[Judy Pino] 
Business sectors have a 
significant environmental
and economic impact 
on our nation,
and for decades EPA has worked 
to uncover how this data
can help improve environmental 
performance and efficiency.
Hello and welcome 
to Green Scene,
EPA's series of environmental 
podcasts that you can take
with you.
I'm Judy Pino.
Did you know that steel 
recycling has hit an
all-time high here in the U.S., 
or that chemical manufacturers
cut the air emissions by more 
than half over 10 years?
Well, these trends are reflected 
in a new EPA report spanning
a decade of 
research.
And here to tell us more about 
the 2008 Sector Performance
Report is Tom Tyler with EPA's 
Sector Strategies Program.
Welcome, Tom.
[Tom Tyler] 
Thank you.
[Judy Pino] 
Well, let's go directly 
to the report.
What is it and what 
does it show?
[Tom Tyler] 
Well, this report gives you 
the latest environmental
information on the performance 
of 12 sectors that have
a significant impact 
on the U.S. economy.
And altogether these 
sectors have more than
850,000 facilities, 
12.6 million workers,
and they represent about 
28 percent of the U.S. economy.
And environmentally they 
have a big impact.
They represent about a quarter 
of U.S. air emissions,
80 percent of the hazardous 
waste that's generated,
and about 15 percent of 
domestic energy use.
[Judy Pino] 
Now, Tom, this 
is the report.
What's the advantage of using 
a sector-based approach,
would you say?
[Tom Tyler] 
Well, we approach the 
sectors as a whole,
so we don't just look at one 
facility or one pollutant.
And in the report, 
we'll take a look
at a sector and help you get 
to know it inside and out.
We look at where they are, 
where they're located,
what they do, and we explain 
their environmental performance
pretty fully.
So, we'll look at their energy 
use, their air emissions,
their water use and 
water discharges,
and we'll give you a picture of 
how they're doing over time.
[Judy Pino] 
Now, in the making 
of this report,
EPA focused specifically on 
improving the environmental
performance of
these sectors.
How did you
do that?
[Tom Tyler] 
Well, when we get to know the 
sectors, we'll use the best
environmental data and analysis 
from the government and
from elsewhere.
And we work with experts 
that are in the industry
and in other agencies, 
and we'll work with
trade associations that 
represent the sectors.
And then over time, we'll try 
to find the best strategies
for moving forward, and we work 
with those sectors and other
stakeholders to turn good 
ideas into great programs
for improving 
their performance.
[Judy Pino] 
Now, you were impressed 
by some of the findings.
Some of them were real 
eyebrow raisers.
What were the key issues 
that you found?
[Tom Tyler] 
Two that really leap out, 
one has to do with air
emissions and really the 
dramatic improvement in
air emissions from industries 
over those 10 years.
If you look at their air 
emissions per unit of
production or per value of 
production, they dropped
from 4 to 67 percent 
over the decade.
And what that translates into is 
more than 300 million pounds
fewer air emissions 
every year.
Another thing that really leaps 
out is that non-industrial
sectors are important, too.
If you look at the 
construction sector,
they've got more than 780,000 
facilities in all 50 states,
and collectively their impact 
is pretty large in terms of
energy use, air emissions, 
greenhouse gas emissions,
stormwater discharges, 
things like that.
[Judy Pino] 
Now, along with revealing 
progress in some of these
sectors, we must note that 
there were some challenges,
but also opportunities.
Let's talk
about those.
[Tom Tyler] 
Sure, well, you know, one way 
to look at air emissions is
to consider the toxicity of 
the pollutants themselves.
And so we use a model where 
we take the chemical weight
of a pollutant, we multiply 
that by the number of pounds
that are emitted, and we 
show a toxicity score.
And it's a relative score, 
but if you look at it over
time, it can help you set 
priorities for things to
work on.
And in the report, 
we'll identify the
top chemicals that are 
driving that toxicity;
we talk about where they come 
from, how they're emitted,
and what are some of the 
ways to approach them.
[Judy Pino] 
Now, aside from some of 
our curious viewers,
who will want to 
use this report?
[Tom Tyler] 
Well, it's really a dream for 
environmental policy wonks
and for people who like data, 
but really it's for anybody
who's interested in the 
environmental progress,
you know, even students 
and community leaders.
Here at EPA we use the 
report in our programs
and in our
regions.
State environmental agencies are 
using it, state environmental
groups, and even the 
sectors themselves.
[Judy Pino] 
And what about EPA's 
traditional tools, Tom,
for working with 
these industries,
say, regulations 
and enforcement?
[Tom Tyler] 
Well, you know, regulations 
and enforcement,
they are our most basic 
tools here at EPA,
and of course they drive much 
of the environmental progress
that you see in 
the report.
And at EPA we're always 
proposing new rules.
Right now we're working on one 
that will require a number
of facilities to report 
greenhouse gas emissions,
and we enforce
those rules.
You know, if you look at the 
press releases from EPA,
we take enforcement actions in 
these sectors and others all
across the country 
all the time.
But part of the idea with 
this report is to identify
and seize the next best 
opportunities for
environmental progress, 
whether that's with rules
or elsewhere, and so we really 
hope people will use this
report to help improve 
environmental programs
and get the most 
bang for the buck.
[Judy Pino] 
Great, well, thank you, 
Tom Tyler with EPA's
Sector Strategies Program.
Good job trying to explain 
all of this to us.
Here it is.
And if you'd like to receive 
a copy or learn more about
the 2008 Sector Strategies 
Performance Report
and EPA's work with these 
sectors, please visit
www.epa.gov/sectors.