EPA announced this week the first of two proposed rules intended to reduce the time and resources needed to submit annual reports to EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). TRI data and information are currently provided to federal officials by nearly 23,000 industrial and federal facility owners and operators nationwide.

These rules are being proposed after the agency received suggestions from stakeholders in meetings and on-line between November, 2002 and March, 2004. The proposed rule announced this week is the “Toxics Release Inventory Forms Modification Rule” in the Federal Register Volume 70, Number 6.

This proposal contains several options that could potentially reduce the amount of time that facility representatives currently spend each year submitting data and information by an estimated 45,000 hours.

Comments on the proposed rule are due to EPA by March 11.

For more information or ways to submit comments on EPA’s proposal, visit the TRI website or contact Ms. Shelley Fudge 202-566-0674, U.S. EPA, Office of Environmental Information, TRI Program Division, Washington, D.C. (EST); or the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Hotline, Washington, D.C., (toll free) 1-800-424-9346 (EST).

1/14/2005