Earlier this week, the EPA published preliminary Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data about chemical releases, chemical waste management, and pollution prevention activities in 2020 at nearly 21,000 federal and industrial facilities across the country.
The dataset released is raw data and does not contain any summary or trend analysis. The EPA will use the data collected to conduct additional quality checks, inform the public about how to identify facilities that report to TRI, and uncover which chemicals certain facilities manage and in what quantities.
“TRI data enhance awareness and help support informed decision-making by companies, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and the public when it comes to chemical waste management practices at facilities in our communities,” said Michal Freedhoff, an EPA administrator, in a statement.
PFAS Data Included
The term “PFAS” is used to describe various industrial chemicals used in products such as cookware, stain repellents, electronics, firefighting foam, and more. Many PFAS are extremely persistent in the environment and the human body due to their inability to break down and their rate of accumulation. Numerous adverse health outcomes have arisen from exposure to different PFAS chemicals, according to the EPA.
The National Defense Authorization Act in 2020 emboldened the EPA to include PFAS in its annual TRI reporting. With new data collected, the EPA said it will mobilize a “focused and more rapid” effort to increase its knowledge of the scope of PFAS contamination, something fairly understudied in the past, due to the widespread scale of PFAS use and the many kinds of PFAS that exist.
Outcomes of new findings could include compliance assistance, enforcement, or proposing modifications to the TRI reporting requirements for PFAS.
The EPA will include a section in the 2020 TRI National Analysis that will provide more detailed information, including further discussion on PFAS contamination, when the report is published early next year. 
Danny Flynn is assistant editor at Compliance Chief 360°.