EPA requires companies to report more chemicals for the Toxics Release
Inventory than DEQ does under its Air Quality Permit program.
Companies with air quality permits must report hazardous air pollutants,
which is a group of air toxics designated by EPA under the Clean Air Act. The
current list of hazardous air pollutants includes 187 entries, of which most are
individual chemicals along with several groups of chemicals.
The Toxics Release Inventory is an element of the federal Emergency Planning
and Community-Right-to-know Act. The list of chemicals that facilities must
report to EPA for the Toxics Release Inventory includes 581 individual chemicals
plus 30 groups of chemicals that facilities store or emit. Companies must report
releases of these chemicals to the air, water, land, and underground injection
control systems, as well as transfers of these chemicals to waste disposal
sites. Because the list includes more chemicals than are included in the
hazardous air pollutants list, a company's Toxics Release Inventory report may
list more chemicals than it reports under its air quality permit.
Another difference between the Toxics Release Inventory and hazardous air
pollutants lists has to do with definitions for some chemicals. For example,
glycol ethers are on both the Toxics Release Inventory and hazardous air
pollutants list, but the definition of glycol ethers on the hazardous air
pollutants list differs from the definition on the Toxics Release Inventory
list. While facilities must report one specific glycol ether (ethylene glycol
monobutyl ether) for the Toxics Release Inventory, this pollutant does not
appear on the hazardous air pollutants list, and is therefore not covered by the
Clean Air Act or a permit.