Please see our Vimeo page for the TRI Winter Webinar recording.  The file will be processed by Vimeo shortly.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here are the slides with contact information, resources, and details on the webinar:  TRI Winter Webinar Slides

Attached are the presentations.

Mike Walker- 25yrs of EPCRA Presentation

Steve DeVito-Past Present and Future Directions of the TRI Program

The agenda can be found at the following link:   TRI Winter Webinar Agenda 1_26_12

The presentations and recording will be uploaded soon after the webinar ends.

“The 25^th Anniversary of the Emergency Planning and Community

Right to Know Act (EPCRA) of 1986”

MICHAEL J. WALKER

Mike Walker serves as the Director of the National Enforcement Training Institute in the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, U.S. EPA, Washington, D.C.  Mr. Walker has been involved in the litigation and negotiation of many high profile environmental enforcement actions since he began his career in EPA’s Chicago, IL, Regional office in 1979.  Mr. Walker is the author of numerous articles including: “High Stakes on a Fast Track: Administrative Enforcement at EPA,” “Introducing the Environmental Data Police,” “Attitude is Everything – Dealing With EPA’s Enforcement Program,”  “How to Handle Difficult Chemicals: The Unused Tool in EPA’s Chemical Toolbox -TSCA Section 7 of the Toxic Substances Control Act,” “Alternate Dispute Resolution in EPA Enforcement Proceedings,” The Use of the Toxic Release Inventory in Low Income and Minority Communities,”  and “EPCRA Citizen Suits: An Evolving Opus with a Discordant Note.”  Mr. Walker serves as Adjunct Professor of Law at  William & Mary College of Law teaching Natural Resources Law,  and at both the University of Toledo and Maryland School of Law,  where he teaches: “Federal Commercial Chemical Regulation: TSCA, FIFRA, EPCRA & RCRA.”

STEVE DEVITO

Steve was born and raised on Long Island, New York, is married and has two children.  He holds a Ph.D. degree and M.S. degree in Medicinal Chemistry, and a B.S. degree in Pharmacy (all from St. John’s University, New York City, NY).  Steve is an experienced pharmacist, and is licensed to practice pharmacy in New York and Virginia.

Steve joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1989 as a chemist in EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT). Here he used his background in medicinal chemistry to characterize the chemistry, hazards and risks of new chemicals submitted to EPA as required prior to commercial marketing.  While in EPA’s OPPT Steve was extensively involved with the establishment of green chemistry as a new field of study to achieve sustainability. To this end he organized many scientific symposia related to green chemistry.  He is the founder of the Gordon Research Conference on Green Chemistry, and has served as vice chairperson and chairperson at these conferences.

Steve is currently a senior scientist in the U.S. EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program, where he provides scientific and other technical support, and has been directly involved in most of the TRI Program’s major rulemaking activities. Steve also coordinates all of the TRI Program’s international activities, and represents EPA in many international fora. He currently represents the EPA as a member of the North American Commission of Environmental Cooperation’s Pollutant Release and Transfer Registry Working Group.  He is both a member of the bureau of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) Pollutant Release and Transfer Registry Task Force, and an EPA representative on this OECD Task Force.

Steve is the recipient of many EPA awards and honors, has written three books, and has published many scientific articles and book chapters that deal primarily with the design of safer commercial chemicals as well as other areas of green chemistry and sustainability.   Steve has an active interest in U.S. military history.  In his spare time, Steve likes to look for Civil War artifacts near his home in Virginia.

One TRI representative from each state is eligible for a travel scholarship to cover travel, hotel, and registration costs.  A limited number of representatives from tribes, non-profit organizations, and local government officials are also eligible for travel scholarships that may cover travel, hotel, and registration costs.

How do I apply for a travel scholarship?

E-mail Bryan Shipley of the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) at bshipley@ecos.org to request a travel scholarship by March 1^st, 2012.

In this email, please provide travel scholarship funding needed (e.g.; airfare, hotel and registration; only airfare; only hotel; airfare and registration, etc).  Also, please provide a preliminary assessment of costs broken out by transportation (airfare/train, shuttle, metro, parking, etc), hotel-number of nights, and registration fee).

You will be notified in writing (by e-mail) if you have been awarded a scholarship.  Only those conference participants who have written confirmation of a scholarship will be able to receive reimbursements following the conference.

You can now register to attend the TRI Winter Webinar.   All are encouraged and welcome to participate!

To register for the webinar see:  https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/202935064.

The Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invite you to attend the 2012 TRI Webinar on January 26, 2012 from 2-4 pm (EST).  This Webinar, titled “The 25^th Anniversary of the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) of 1986” will celebrate the 25^th anniversary of EPCRA, and more specifically, the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), which was created in large part to increase the public’s knowledge and access to information on toxic chemicals at individual facilities and releases of the chemicals into the environment.

The focus of the Webinar will be background on EPCRA, an overview of the TRI program, a history of enforcement and compliance efforts, and a look at future directions of the TRI program and how TRI has impacted regulatory programs in many countries around the world.

Featured speakers include Mike Walker, Director of the National Enforcement Training Institute and Steve Devito, a Senior Scientist with EPA’s TRI Program Division.  We look forward to your participation!

If you have any questions please contact us at:

Bryan Shipley (ECOS) at bshipley@ecos.org

Mavis Sanders (EPA) at Sanders.Mavis@epa.gov

2012 Conference Agenda_1-31-12

Note:  This is a working draft agenda and is subject to change prior to the Conference start.  We will provide a finalized version as we near April 11th, 2012.

Why You Should Consider Attending:  The Conference serves as the principal nationwide event for the TRI community.  The leading members of the TRI and environmental conditions community are either in attendance, presenting, or have submitted their work in the form of a demonstration or poster.  The diverse attendance provides a perfect networking opportunity for all.

The theme, Understanding the Past and Promoting a Sustainable Future, offers a plethora of presentation topics that will engage participants.  Below are topic examples that laid the foundation for the Call for Abstracts:

• Industry achievements in pollution prevention and sustainability
• Using TRI data to enhance community engagement;
• Pollution prevention initiatives in both state and federal organizations;
• Efforts to improve environmental conditions on Tribal lands;
• Finding, understanding and using environmental information and analytical tools;
• Innovative ways of communicating and understanding TRI data; and
• New research focusing on TRI data and other environmental information.

Get your early-bird discount today through March 1st!

To register please click here:

TRI Conference Registration

Thank you to all who submitted!

If you have not received a response under this Call for Abstracts please contact me at bshipley@ecos.org

EPA Releases 2010 Toxics Release Inventory National Analysis

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is releasing its annual
national analysis of the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), providing all Americans with
vital information about their communities. The TRI program publishes information on
toxic chemical disposals and other releases into the air, land and water, as well as
information on waste management and pollution prevention activities in neighborhoods
across the country. Total releases including disposals for the latest reporting year,
2010, are higher than the previous two years but lower than 2007 and prior year totals.
Many of the releases from TRI facilities are regulated under various EPA programs and
requirements designed to limit human and environmental harm.

“We will continue to put accessible, meaningful information in the hands of the
American people. Widespread public access to environmental information is fundamental
to the work EPA does every day,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “TRI is a
cornerstone of EPA’s community-right-to-know programs and has played a significant role
in protecting people’s health and the environment by providing communities with
valuable information on toxic chemical releases.”

Citizens have a right to know what toxic chemicals are being released into their
communities. Over the past 25 years, the TRI program has helped citizens, emergency
planners, public health officials, and others protect human health and the environment
by providing them with toxic chemical release and other waste management data they need
to make decisions that affect the safety and welfare of their communities.

The 2010 TRI data show that 3.93 billion pounds of toxic chemicals were released into
the environment nationwide, a 16 percent increase from 2009. The increase is mainly due
to changes in the metal mining sector, which typically involves large facilities
handling large volumes of material. In this sector, even a small change in the chemical
composition of the ore being mined — which EPA understands is one of the reasons for
the increase in total reported releases — may lead to big changes in the amount of
toxic chemicals reported nationally. Several other sectors also reported increases in
toxic releases in 2010, including the chemical and primary metals industries.

Total air releases decreased 6 percent since 2009, continuing a trend seen over the
past several years. Releases into surface water increased 9 percent and releases into
land increased 28 percent since 2009, again due primarily to the metal mining sector.

EPA has improved this year’s TRI national analysis report by adding new information on
facility efforts to reduce pollution and by considering whether economic factors could
have affected the TRI data. With this report and EPA’s Web-based TRI tools, citizens
can access information about the toxic chemical releases into the air, water, and land
that occur locally. Finally, EPA’s first mobile application for accessing TRI data,
myRTK, is now available in Spanish, as are expanded Spanish translations of national
analysis documents and Web pages.

TRI data is submitted annually to EPA and states by multiple industry sectors including
manufacturing, metal mining, electric utilities, and commercial hazardous waste
facilities. Facilities must report their toxic chemical releases to EPA under the
federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) by July 1st of each
year. The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 also requires information on waste
management activities related to TRI chemicals.

Link to 201o analysis:  http://www.epa.gov/tri/NationalAnalysis/index.htm

More on the 2010 TRI analysis and TRI Web-based tools: http://www.epa.gov/tri
More on myRTK: http://www.epa.gov/tri/myrtk/