What is a Toxic Release?

For the purposes of Maine's Toxics and Hazardous Waste Reduction Law, a toxic release is an actual release to the environment of a chemical that is reportable to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the federal Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), Title III, Section 313, also known as the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI).

Facilities are required to report their releases of the designated chemicals to EPA if they:

a) manufacture or process in excess of 25,000 pounds or;*

b) otherwise use in excess of 10,000 pounds of the chemical in a given year.*

*Since the 1999 PBT Rule and the 2001 Lead Rule, several chemicals were added and reporting thresholds have dropped due to the nature of these chemicals. For more information about these changes, visit the EPA TRI site using the link below.

Chemical releases from facilities that do not meet these threshold requirements are not reported to the THWRP Program.

Approximately 667 chemicals and chemical categories have been identified by the EPA as reportable under TRI. These chemicals have been identified for their potential for acute human health risks, cancer or teratogenic effects, chronic (non-cancer) human health effects such as reproductive dysfunctions, neurological disorders, heritable genetic mutations, and/or environmental effects.

Of these 667 chemicals and chemical categories, 57 chemicals were released in Maine in 2005.

Links:

EPA Toxic Release Inventory website (searchable database of national 2000 data and information on TRI program)

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry website (searchable information on specific chemicals)

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What is a Toxic Release?

THWRP Details

THWRP Categories