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This section uses several
studies of well-known persistent and bioaccumulative toxins, such as
EPA’s Mercury Study: Report to Congress, to take a closer look at the
pollution that may not be evident from the Right to Know reporting (See
Appendix A for Methodology and Appendix C for references used for each
chemical) . The analysis focuses on a few persistent bioaccumulative
toxins that either partly or totally escape the Toxics Release Inventory
(TRI) because thresholds that trigger reporting requirements are set too
high. If reporting thresholds for PBTs were zero, there would be
additional reports from facilities that already report to TRI, as well
as industries that are not reporting releases of PBTs at all. Table IV.1
lists the industries that report to TRI (including those scheduled to
report in 1998) and are major sources of emissions of certain PBTs.
Table IV.1 also estimates the amount of releases from each industry.
Approximately 9 percent of the combined total of air emissions of
lead, air emissions of hexachlorobenzene, total releases of mercury, and
total releases of PAHs were actually reported to TRI in 1996, and no
dioxins were reported. The purpose of Table IV.1 is to present a better
picture of the information that would be reported to TRI if there were a
zero threshold for reporting PBTs. Therefore, it only includes
industries that currently report or that will have to report in the next
reporting cycle. The numbers in the table do not include all sources of
PBT pollution. For example, medical waste incinerators are one of the
largest sources of dioxin emissions, but since they are exempt from
reporting, even a zero threshold would not provide the public with
information on their releases. Table IV.1 does not include their
estimated emissions. However, it presents a good picture of the limited
scope of the information available to the public about five of the most
well-known persistent bioaccumulative toxins.
Table IV.2 shows the numbers of facilities in each state in
industries that are likely to have emissions of the PBTs listed in Table
IV.1 . We found that approximately as few as 30 percent of facilities
that use or release these substances reported to TRI in 1996. The data,
from the U.S. Bureau of Census’s County Business Patterns for 1995, were
matched to forms with the same primary SIC code for each state in the
1995 TRI database. The purpose is to give a general idea of how many
potential sources of PBTs a zero TRI threshold would reveal. Table IV.3
separates the information by industry, rather than by state.
Table IV.1: Major Industrial Sources and Estimated Releases of
Certain Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins
| Substance |
Major Industrial Sources |
Estimated Annual Releases |
|
|
|
| Mercury |
electric utility boilers* |
51.6 tons |
|
commercial/industrial boilers-coal** |
20.7 tons |
|
commercial/industrial boilers-oil** |
7.7 tons |
|
hazardous waste combustion* |
7.1 tons |
|
chlor-alkali manufacturing |
7.1 tons |
|
portland cement manufacturing |
4.8 tons |
|
pulp and paper manufacturing |
1.9 tons |
|
Total |
100.9 tons |
|
Percent reported to 1996 TRI |
8.4 |
|
|
|
| Lead (air emissions only) |
primary lead production |
674 tons |
|
non-municipal waste incineration* |
552 tons |
|
secondary lead production |
432 tons |
|
gray iron production |
366 tons |
|
metal mining* |
183 tons |
|
steel production |
152 tons |
|
lead oxide/pigment manufacturing |
144 tons |
|
lead battery manufacturing |
105 tons |
|
Total |
2,608 tons |
|
Percent reported to 1996 TRI |
34.6 |
|
|
|
| Dioxin and dioxin-like compounds |
secondary copper smelting |
541 grams TEQ |
|
non-incinerated municipal sludge |
214 grams TEQ |
|
cement kilns |
153 grams TEQ |
|
ferrous metal sintering plants |
100 grams TEQ |
|
bleached pulp and paper mills |
45 gramsTEQ |
|
Total |
1053 grams TEQ |
|
Percent reported to 1996 TRI |
0.0 |
|
|
|
| Hexachlorobenzene (air emmissions only) |
electric utility boilers* |
1,360 pounds |
|
chlorinated solvent production |
1,161 pounds |
|
pesticide manufacture |
915 pounds |
|
tire manufacture |
869 pounds |
|
Total |
4,305 pounds |
|
Percent reported to 1996 TRI |
5.1 |
|
|
|
| Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) |
consumer and commercial slovent use |
5,733 tons |
|
aerospace industry (surface coating) |
1,640 tons |
|
coke ovens |
1,133 tons |
|
petroleum refining |
1,100 tons |
|
pulp and paper manufacturing |
838 tons |
|
primary aluminum production |
662 tons |
|
blast furnace and steel mills |
499 tons |
|
Total |
11,605 tons |
|
Percent reported to 1996 TRI |
2.9 |
* Industries that will be reporting to the
Toxics Release Inventory for 1998, under EPA's 1997 rulemaking.
** Some small commercial/industrial boilers may not be required to
report to TRI, but we estimate much of the the mercury pollution comes
from large boilers, so we included the numbers here.
Table IV.2: Percentages of Facilities in Each State Reporting to TRI
Within 25 Industries That Release PBTs
| State |
# Census Establishments |
# TRI facilities |
Percent reporting to TRI |
| Alabama |
301 |
146 |
48.5 |
| Alaska |
40 |
5 |
12.5 |
| Arizona |
116 |
25 |
21.6 |
| Arkansas |
170 |
61 |
35.9 |
| California |
835 |
193 |
23.1 |
| Colorado |
147 |
19 |
12.9 |
| Connecticut |
131 |
29 |
22.1 |
| Delaware |
41 |
23 |
56.1 |
| District of Columbia |
12 |
0 |
0 |
| Florida |
379 |
63 |
16.6 |
| Georgia |
390 |
127 |
32.6 |
| Hawaii |
28 |
4 |
14.3 |
| Idaho |
73 |
12 |
16.4 |
| Illinois |
507 |
164 |
32.3 |
| Indiana |
351 |
111 |
31.6 |
| Iowa |
221 |
44 |
19.9 |
| Kansas |
179 |
37 |
20.7 |
| Kentucky |
208 |
73 |
35.1 |
| Louisiana |
353 |
140 |
39.7 |
| Maine |
79 |
20 |
25.3 |
| Maryland |
158 |
36 |
22.8 |
| Massachusetts |
223 |
55 |
24.7 |
| Michigan |
471 |
110 |
23.4 |
| Minnesota |
216 |
48 |
22.2 |
| Mississippi |
178 |
66 |
37.1 |
| Missouri |
282 |
61 |
21.6 |
| Montana |
94 |
15 |
16 |
| Nebraska |
36 |
13 |
36.1 |
| Nevada |
48 |
10 |
20.8 |
| New Hampshire |
86 |
13 |
15.1 |
| New Jersey |
408 |
133 |
32.6 |
| New Mexico |
88 |
8 |
9.1 |
| New York |
442 |
103 |
23.3 |
| North Carolina |
341 |
99 |
29 |
| North Dakota |
66 |
3 |
4.5 |
| Ohio |
582 |
249 |
42.8 |
| Oklahoma |
215 |
46 |
21.4 |
| Oregon |
180 |
51 |
28.3 |
| Pennsylvania |
655 |
228 |
34.8 |
| Rhode Island |
31 |
10 |
32.3 |
| South Carolina |
260 |
99 |
38.1 |
| South Dakota |
60 |
3 |
5 |
| Tennessee |
244 |
107 |
43.9 |
| Texas |
992 |
308 |
31 |
| Utah |
110 |
27 |
24.5 |
| Vermont |
48 |
1 |
2.1 |
| Virginia |
223 |
71 |
31.8 |
| Washington |
243 |
70 |
28.8 |
| West Virginia |
113 |
46 |
40.7 |
| Wisconsin |
326 |
119 |
36.5 |
| Wyoming |
58 |
10 |
17.2 |
| Total for all states |
12,038 |
3,514 |
29.2 |
The number of Census Establishments in this
table is from the 1995 County Business Patterns file, provided by the
U.S. Bureau of the Census. A census establishment is generally a
complete facility and is classified by a single primary SIC code. The
number of establishments includes only those establishments with 10 or
more employees, in order to match a TRI reporting criterion.
The number of TRI facilities is the number with a TRI form that has
a primary SIC code within the listed industry. Since a single TRI
facility can have more than one form (there is one per chemical) and
since different forms can have different primary SIC codes, a single
facility could be listed under more than one industry above. This will
lead to a slight degree of double counting, which may inflate TRI
numbers. Facilities were included if they reported any chemical to
TRI, not just PBT chemicals.
Table IV.3: Percentages of Facilities Reporting to TRI Within 25
Industries That Release PBTs
| Industry1 |
Number of Census Establishments, 19952 |
Number of TRI Facilities, 19953 |
Percent of Census Establishments reporting to TRI |
| Agricultural chemicals, n.e.c. |
144 |
134 |
93.1 |
| Alkalies and chlorine |
35 |
-- * |
100 |
| Blast furnaces and steel mills |
246 |
176 |
71.5 |
| Cement, hydraulic |
152 |
72 |
47.4 |
| Combination utility services |
1,299 |
2 |
0.2 |
| Cyclic crudes and intermediates |
165 |
123 |
74.5 |
| Electric services |
3,724 |
6 |
0.2 |
| Electrometallurgical products |
30 |
22 |
73.3 |
| Industrial gases |
210 |
90 |
42.9 |
| Industrial inorganic chemicals, n.e.c. |
396 |
368 |
92.9 |
| Industrial organic chemicals, n.e.c. |
510 |
430 |
84.3 |
| Inorganic pigments |
62 |
51 |
82.3 |
| Iron and steel foundries |
862 |
398 |
46.2 |
| Lead and zinc ores (mining) |
25 |
0 |
0 |
| Paper mills |
285 |
148 |
51.9 |
| Petroleum refining |
202 |
177 |
87.6 |
| Plastics materials and synthetics |
571 |
495 |
86.7 |
| Primary aluminum |
32 |
25 |
78.1 |
| Primary copper |
19 |
9 |
47.4 |
| Primary nonferrous metals, n.e.c. |
70 |
35 |
50 |
| Pulp mills |
47 |
-- * |
100 |
| Sanitary services |
2,342 |
8 |
0.3 |
| Secondary nonferrous metals |
220 |
193 |
87.7 |
| Tires and inner tubes |
109 |
77 |
70.6 |
| Wood preserving |
281 |
-- * |
100 |
1 Industries are defined by 3-digit or 4-digit
SIC codes. Some TRI facilities reported pre-1987 version SIC codes,
and these were converted to 1987-version values.
2 This is the number of Census Establishments from the
1995 County Business Patterns file, provided by the U.S. Bureau of the
Census. A census establishment is generally a complete facility and is
classified by a single primary SIC code. The number of establishments
includes only those establishments with 10 or more employees, in order
to match a TRI reporting criterion.
3 This is the number of TRI facilities with a TRI form
that has a primary SIC code within the listed industry. Since a single
TRI facility can have more than one form (there is one per chemical)
and since different forms can have different primary SIC codes, a
single facility could be listed under more than one industry above.
This will lead to a slight degree of double counting, which may
inflate the TRI numbers. Facilities were included if they reported any
chemical to TRI, not just PBT chemicals.
* This indicates that the number of TRI facilities for this
industry was listed as greater than the number of census
establishments. This could happen either because of the double
counting problem mentioned above or because TRI facilities need only
report SIC codes in the manufacturing sector, while census primary
SICs can be in any sector (this will tend to inflate the number of TRI
facilities in manufacturing industries).
19 Includes only facilities with greater
than 10 employees
 
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