E.P.A. Issues CNMI Toxics Inventory Data for 2010

(01/05/12) SAN FRANCISCO - Toxic chemicals managed, treated or released into the environment from facilities operating in CNMI decreased in 2010 when compared to 2009, according to the latest data accessible from the E.P.A..

The data comes from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory, commonly referred to as TRI. It's one of the EPA's biggest publicly accessible databases, providing communities valuable information on in excess of 650 toxic chemicals that are managed or released by various industries. The chemical information in the inventory is calculated by industrial facilities and reported to the EPA, as required by Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act..

"Twenty-five years ago, Congress passed the law that gave communities the 'Right-To-Know' about potential toxic hazards in their area," said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA's Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. "The yearly toxics report helps residents and local governments make informed decisions, and by working together with businesses, they can reduce chemical use."

Total delivers include toxic chemicals discharged by facilities to air, water, land, and underground, and the amount transferred off-site for disposal. Pollution controls apply to many of the reported releases. Reporting facilities must comply with environmental requirements set by local, state and federal agencies.

Release data alone are not sufficient to determine exposure or to calculate potential risks to human health and the environment. TRI data, in conjunction with other information, such as the toxicity of the chemical, the release medium (e.g., air), and site-specific conditions, may be used in evaluating exposures that may result from delivers of toxic chemicals.

Yearly Toxics Release Inventory reporting began in 1988 after the enactment of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986. The 25^th anniversary of the act provides information to the public on Yearly toxic chemical delivers reported by certain industrial and federal facilities. The TRI does not include data on toxic emissions from cars and trucks, nor from the majority of non-industrial sources, such as agriculture. In 2000, TRI expanded to include persistent bioaccumulative toxic chemicals, or PBTs, at ranges from 0.1 grams to 100 pounds. PBT pollutants are toxic chemicals that remain in the environment and food chain, posing risks to human health and ecosystems.

The top facilities in CNMI for total on-site and off-site delivers during 2010 of all chemicals (reported in pounds) are:

	Facility	City	Air	Water	Land	Underground Injection	Offsite	Total	% of total
one	MARIANA ACQUISTION CORP/SAIPAN TERMINAL	Saipan	2,128	-	-	-	1,250	3,378	59%
two	MOBIL OIL MARIANA ISLANDS INC (SAIPAN TERMINAL)	Saipan	2,222	-	-	-	-	2,222	39%
three	MOBIL OIL MARIANA ISLANDS INC (SAIPAN AVIATION DEPOT)	Saipan	17	76	-	-	-	93	2%
four	HAWAIIAN ROCK PRODUCTS SAIPAN	Saipan	two	-	one	-		three	0%
five	MOBIL OIL MARIANA ISLANDS INC (TINIAN BULK PLANT)	Tinian	-	-	-	-	-	-	0%
six	MOBIL OIL MARIANA ISLANDS INC (ROTA BULK PLANT)	Rota	-	-	-	-	-	-	0%

TRI Explorer
TRI Explorer is a tool that you can use to see the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data. It allows you to look at data by state, county, or zip code; by chemical; or by industry. It provides maps that you can click on to find TRI facilities, chemicals and industries in a particular area.

National TRI Findings:

The 2010 TRI data show that 3.93 billion pounds of toxic chemicals were released into the environment nationwide, a 16 percent increase from 2009. The increase is mainly due to changes in the metal mining sector, which typically involves large facilities handling large volumes of material. Several other sectors also reported increases in toxic delivers in 2010, including the chemical and primary metals industries. Delivers from electric utilities decreased between 2009 and 2010. Total air Delivers decreased six percent since 2009, continuing a trend seen over the past several years. Delivers to surface water increased nine percent and Delivers to land increased 28 percent since 2009, again due primarily to the metal mining sector.

E.P.A. has improved this year's TRI National Analysis report by adding new information on facility efforts to reduce pollution and by considering whether economic factors could have affected the TRI data. With this report and EPA's Web-based TRI tools, citizens can access information about the toxic chemical disposals and Delivers into the air, water, and land that occur locally. Finally, EPA's 1st mobile application for accessing TRI data, myRTK, is now accessible in Spanish, as are expanded Spanish translations of National Analysis documents and Web pages.
Please visit: http://www.epa.gov/tri/myrtk/spanish/index.htm
For more on the TRI plan including additional city, Co. and facility information, please visit the EPA's Web sites: http://www.epa.gov/tri, http://www.epa.gov/triexplorer and http://www.epa.gov/enviro.

State fact sheets are accessible at: http://www.epa.gov/region09/toxic/tri/ and http://www.epa.gov/triexplorer/statefactsheet.htm.

For more information on the PBT Chemicals Program, please visit the EPA's Web location at http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/pbt

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