Keeping tabs on toxins

Published in The Post-Star
3/26/07

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released its annual batch of Toxic Releases Inventory data on Thursday, probably one of the last times the public will have access to parts of that information.

The Toxic Releases Inventory (TRI) was created 20 years ago to inform citizens about chemical hazards in their communities, under the Community Right to Know Act. Any facility that managed or released at least 500 pounds of any of the 650 chemicals the EPA considers toxic was required to report its data to the inventory.

Last year, however, the EPA announced it would raise the reporting thresholds for TRI chemicals to "reduce the burden" on industry. Facilities will now only need to report releases exceeding 2,000 pounds and all chemicals managed in amounts greater than 5,000 pounds a year. Those changes take effect this year, and will show up in the 2009 public release of TRI data.

According to a study done by the National Environmental Trust, the TRI rule changes mean that 10 percent of all U.S. ZIP codes will lose data from all facilities that had previously reported toxic releases. New York state ranked second-highest in the nation for having the most ZIP codes (57 of 369) that will lose all TRI data.

Legislation proposed last month by New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg and others would reverse the TRI rule changes, as well as block the EPA from resurrecting a recently defeated proposal to cut annual reporting requirements back to every other year.

According to the Web site Govtrack.us, both the House and Senate versions of that bill (H.R.1055 and S.595) have been referred to committees, the first step in a long process toward becoming law.

"The majority of bills never make it out of committee," the site notes.

The TRI data released last week shows that total releases rose nationally by about 3 percent between 2004 and 2005, with 23,500 facilities producing a combined 4.34 billion pounds of toxins.

In New York state, total TRI releases declined by about 8 percent between 2004 and 2005, from 35.8 to 32.9 million pounds, according to the EPA’s regional office.

Many local facilities reported significant reductions over the previous year.

Finch, Pruyn & Co.’s paper mill in Glens Falls was still the largest source of TRI releases in the region, but its total releases were down by 45 percent from 2004, continuing an overall trend of polllution reduction over the past decade.

"Whenever you talk about TRI releases at Finch Pruyn, the majority of what you’re talking about are nitrates, which are released to water," said John Brodt, the company’s spokesman. He explained that the company’s wastewater treatment plant uses bacteria to convert harmful ammonia into "more benign" nitrates.

"For the last several years, we have had a very active program to minimize the release of nitrates by limiting the amount of oxygen in the water at the treatment plant," he said. "This directs the bacteria to consume the oxygen molecules off nitrates. ... The nitrates get converted to nitrogen gas and dispersed into the air."

Some of the mill’s other releases are harder to reduce, he said, like sulfuric acid produced by
burning fuel oil for power production.

"That’s a pretty stable number from year to year," Brodt said.

In northern Saratoga County, Ball Metal Beverage Container plant was still the top source of TRI chemicals, but it reported 25 percent less than in 2004 and dropped to the bottom of the "top 50" national list of facilities with the most toxic releases in their industries.

"We’re always trying to find coatings that are more environmentally friendly," said Scott McCarty, a spokesperson at Ball Metal’s Colorado headquarters.

McCarty predicted the Saratoga plant’s TRI numbers will drop dramatically in about two years, when the data no longer includes a chemical called ethylene glycol monobutyl ether that the EPA recently decided to delist. As part of a category called "Certain glycol ethers," EGBE constitutes about half of the plant’s total toxic releases.

Regionally, about 2 million pounds of toxic chemicals were released by facilities in Warren, Washington, Saratoga and Essex counties combined in 2005. About five percent of the substances were recognized carcinogens.

Although the EPA’s revised TRI reporting requirements are stricter for the most hazardous chemicals, like mercury and lead, the National Environmental Trust study estimates that at least 10 percent of reporting about these types of chemicals in New York state will be lost under the new rules.




TOP LOCAL POLLUTERS
Total toxic releases in New York state dropped between 2004 and 2005. The following are the top industrial polluters locally in 2005, in terms of toxic releases reported to the EPA (compared to 2004):
1) Finch Pruyn, Glens Falls: 735,847 pounds (-45%)
2) International Paper, Ticonderoga: 541,506 pounds (-12%)
3) General Electric, Waterford 444,637 pounds (+2%)
4) Ball Metal Beverage Container Corp., Saratoga Springs: 225,914 pounds (-25%)
5) Hollingsworth & Vose, Greenwich, 31,162 pounds (-29%)
6) Quad/Graphics, Saratoga Springs, 24,250 pounds (-9%)
7) General Electric, Fort Edward: 23,970 pounds (+63%)

LOGGING ON
Toxic Releases Inventory: www.epa.gov/tri
Pollution data, searchable by ZIP code (updated through 2002): www.scorecard.org
Health effects fact sheets for hazardous air pollutants: www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/hapindex.html
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry: www.atsdr.cdc.gov/
Community Right to Know laws: www.crtk.org/index.cfm

WHAT'S BEING RELEASED
Chemicals released locally in highest volume in 2005 (in pounds):
Warren County:
1) Nitrate compounds (396,070)
2) Ammonia (89,110)
3) Methanol (80,800)
4) Manganese compounds (76,760)
5) Sulfuric Acid (60,005)
6) Formaldehyde (31,722)

Washington County:
1) Decabromodiphenyl oxide (18,743)
2) Chromium (12,398)
3) Lead (8,364)
4) Antimony (7,717)
5) Copper (3,207)
6) Barium (3,009)

Saratoga County:
1) Certain glycol ethers (140, 250)
2) Nitrate compounds (110,010)
3) N-Butyl Alcohol (108, 250)
4) Copper compounds (84,750)
5) Toluene (53,255)
6) Zinc compounds (50,100)
7) Chloromethane (41,355)
Source: EPA reports