AP’s “Unhealthy Air” Report – How They Did It

By now, most people who follow the news have heard about AP’s report about unhealthy air, (also here and here) which focuses on emissions from industrial facilities, as tracked by EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory program. They ran the analysis using EPA’s Risk Screening Environmental Indicators model, which can be downloaded here. I ordered a copy (it’s free), and I’m learning how to use it – I’ll have more insights on the impacts associated with TRI releases as I get more proficient with it.

TRI and RSEI are counter-examples of the trend towards less transparency concerning chemical substances in the environment. Take advantage of it while you can. EPA is proposing to reduce reporting frequency and change the threshold for reporting for TRI, ostensibly to reduce the burden on small industries with small chemical inventories. You still have time to provide comments on the rule. As you can imagine, not everyone favors the idea.