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"Ask the Expert" Internet Session Helps Businesses Comply with Environmental Regulations

Release Date: 7/12/2001
Contact Information: Donna Heron, (215) 814-5113

Donna Heron, (215) 814-5113

PHILADELPHIA – During a June 28 interactive “ask the expert” session on the Internet website of a trade association, EPA provided last-minute assistance to manufacturing and industrial plant owners who were required to file an annual Toxic Release Inventory report by July 1.

This was the first time EPA’s Mid-Atlantic Region used a live internet exchange to help businesses comply with environmental regulations. This new information-distribution tool was added to the yearly series of workshops EPA hosts in mid-Atlantic cities. The workshops offer hands-on exercises on how to fill out the TRI reporting form and what supporting documentation is required.

“Not only did we increased the number of workshops this year, we actively sought out other communication tools to help businesses. Using the Internet for a live technical exchange was a natural, and we’re hoping to use this new interactive tool for other initiatives,” said Acting Regional Administrator Tom Voltaggio.

“For the year 2000 there were a number of significant changes in the reporting requirements and we wanted to get the word out to as many businesses as possible,” Voltaggio added. “One of the most important regulatory changes was the addition of persistent bioaccumulative toxic chemicals (PBT) to the report. This meant that many companies would be filing TRI’s for the first time.”

Bill Reilly, an EPA environmental engineer who has coordinated the Toxics Release Inventory/Pollution Prevention Program for 10 years, was EPA’s technical expert during the 90 minute session on chemical.net, which serves as a one-stop communication channel for researchers, chemists, professional and technical experts in the chemical industry.

“I thought it was very good because it gave us a different exposure,” Reilly said. “We got a lot of interesting questions. Some were general like ‘what is TRI,’ and some were more technical like ‘how do I estimate releases from barrels using the thermodynamic tables.’ It was a good exchange.”

The TRI, which provides detailed information on toxic chemical use and release, is a national database available to the public to keep people up-to-date on the environmental practices of industrial plants in their communities. The inventory was established with the passage of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986.

The 1999 data, released in April, 2001, shows that facilities in the mid-Atlantic region cut toxic chemical releases by more than 50 percent since 1988 based on the original list of 644 toxic chemicals and chemical compounds.

The next TRI report, covering the year 2000, will be available next spring.