for nitrate compounds March 2000

National Nitrate Compliance Initiative Program

Phosphoric Acid Delisted from 1999 TRI Reporting (PDF) Final Rule published on June 27, 2000 - FR 65 No. 124, page 39552

What is TRI?

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) is a public database of annually reported toxic chemical releases and management from certain manufacturing or processing facilities. The TRI was established under Title III, Section 313, of the Federal Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), which is also known as the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA). The inventory was established to provide information to the public about the presence and release of toxic and hazardous chemicals in communities. From its inception, the TRI program has been expanding and evolving. As part of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990, TRI was expanded and facilities must also report additional waste management and pollution prevention activities. In 1995, 286 chemicals and chemical categories were added to the reporting requirement and in 1998, seven new industry sectors were added to those facilities required to report. This addition of new sectors led to an increase in overall reporting. Currently the reportable TRI chemical list contains over 600 chemicals and chemical categories.

Certain manufacturing or processing facilities that produce, process, or otherwise use a TRI chemical in excess of a certain threshold level must report TRI information to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and to the state in which the facility is located. Since the inception of the program, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has received and compiled TRI data from facilities in Virginia and published the information in an annual TRI report. Data for all reporting years are available to the public from the DEQ's SARA Title III office.

EPA Toxics Release Inventory Information

TRI reporting requirements

A Virginia facility meeting all three of the following criteria must file a TRI report to US EPA and Virginia Emergency Response Council (VERC):

1) It has ten or more full-time employees (a combined total for all employees of 20,000 hours or more for the year);

2) The facility's primary business is within the specified North American Industry Classification System(NAICS) codes. The industry sectors include metal mining, coal mining, paper and allied products, chemicals and allied products, petroleum terminals and bulk stations, and others. The complete list of covered industry groups is in Appendix E; and

3) The facility manufactured, processed, or otherwise used a reportable toxic chemical in quantities greater than the established threshold in the course of a calendar year. The annual thresholds for non-PBT chemicals are 25,000 pounds for manufacturing, 25,000 pounds for processing, and 10,000 pounds for "otherwise use" of a TRI chemical. For persistent bioaccumulative toxin (PBT) chemicals, the thresholds are lower. For example, dioxin and dioxin-like compounds have a threshold of 0.1 gram, and lead and lead compounds have a threshold of 100 pounds. For PBT chemicals, these lower reporting thresholds apply whether the chemical is manufactured, processed, or otherwise used.

Federal facilities are also required to comply with EPCRA and the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) of 1990, in accordance with Executive Order 13148. That Executive Order requires all federal facilities that manufacture, process, or otherwise use any listed EPCRA Section 313 chemical above the reporting threshold to submit a TRI report. The first federal facility reports were submitted on or before July 1, 1995 for calendar year 1994.

The Virginia TRI program is the same as the federal requirements, and uses the same reporting forms. Also the Virginia TRI program does not assess a reporting fee.

Submitting TRI reports

The Toxics Release Inventory report is submitted annually by July 1 each year, for the preceeding calendar year. This annual report is made to both the U.S. EPA Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Reporting Center, and to the Virginia Emergency Response Council. Each chemical being reported requires its own individual Form R. (If a facility qualifies for and uses the simplified Form A, multiple chemicals may be reported on one form).

For submissions to the state, DEQ strongly recommends using EPA's Automated TRI Reporting Software TRI-Made Easy (TRI-ME) and submitting the information electronically on-line via CDX. For other submittals via disk or by hard copy, an original signature is required; for hard copies an original signature must be made on each form. With disk submittals one cover letter containing the certification statement (Form R, page 1, section 3) and an original signature is sufficient for each facility. Check the TRI reporting forms and instructions for specifics concerning submittals to EPA. For more information on submitting TRI reports contact Nichelle McDaniel at (804) 698-4159.

Voluntary revisions to a TRI Form can be submitted anytime, and need to be submitted to both EPA and the state. However, please note that the last day for revision submittal, for inclusion in the USEPA data release, is July 31. The last day of submittal to the Virginia Emergency Response Council (VERC), for inclusion in the Virginia TRI report, is Dec. 15. These deadlines are for subsequent data and report compilation only and DO NOT release a facility's responsibility to submit a revised TRI report to USEPA or VERC upon discovery of errors, regardless of time lapsed.

Federal U.S. EPA submittal

Regular Mail:

U.S. EPA TRI Data Processing Center
PO Box 1513
Lanham, MD 20703-1513

For hand/courier delivery or certified mail:

TRI Data Processing Center
c/o Computer Sciences Corp.
8400 Corporate Drive
New Carrollton, MD 20785
Phone # (301) 429-5005 Fax # (301) 429-8036

State submittal