Toxic Release Inventory Central Data Exchange

Recognizing the potential to improve customer service to the regulated community, reduce the amount of paper and diskettes received and filing space required, P2RTK and the NJ DEP’s Office of Information Resource Management (OIRM) partnered with EPA on the TRI Central Data Exchange (CDX) initiative. When facilities submit their TRI forms to EPA via the TRI Made Easy (TRI-ME) software, the forms are sent simultaneously, via the Exchange Network, to the Office of Pollution Prevention and Right to Know, and a facility’s obligation to submit its TRI forms to NJ DEP is satisfied.

New Jersey is one of only two states in the nation (Massachusetts is the other) that requires industry to report on materials accounting (chemical use) of toxic and hazardous substances. The P2RTK Office collects materials accounting data on the NJ Release and Pollution Prevention Report (RPPR). TRI CDX submissions will allow P2RTK to more efficiently compare what is being reported to the EPA on the TRI to what is being reported on the RPPR. Comparisons are made facility-by-facility, chemical-by-chemical, and release-by-release with the TRI data. TRI Form R Section 8 Source Reduction and Recycling Activities data is also compared with P2 data reported on the RPPR.

Thanks to the effort of the P2RTK and OIRM staff, this program became available to industry in time to meet the July 1, 2007 reporting deadline. NJDEP is now working with a vendor to upgrade its Facility Chemical Inventory and Tracking System (FACITS) database where this data will reside. This will allow staff to view and analyze the data. It is anticipated that the data will be available in the summer of 2008. Additionally, P2RTK is promoting, on EPA’s behalf, the use of the Internet-based program known as TRI-MEweb. There are numerous advantages to TRI-MEweb including, no software to download, pre-population of data from prior years, an automated Section 8 calculator, and enhanced accessibility, (i.e., from most any PC at work or home, while traveling, at cyber cafes).