The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) released its most recent Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) National Analysis, from 2022, including detailed information on the management of toxic chemicals from facilities in USEPA Region 8 States of Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, and 28 Tribal Nations.
The 2022 TRI National Analysis summarizes environmental releases of TRI chemicals, as well as how facilities managed their waste. The report reveals that USEPA Region 8 had a 47% decrease in releases from TRI facilities since 2013. Region 8 and State-specific data are available in the following links:
During 2022, Region 8 facilities reported managing 88.5% of their TRI chemical waste through preferred practices such as recycling, energy recovery and treatment, while releasing 11.5% of their TRI chemical waste into the environment.
USEPA, States and Tribes receive TRI data from facilities in sectors such as manufacturing, mining, hazardous waste management and electric utilities. More than 21,000 facilities submitted reports on 522 of the 827 chemicals and chemical categories for which TRI reporting is required. The remaining 305 chemicals either were not manufactured, processed, or used by facilities required to report to TRI or were not manufactured, processed or used in amounts large enough to trigger reporting.
The 2022 TRI National Analysis features visualizations and analytical tools to make data more useful and accessible to communities. Readers can view data by State, Tribe, metropolitan area, USEPA region, and watershed using the “Where You Live” mapping tool. The tool also allows readers to view facility locations overlayed with demographic data to identify potential exposure to TRI chemical releases in communities.