It's that time of the year again when facilities are required to determine and complete their Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know (EPCRA) Section 313 and Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) obligations, commonly known as the Toxic Release Inventory form. This reporting is due annually by July 1st for emissions to air, water, and land that occurred during the previous calendar year.

What's New for Reporting Year 2007?
EPA has posted a new software on their website called TRI-MEweb. It is a web-based version of the TRI-ME reporting software used over the past several years. In order to use this new software, facility certifying officials must first register for the application at http://cdx.epa.gov. Unlike the PC-based TRI-ME 2007 software which is still available, TRI-MEweb requires no downloads or software installs.

Some of the new TRI-MEweb features include:
• Enhanced data quality and validation assistance
• Trend analysis reports
• Quick lists which allow users to skip over sections that do not apply
• Enhanced Section 8 calculator
• Prior year revision capability
• Electronic withdrawals

New features within TRI-MEweb and TRI-ME 2007 include:
Expanded "basis of estimate" codes (Form R only). The added codes include (M1) and (M2) for continuous and periodic/random monitoring, and (E1) and (E2) for published and site-specific emission factors.

Enhanced Public Contact information (Form R and Form A). EPA has added a place on the form where a facility can provide the email address for the ‘‘Public Contact'' on the Form R. EPA has also added a ‘‘Public Contact'' field to the Form A Certification Statement.

Additional Revision Codes (Form R and Form A). EPA has added revision codes that will help the public and TRI Program staff understand the reason (s) why a facility resubmitted a form.

Withdrawal Codes (Form R and Form A). EPA has added a field for entering withdrawal codes. In the past, a facility that wished to withdraw a previously submitted form had to submit its request, including the rationale, as a hard copy memorandum to the TRI Data Processing Center. The new withdrawal field and codes will, streamline the withdrawal process for facilities, make it easier for EPA to automate the withdrawal process.

Other Important Information for Reporting Year 2007
Public Availability of 2007 TRI Reports. EPA plans to issue an electronic Facility Data Release
(e-FDR) for RY 2007 in the Fall of 2008. The annual Public Data Release for RY 2007, which includes summary data, analyses, and trends, will be released by the Spring of 2009.

EPA's Audit Policy and Small Business Compliance Policy. If a facility discovers it may have been in violation of Section 313 of EPCRA it may qualify for having all gravity based penalties waived if it meets all nine (9) conditions of the Audit Policy (65 CFR 19618, April 11, 2000). Small businesses may be able to eliminate or significantly reduce penalties that meet the conditions of the Small Business Policy, including voluntarily discovering violations and promptly disclosing and correcting them.


For more information
Glenn Miller - glenn.miller@ssmgroup.com