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EPA Releases Most Up-to-Date Information Ever About Chemicals in New Jersey Communities; Releases in New Jersey Down 9 Percent

Release Date: 12/08/2009
Contact Information: Elias Rodriguez (212) 637-3664, rodriguez.elias@epa.gov

(New York, N.Y.) Did you know that with a few clicks of a mouse, you can learn how many pounds of toxic air pollutants were generated by your local power plant, or how many pounds of toxic chemicals were released by a factory near your child’s school? Even better, for the first time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making its inventory of toxic release data, called the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), available in the same calendar year that the reporting facilities submitted the information to the Agency.

EPA’s database provides the most recent information available about the amount of toxic chemicals released into the environment of New Jersey. Since 1988, TRI data has been released to the public annually to help people learn more about the chemicals present in their local environment and gauge environmental trends over time. Of the 440 facilities in New Jersey reporting toxic releases in 2008, on-site toxic releases were down 9% from approximately 17.1 million pounds in 2007 to 15.6 million pounds in 2008.

“Equipped with this data, which is now more up-to-date then ever, people have the basic information to protect their environment,” said Judith Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. “Public awareness is a powerful tool and empowering the public with basic information about toxic chemicals in their communities advances our commitment to transparency and promotes openness between governments, businesses and the public.”

TRI is the most comprehensive inventory of information about chemicals released into the environment reported annually by certain industries and federal facilities. These facilities are permitted under strict federal regulations, and many are required to install and maintain pollution controls. On a national level, over 21,000 facilities reported on approximately 650 chemicals for calendar year 2008. TRI allows the public to see which facilities are increasing and decreasing their output of toxic chemicals and compounds. Thanks to improvements in EPA’s system, the vast majority of facilities now report data electronically and detailed information about specific facilities is more readily accessible to the public.

Today's data includes toxics released at company facilities and those transported to disposal facilities off site. All manufacturing companies, as well as coal and oil-fired power plants that produce or use any regulated chemical above the threshold limit are required to participate. The data are collected from industries that are in the following sectors: manufacturing, metal and coal mining, electric utilities, commercial hazardous waste treatment, chemical distributors, solvent recyclers and petroleum bulk storage as well as federal facilities.

TRI provides the amount, location and type of release to the environment --- whether a pollutant is emitted into the air, discharged into the water, or released onto the land. Additionally, TRI has been credited with providing communities with vital local knowledge and encouraging facilities to reduce their releases of toxic chemicals into the environment through source reduction or pollution prevention measures.

The 10 reporting facilities in New Jersey with the largest on-site 2008 releases into the environment are as follows (from highest to lowest):

Name	City	2007 Total	2008 Total	2007-2008
		On-site Releases (lbs.)	On-site Releases (lbs.)	% Change
DUPONT CHAMBERS WORKS	DEEPWATER	4,719,766	5,914,659	25.32
CONOCOPHILLIPS CO - BAYWAY REFINERY	LINDEN	2,874,585	3,194,140	11.12
MERCER GENERATING STATION	HAMILTON	3,029,849	1,550,868	-48.81
DEEPWATER GENERATING STATION	PENNSVILLE	513,191	602,006	17.31
VALERO REFINING CO - NEW JERSEY	PAULSBORO	388,001	508,066	30.94
MALLINCKRODT BAKER INC	PHILLIPSBURG	460,214	393,786	-14.43
NATIONAL REFRIGERANTS INC	ROSENHAYN	358,430	389,033	8.54
SUNOCO INC. (R&M) EAGLE POINT FACILITY	WESTVILLE	386,436	319,103	-17.42
BL ENGLAND GENERATING STATIO N	BEESLEYS POINT	338,001	304,874	-9.80
U.S. ARMY HEADQUARTERS FORT DIX	FORT DIX	238,535	244,576	2.53

For more detailed TRI information, visit: https://www.epa.gov/tri/index.htm
To view an area fact sheet, visit: https://www.epa.gov/triexplorer/statefactsheet.htm

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.

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