Toxics Release Inventory Data
In July 1999, under the Federal Right to Know Program, the electric utility industry began reporting the amount of certain chemicals that are released into the environment in the generation of electricity. What does this mean to you?
What is the Right To Know Program and the Toxics Release Inventory?
The Toxics Release Inventory, or TRI, was designed by Congress in 1986 to provide people with information about chemicals used, processed or manufactured by facilities that operate in their communities. Facilities that create or use these chemicals above a certain number of pounds are required, under TRI, to report them to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state environmental agencies.
In providing communities with information on releases into the environment, the TRI focuses on pounds, not the environmental or safety impact of the chemicals released. The law does not require any reporting facilities to reduce their releases; it simply requires companies to make the figures public. The releases are allowed under state and federal regulations that are designed to protect the environment and public health.
In 1999, for the first time, utilities that burn coal and oil in the production of electricity were included in the list of industrial facilities required to file reports under the TRI program.
Because large amounts of coal are burned 24 hours a day to provide the electricity everyone uses, power plants make high-volume, low-risk chemical releases. As a result of the 1999 changes in reporting, coal-fired power plants have replaced many of the facilities that are required to report these numbers (such as chemical manufacturers and petroleum refineries) on state lists of the highest emitters of TRI chemicals.
Of the 650 TRI-listed chemicals, electric utility facilities, depending upon the number of pounds of chemicals created or used, may be required to report up to 20 chemicals, ranging from antimony to zinc.
Some of these releases are emitted through the stacks at generating power plants. Others are contained in non-hazardous fly ash and coal combustion products that are often placed and managed in state-regulated landfills, returned to coal mines, or recycled into beneficial products such as wallboard, athletic equipment and concrete additives.
EPA report indicates extremely low risks
While the TRI chemicals you’ll be reading and hearing about are labeled as “toxic,” data in the February 1998 EPA report to Congress indicate that electric utility emissions pose extremely low risk to human health.
For virtually all plants and chemicals, the EPA study of 684 power plants found that, generally, risks from emissions are low because they never reach concentration levels that would be harmful to human health.
The EPA report is titled: Study of Hazardous Air Pollutant Emissions from Electric Utility Steam Generating Units—Final Report to Congress. Cinergy has placed a paper copy in the main public library of each county with one of our coal fired power plants.
The EPA has concluded that byproducts from burning coal, such as fly ash, need not be regulated as hazardous waste. As a result, Cinergy and many other utilities recycle their fly ash and use it beneficially for a variety of products, including building materials. Yet, despite the EPA conclusion, components of fly ash placed in a regulated landfill are listed on the TRI as “released” into the environment.
Looking Beyond the Numbers
There is more to the TRI story than the reportable volume figures.
EPA research indicates that, generally, releases from electric utilities pose extremely low risks to public health.
Plants constantly try to burn fossil fuels more efficiently. The industry has been supporting research that promises to increase efficiency to an even greater degree. It is estimated that advanced “clean coal” technology will be available within the decade. That will mean lower amounts of chemicals may be emitted for each kilowatt they generate.
TRI data in pounds do not reflect human exposure in length of time or concentration levels.
Electric utilities work hard to comply with myriad federal and state regulations. Releases are monitored and reported to the EPA, the U.S. Department of Energy, state environmental protection agencies and local community emergency response groups.
Cinergy’s Power Plant Chemical Emissions
Cinergy Corp. joins with over 24,000 industrial facilities in reporting its chemical releases each year. As one of the largest electric companies in the region, Cinergy uses coal as the primary fuel for electric generation because of its availability. Cinergy’s power plants burns about 30 million tons of coal per year at our nine coal-fired stations, resulting in about 18,000 tons of TRI releases.
While the amount of releases is large in a year, the chemical concentration at any one time is low. In a 1998 report to the U.S. Congress, the EPA did not recommend regulation of these utility industry releases, because its studies showed minimal health effects to power plant neighbors and the general public.
"Users of TRI information should be aware that TRI data do not reveal whether or to what degree the public is exposed to listed chemicals. TRI data, in conjunction with other information, can be used as a starting point in evaluating exposures and risks. The determination of potential risk to human health and/or the environment depends upon many factors, including the toxicity of the chemical, the fate of the chemical in the environment, and the amount and duration of human or other exposure to the chemical.” (www.epa.gov/tri/FactorsToConPDF.pdf, page 10)
Reportable chemicals from Cinergy’s power plants include air emissions of hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid and hydrogen fluoride, accounting for about 80 percent of the releases. The remaining 20 percent are metallic compounds that are mostly captured in the ash which is disposed of in state regulated landfills or disposal ponds, or is recycled for various uses.
These chemicals are created when elements that naturally occur in coal react with air during the combustion process. Coal contains chlorine, sulfur, fluorine, and trace metallic elements such as arsenic, barium, beryllium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, manganese, nickel, selenium, zinc and many others.
Cinergy was among the first utility companies to specifically assess the potential health risks associated with not only its TRI emissions but all its air emissions, even those regulated under other programs. In assessing risk of chemicals determined to be cancer-causing, the EPA considers cancer risk of less than one additional case in one million to be negligible. A study conducted for Cinergy by the Cincinnati-based non-profit organization, Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment, using standard EPA methods, found that all of Cinergy’s generating stations have cancer probabilities that are well below this standard for any reasonable exposure scenario.
EPA has also established a “safe” concentration level for non-cancerous chemicals in the air, and Cinergy’s emissions are far lower than a concentration that might be unsafe for even sensitive portions of the population, such as children and the elderly.
Since 1990, Cinergy has made investments in pollution control equipment totaling more than $1.7 billion and has reduced the sulfur dioxide emissions from its plants by 50 percent and nitrogen oxides by more than 45 percent. Environmental control expenditures in the next five years are expected to exceed $1.2 billion.
Committed to Public Safety
Electricity has greatly enhanced the health and quality of our lives. Cinergy is dedicated to the health and safety of our neighbors, the people who live in the communities we serve, and the safety of the employees who work at our power plants.
We operate in accordance with strict environmental, health and safety rules and regulations. Electric utilities understand that our facilities can have an impact on the environment and we strive to minimize that impact. Utilities are committed to responsible stewardship. That’s why we continue to investigate technologies that will burn coal cleaner, more efficiently and more effectively.
