Reduction in TRI Reporting Facilities

- a State & Regional Review -

2009 Toxic Release Inventory

National Training Conference
Bethesda, MD
March 31 – April 2, 2009
 EPA Region 2 Activities

In the Beginning (well, in the Fall of 2008 at

least), Nora Lopez, EPA - Region 2 & Andy
Opperman, NJDEP were discussing
observations of approximately a 10% reduction
in the number of reporting facilities for 2007
compared to 2006.
The TRI Facility Reconciliation Project
always stimulates conversation when reviewing
which facilities report on an annual basis.
 EPA Region 2 Activities

Mary Ann Kowalski, EPA – Region 2 sent

notifications to facilities that reported for
RY 2006 but not for RY 2007.

Mary Ann requested responses from

industry as to their compliance status and
she documented every facility’s response
(or lack of one).
 EPA Region 2 Activities

the intro from Region 2’s outreach to facilities:

“As part of our annual review of TRI
submissions, it has been noted that a number of
facilities reported for 2006, but did not report
for 2007. As of December 9, 2008, it appears
that your company has not submitted any Form
A or Form R reports for 2007, but had
submitted reports in 2006 to the Toxics Release
Inventory. …”
 Region 2 & NJDEP Cooperation

Mary Ann forwarded to Andy her detailed

spreadsheet on the responses from facilities
and/or other findings involved with the listed
facilities.
Andy reviewed each facility’s records in
NJDEP’s database for any information that
might shed light on a facility’s compliance
status (or lack of one).
 NJDEP’s Findings on Region 2
Identified Facilities

1 2 3

TRI Criteria
Industry
Below Less than 10 SUB-
Code
Threshold Employees TOTAL
Changed
1 13 1 15
 NJDEP’s Findings on Region 2
Identified Facilities (cont’d)

4 5
Process
Out of Ceased; not SUBTOTAL
Business
O-O-B
10 2 12
 NJDEP’s Findings on Region 2
Identified Facilities (cont’d)

6 7 8
TRI TRI & NJ SUB-
Compliance Compliance Unknown
Issue Issue TOTAL
23 9 7 39
6: TRI Compliance Issue: facility submitted state RPPR but not TRI
7: TRI & NJ: examples - no TRI or RPPR; filing with state would automatically
forward to EPA (i.e. the NJ RPPR); NJ has facility shut down in 2006 and they
submitted 2007 TRI
8: Unknown: covered status undetermined (3); submitted NJ RPPR, stated < TRI
threshold (1); closed/not closed! (2); threshold ? (1)
 Summary of Findings

NJDEP Findings of EPA-Region2-Identified Facilities

Description Number % of Total
1 Industry Code Changed 1 1.5 %..
2 Below Threshold 13 19.7 %..
3 Less than 10 Employees 1 1.5 %..
4 Out of Business 10 15.2 %..
5 Process Ceased; not O-O-B 2 3.0 %..
6 TRI Compliance Issue 23 34.8 %..
7 TRI & NJ Compliance Issue 9 13.6 %..
8 Unknown 7 10.6 %..
TOTAL 66
 Compliance Outreach

 Confusion Abounds (???)

 TRI Instructions are no longer mailed
 NJ Release & Pollution Prevention Report
(RPPR) Instructions no longer mailed –
simply a notification letter is mailed
 RPPR Instructions (online) provide
compliance notifications
 NJDEP sends TRI CDX eMails to Facility
TRI Technical Contacts
 Compliance Outreach
TRI CDX Notification in RPPR Instructions

“Please be advised that the NJDEP is partnering with the USEPA on

the Toxic Chemical Release Inventory (TRI) Central Data Exchange
(CDX) program for the submission of TRI Forms R and A. CDX
allows you to file a paperless report, significantly reduce data errors,
and receive instant receipt confirmation of your submission. When
you use the USEPA’s Toxic Release Inventory - Made Easy (TRI-
ME) software to prepare and submit your TRI forms via the Internet,
your forms will be sent simultaneously to USEPA and NJDEP via
the Environmental Information Exchange Network. Further, an
Internet-based version of TRI-ME, known as TRI-MEweb, is
available and eliminates the need to download software to your PC.
TRI-MEweb also includes pre-population of data, an automated
Section 8 calculator, and accessibility from any PC anywhere there
is Internet access. .....
 Compliance Outreach
TRI CDX Notification – in RPPR (cont’d)
.....
Once a TRI submission is certified it will be electronically
forwarded to the state and your obligation to report
TRI to NJDEP will be satisfied.1 If you choose to
submit via the Internet (TRI-ME or TRI-MEweb), do not
send duplicate paper or diskette copies of the TRI reports.
If you have any questions about the CDX submission
process, call toll free: 1-888-890-1995 between the hours
of 8:00 A.M. – 6:00 P.M. Eastern Time.”

4.This phrase is enlarged and underlined for emphasis; it does not appear in
the instructions any differently than the rest of the text.
 Compliance Outreach
TRI CDX Notification (cont’d)

NJDEP’s TRI vs. RPPR reference…

NOTE: Only the federal TRI data may be

submitted on CD or diskette, though USEPA
prefers internet submissions. The NJ Release and
Pollution Prevention Report must be submitted
electronically using the eRPPR online submission
module found at NJDEP Online (
http://www.njdeponline.com).
 NJDEP to receive TRI CDX Submissions
(email from Andy Opperman to TRI Tech Contacts)

Dear TRI Contact or Environmental Manager:

Please be advised that the NJDEP Office of Pollution Prevention and
Right to Know is partnering with the USEPA on the Toxic Release
Inventory (TRI) Central Data Exchange (CDX) program for reporting
year 2006. CDX allows you to file a paperless TRI Form R or Form A
report, significantly reduce data errors, and receive instant receipt
confirmation of your submission.
When you use the USEPA’s 2006 Toxic Release Inventory - Made Easy
(TRI-ME) software to prepare and submit your TRI forms via the
Internet, your forms will be sent simultaneously to USEPA and NJDEP
via the Environmental Information Exchange Network. Therefore, you
are highly encouraged to utilize TRI-ME and submit your 2006 TRI
forms via CDX. .....
 NJDEP to receive TRI CDX Submissions
(cont’d)

.....
Once a TRI submission is certified it will be electronically
forwarded to the state and your obligation to report your TRI
to NJDEP will be satisfied. If you choose to submit CDX via
the Internet, DO NOT send duplicate paper or diskette copies
of the TRI reports to NJDEP. Remember, the federal 2006
TRI submission is due by July 1, 2007.

If you have any questions about TRI CDX or your TRI

reporting obligations to the state of New Jersey, please feel
free to contact me.
 Take-Home Message

Don’t Be Complacent About Compliance!

• Identified issues with CDX Certifications
• People Forget!
• People leave the company or are fired
• eMail addresses change; and some are not
even provided
• People die – this is a sad truth that I hear
almost every year
 Questions & Issues for the Future

Should we conduct these reviews much

sooner? (I think so; but then what other work
is put aside?)
Data is not included in the national Public
Data Release! Will doing this analysis earlier
guarantee its inclusion in the PDR?
 Want to Talk More on the Subject?

Contact Info:
Andy Opperman
NJDEP
andy.opperman@dep.state.nj.us
609-633-1154
Office of Pollution Prevention & Right to Know
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/opppc/