What is the Toxics Release Inventory?
The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) is a database of information on 650 potentially toxic chemicals emitted by thousands of manufacturing industries and businesses and by fossil-fuel power plants (those that burn coal or oil). These facilties are all required to report annually on the chemicals released during their operations. On July 1, 1999, utilities began reporting to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the amounts of chemicals that are released from power plants. These chemicals do not include sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides, which all fossil plants routinely emit and monitor. Although there are 650 chemicals on the list, TVA plants emit just 26 of them in sufficient quantity to require reporting.
