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Fact Sheet on the ANPR to Expand TRI Program to Increase Information Available to the Public on Chemical Use
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
PURPOSE
The ANPR announces EPA's intent to develop a proposed rule to expand Community Right-to-Know provisions to increase the information available to the public on chemical use. TRI is the main public source of environmental data, and EPA believes that chemical use information could expand the public's ability to evaluate a range of important environmental issues. The purpose of the ANPR is to communicate the decision and to request public input on the issues. It includes questions on topics where the Agency is looking for additional information.
BACKGROUND
EPA considers Community Right-to-Know to be among its most effective strategies for improving environmental performance. Appropriate expansion of this approach is an Agency and Administration priority. EPA began exploring the value of chemical use information in 1993. Since then it has prepared two issues papers and held two public meetings on the subject. In August of 1995, in a memorandum to the EPA Administrator, President Clinton directed EPA to expedite TRI expansion efforts stating: "I am committed to the effective implementation of this law [EPCRA] because Community Right-to-Know protections provide a basic informational tool to encourage informed community-based environmental decision making and provide a strong incentive for businesses to find their own ways of preventing pollution". The memorandum went on to direct EPA to develop "an expedited, open, and transparent process for consideration of reporting under EPCRA on information on the use of toxic chemicals at facilities, including information on mass balance, materials accounting, or other chemical use data". The ANPR is part of EPA's response to this directive.
By chemical use, EPA refers to information most commonly referred to as "materials accounting" data. This in turn refers to: amounts of a toxic chemical entering a facility, amounts transformed into products and wastes, and resulting amounts leaving the facility site. EPA may also consider alternative use-related data elements.
EPA's preliminary view is that chemical use information could provide important insights on issues such as: emergency preparedness issues related to the amounts of chemicals flowing through communities, the overall quantities of toxics going into products, worker safety and health issues, and facility pollution prevention performance.
EPA is considering a variety of strategies that could be used, either individually or in combination, to expand reporting of chemical use data. These include: adding data elements under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA); adding data elements under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); or improving public access to relevant use data already collected by the Agency under other environmental statutes.
SUMMARY OF THE ANPR
The ANPR provides background information on chemical use and materials accounting information, the origin of the TRI-Phase 3 project, a listing of preliminary data elements, and explains how the project relates to other agency and administration priorities. It also announces the availability of a third issues paper.
It then provides brief descriptions of five key issues, and raises questions and requests information related to them. The five issues are: 1) Questions about the premise for and utility of chemical use information; 2) Agency-wide environmental reporting issues; 3) Impacts on confidential business information (CBI); 4) Cost estimates; 5) Technical collection and interpretation issues.
The ANPR also describes the steps that EPA will take to further evaluate the issues. These include 1) A comprehensive review of existing EPA data collection programs to identify chemical use data; 2) Evaluation of New Jersey and Massachusetts materials accounting programs; 3) Evaluation of CBI issues; and 4) Review of the occupational exposure indicator issue with OSHA and NIOSH.