New EPA Toxic Inventory Report released – Military sites are the four biggest lead polluters

The U.S. EPA releases its latest Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) today for the year 2007.   Toxic chemical releases in Hawai’i totaled 3 million pounds, a less than one percent increase from the previous year according to the EPA press release.

The EPA press release states:

The data comes from the EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory, commonly referred to as TRI. It’s one of EPA’s largest publicly available databases, arming communities with valuable information on more than 650 toxic chemicals released by various industries. The chemical information in the inventory is calculated by industrial facilities and reported to the EPA, as required by law.

Total releases include toxic chemicals discharged by facilities to air, water, land, and underground, and the amount transferred off-site for disposal. Regulatory controls apply to many of the reported releases. Reporting facilities must comply with environmental standards set by local, state and federal agencies.

Data from 2007 in Hawaii shows:

Electric power generating facilities accounted for 67 percent of Hawaii’s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) chemical releases, including 83 percent of the air releases.

On-Site land releases decreased by 33 thousand pounds or 19 percent, led by the U.S. Army Pohakuloa training area range facility, which had a decrease of 28 thousand pounds.

Water releases increased 89 thousand pounds, a 25 percent change. The U.S. Navy Pearl Harbor Naval Complex reported an increase of 70 thousand pounds over the previous year.

Approximately 81 thousand pounds of total lead releases were reported. The military facilities released the largest amounts of reported lead, releasing 77 thousand pounds.

The top ten polluters in Hawai’i (reported in pounds) were:

1. Hawaiian Electric Co Inc Kahe Generating Station Kapolei:  820,976
2. US Navy Pearl Harbor Naval Complex Pearl Harbor:  373,735
3. Hawaiian Electric Co Inc Waiau Generating Station Pearl City:  342,801
4. Chevron Products Co – Hawaii Refinery Kapolei:  277,526
5. Hawaii Electric Light Co Inc Hill Generating Station Hilo:  210,169
6. Maui Electric Co Ltd Kahului Generating Station Kahului:  210,123
7. AES Hawaii Inc Kapolei: 155,988
8. Hawaii Electric Light Co Inc Puna Generating Station Keaau: 92,006
9. Maui Electric Co Ltd Maalaea Generating Station Kihei: 88,368
10. US Army Schofield Barracks/Wheeler Army Airfield Schofield Barracks: 79,115

What is very interesting and distressing is the 2007 Hawai’i State Report is the data on Persistent, Bioaccumulative and Toxic (PBT) chemical releases.  This includes substances like lead, mecury, PCBs and PACs.   Lead accounted for 98% of all PBT chemical releases.   Approximately 81,000 pounds of lead were released into Hawai’i’s environment.  Military facilities made the top four largest releases of PBTs.  According to the fact sheet:

The military facilities released the largest amount of reported lead, releasing 77,000 pounds. Ninety-four percent of the lead reported was released to land (approximately 77 thousand pounds).

Facilities with the largest PBT releases:

1. U.S. Army Schofield Barracks / Wheeler Army Airfield: 42,269
2. U.S. Marine Corps Base Hawai’i Pu’uloa Training Facility: 13,471
3. U.S. Marine Corps Base Hawai’i: 10,539
4. U.S. Army Pohakuloa Training Area: 10,479
5. AES Hawaii Inc: 1,441
6. Hawaiian Electric Co. Inc. Kahe Generating Station: 1,275
7. Maui Electric Co. Ltd. Ma’alaea Generating Station: 908
8. Chevron Products Co. Hawai’i Refinery: 601
9. Hawaiian Electric Co. Inc. Waiau Generating Station: 599
10. Kalaeloa Cogeneration Plant: 290

The following web sites also provide city, county and facility information on TRI: http://www.epa.gov/triexplorer/ and http://www.epa.gov/enviro.

State fact sheets are available at: http://www.epa.gov/triexplorer/statefactsheet.htm.

Also see, Region 9 TRI Home Page: http://www.epa.gov/region09/toxic/tri/index.html

Hawaii: http://www.epa.gov/region09/toxic/tri/report/07/tri-hi.html