ACADEMIC COMMUNITY

EMERGENCY COMMUNITY
RIGHT-TO-KNOW ACT
Section 313
Toxic Release Inventory
2007 TRI Data Reporting Issues
• For Reporting Year 2007 it was the first year
– No reporting package was mailed out to facilities and
– No CDX software was mailed to facilities

• Facilities were e-mailed and mailed information

on how to download the reporting information

• After reporting deadline we saw a reduction on

the number of reporting facilities in Region 2
NJ 9% NY 7% PR 13%

• We decided to further look into this issue

 Facilities Contacted - 169
Facility Closed
3%
Below Thresholds
4% 23%

25% TRI MEWEB issues

Forgot to Report

Disk
14% 31%
or paper problems
Unresolved
 REGION 2 - FINDINGS
50 Facility Closed
45
40
Did not meet thresholds
35
30
25 TRI M EWEB certification
issues
20
15 Forgot to Report Late
10 Reporter
5
Submitted on time by
0
diskette
22 66 81 169 or paper and had problems
Unresolved
Puerto New New Total
Rico Jersey York
 Analysis for NJ
• Total on and offsite waste management -
2006 - 21.8 million pounds 2007 - 20.6 million pounds

• Total Production related waste

2006 - 294.2 million pounds 2007- 257.7 million pounds

If all facilities (66 facilities) that reported in 2006 and did not in 2007 had
maintained their same levels of usage or emissions in 2007 they would
have accounted for:

– 164,625 pounds On and Offsite releases or 13% of the reduction

– 5.5 million pounds of Total Production Related Waste or around 15%

of the reduction
 Analysis of NJ continued..
• After contacting the 66 facilities what we found was that:

– 22 facilities were non-reporters

– 5 facilities had problems with their TRI-Me Web submissions

• If these facilities (26 facilities) that reported in 2006 and

did not in 2007 had maintained their same levels of
usage or emissions in 2007 they would have accounted
for only:

– 12,206 pounds of On and Offsite releases or 1% of the reduction

shown in NJ for 2007

– 1.3 million pounds of Total Production Related Waste or around

3.5 % of the reduction
 Analysis of NJ continued..
• Based on the information we gathered we believe
– Approximately 99% of the On and Offsite Transfers was
captured in the 2007 PDR
– Approximately 96% of the Total Production Waste was captured
in the 2007 PDR.

• We continue to work with NJ to address

– TRI and RPPR confusion – of the 22 facilities that did not report
18 had submitted to NJ RPPR so they thought that by submitting
it they had complied with TRI

• There are still some facilities that are unresolved and we

will continue to clarify distinction among the two
programs
 TRI-MeWeb Issues
• Validate vs. Certify → CONFUSION
– Facilities think that when they “validate” they have submitted and
do not continue with the certification process
• This issue was the same with the software

• Certifier does not Certify

– Technical contact did not get e-mail notification that the certifier
had not certified
• This has been corrected in new version

– Certifier did submit ESA (and in the preparer screen it shows

that he is ready to certify) but on the certifier screen the facility
does not show up in their screen

– E mail being used in other CDX registrations might cancel out

registration
 Challenges
• TRI State Data Exchange Region 2 Participants
– New Jersey is the only state participating in TRI
MeWeb
– New York in the process of submitting their MOU
– Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands do not have the
capacity for the application
• TRI MeWeb rates by facility in Region 2 are:
NJ 42% NY 30%
PR 20% VI 50%
• These means that over 814 facilities will require
assistance in Region 2 in the next two years