2013 Toxic Release Inventory Errors Now Fixed

Hello - On October 16, 2014 the EPA sent out a press release announcing the release of the 2013 TRI data. I downloaded this data from http://www2.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/2013-preliminary-dataset-basic-data-files on October 17, 2014 and found the following errors in the data.

Though the field list indicated there were 102 fields, I only found 100. Closer examination revealed that the BIA_CODE and TRIBAL fields were missing from all of the data files including the tribal data file.

I also notice the a field named CLEAR_AIR_ACT_CHEMICAL should be CLEAN_AIR_ACT_CHEMICAL. I looked back at previous years and it seems this oversight has been present for some time.

The tribal data file, TRI_2013_TBL.csv was way to large at 37.332 mb - almost the size of the national file.

I alerted EPA about these errors and I'm glad to report that as of today, they seem to be all corrected. CLEAr Air Act is now CLEAn AIR ACT. All data files now have the BIA_CODE and TRIBE fields - note that these only have data in the fields in the tribal data file. And, the tribal data file, TRI_2013_TBL.csv, makes more sense at a 66k rather than 37.332 mb.

I downloaded these early to prepare GIS shapefiles. Unfortunately I downloaded them before these errors were corrected so I have some repair work to do before the shapefiles are ready for you to download. I did find 127 records without longitude and latitude so I have geocoded these. This will be the first time I have prepared GIS shapefiles from the TRI data where ALL of the facilities are mapped.

So, if you downloaded this data early on, you might want to see if you have the data with errors or the set I'm looking at today,

We'll also be updating the TRI data on our ToxicRisk.com with this new corrected 2013 data. I'll let you know when it is good to go.

Here is the EPA Press Release:

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U.S. EPA

Oct 16

Is there an industrial facility in your neighborhood? Near your workplace or your child’s school? If so, you can use the most recent Toxics Release Inventory data from calendar year 2013 to find out:

• If the facility has reported to the TRI Program
• What toxic chemicals the facility is using and releasing into the environment, or otherwise managing as waste
• If the facility initiated any pollution prevention activities in the most recent calendar year.

You can access the complete 2013 TRI dataset through Envirofacts, TRI Explorer, the TRI P2 Search Tool, and in downloadable files from the TRI website. EPA will use this dataset as the basis for the 2013 TRI National Analysis report, planned for publication in January 2015.

The 2013 data will be available in TRI.NET and the myRTK application later this year.

To learn more about the TRI Program and what you can do with the latest TRI data, check out the Toxics Release Inventory in Action.

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Regards,

Mike