Toxics release data available for 2004

Environmental releases, including disposal, of toxic chemicals in the U.S. declined slightly from 2003 to 2004, according to numbers released by EPA last week in its annual Toxics Release Inventory. Nationwide, facilities that had to file toxics release forms with the agency reported 4.24 billion lb of releases in 2004, down from 4.44 billion lb in 2003. The chemical industry sector accounted for about 13% of the total releases in 2004, ranking third behind metal mining and electric utilities, each of which contributed a quarter of the year's releases. The chemical industry saw its TRI releases go up slightly, from 558.7 million lb in 2003 to 566.1 million lb in 2004. Its releases of dioxins and dioxin-like compounds, however, continued the downward trend of the past few years, falling 14% by going from 262 lb in 2003 to 225 lb in 2004. More on the 2004 TRI is available at www.epa.gov/tri/tridata/tri04/index.htm.