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In 1984, a deadly cloud of methyl isocyanate killed thousands of people in Bhopal, India. Shortly thereafter, there was a serious chemical release at a sister plant in West Virginia. These incidents resulted in demands by industrial workers and communities in several states for information on hazardous materials and toxic chemicals being released "beyond the fence line" -- outside of the facility. In 1986, the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act was enacted.
In addition to the emergency planning and response requirements, a primary purpose of EPCRA is to inform communities of toxic chemical releases in their areas. EPCRA Section 313 requires EPA and the States to collect data annually from on-site releases and off-site transfers for treatment and disposal of specified toxic chemicals from specified industrial facilities and make the data available to the public through the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).
In 1990, Congress passed the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) which requires facilities to report additional data on waste management and source reduction activities under TRI, helping to create a new awareness about waste and pollutants, particularly for toxic chemicals. In 1991, EPA challenged industry to voluntarily reduce environmental releases through its 33/50 Program. Through this program, EPA reached out to industry to bridge the gap between current disposal practices and EPA's pollution prevention hierarchy of preferred options for waste management: source reduction - preventing waste from being generated in the first place -- as the most preferred approach to managing wastes, with recycling, energy recovery, and waste treatment and disposal following in priority order.
In 1992, the Department of Energy (DOE) joined 1300 private companies as the first and only federal agency to report to EPA under EPCRA through our participation in EPA's 33/50 Program. Under this voluntary pollution prevention program, DOE committed to a 50 percent reduction in releases of 17 priority chemicals at DOE facilities reporting in the TRI. These were DOE's Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated or GOCO facilities in which the contractors were required by the EPCRA statute to report. The Department also committed to a 33 percent reduction in releases of the 17 priority chemicals from its other facilities not subject to TRI reporting at that time but meeting the Section 313 reporting thresholds.
EPA announced that the DOE agreement to TRI reporting under the 33/50 Program was "a big breakthrough" that would open the door for other federal agencies to also report TRI releases. In 1993, EO 12856, Federal Compliance with Right-to-Know Laws and Pollution Prevention Requirements, directed all federal agencies to comply with EPCRA and the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990.
DOE exceeded its 50% reduction goal and received several awards for its leadership in pollution prevention and EPCRA reporting. In 1995, DOE was rewarded for its leadership in toxic chemical reporting with the National Performance Review Hammer Award certificate. That same year, the Secretary of Energy attended a ceremony where DOE, along with 20 participating companies, received an "Environmental Champions" award from McGraw-Hill Company.
DOE has used TRI reporting as a "hook" to encourage DOE sites to implement chemical inventory and tracking systems to facilitate the TRI reporting and the Department's pollution prevention and waste minimization activities. The TRI reporting itself has served as an incentive to reduce the use of toxic chemicals, and in turn, reduce the reporting under EPCRA. In 1994, the Secretary of Energy embraced "pollution prevention not only as a strategy to reduce waste generation but also as the preferred approach to protect the environment and reduce future risks and costs associated with managing waste and pollutants."
The requirement for DOE reporting under EPCRA has been carried forward in the current EOs 13423, Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management and 13514, Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance, and in the DOE directive O 436.1, Department Sustainability.
For more information or questions about EPCRA reporting, contact Jane Powers, Office of Environmental Policy and Assistance at 202-586-7301. There will be a webinar on the 25th anniversary of EPCRA on January 26, 2:00-4:00 pm (EST). More information on EPCRA is available at http://www.chemicalright2know.org/2011/12/21/save-the-date-new-tri-webinar-january-26th-2012/
