Five Chemicals Released to Air and Water

/in /by

Five Chemicals Released to Air and Water

In 1986, Congress passed the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), an important environmental law that promotes emergency planning and provides the public with information about the release of toxic chemicals in their community. This law includes the establishment of the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program to track the management of certain toxic chemicals that may pose a threat to human health and the environment. Industrial facilities must report annually how much of each chemical is released to the environment and/or managed through recycling, energy recovery, and treatment.

Go to the EPA’s TRI website: https://www.epa.gov/trinationalanalysis/where-you-live-2015-tri-national-analysis.

Input your state and city to view the TRI information for your city (if your city does not generate enough data, select a larger city in your state).

For this assignment:

  1. Provide a quick summary of your city’s TRI report.
  2. From the “Top Five Facilities by Total Disposal” in your city, choose one facility and describe the company and the reasons you think it uses such a large amount of hazardous chemicals.
  3. Choose one chemical from the list of “Top Five Chemicals Released to Air and Water” and discuss its toxicity to humans and the environment. Use legitimate websites such as the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), or other U.S. government agency websites, or international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO).
  4. Looking at the map of TRI facilities in your city, do you think there is an environmental justice issue in your city? Discuss and support your answer with evidence.
  5. Your paper should be 3–4 pages in length (excluding cover page and reference page).
  6. Use APA format to style your paper and to cite your sources. Your sources should be integrated into the paragraphs. Use internal citations pointing to evidence in the literature and supporting your ideas. You will need to include a reference page listing those sources.