EPA Issues Annual Report on Chemicals Released Into Land, Air and Water in the U.S. Virgin Islands

EPA Press Release:

EPA Issues Annual Report on Chemicals Released Into

Land, Air and Water in the U.S. Virgin Islands

Contact: John Martin (212) 637-3662, martin.johnj@epa.gov

(New York, N.Y. – January 16, 2013) The annual U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report on the amount of toxic chemicals released to the land, air and water by industrial facilities in 2011 showed an increase for releases in the U.S. Virgin Islands over the past reporting year. The Toxics Release Inventory report issued today by the EPA covered four facilities in the U.S. Virgin Islands that are required to report their releases. Total reported releases to land, air and water by these facilities increased from about 760,000 pounds in 2010 to about 1.8 million pounds in 2011. Much of the increase from 2010 was due to new requirements to report two chemicals released by the HOVENSA facility on St. Croix and a more accurate method used by HOVENSA to calculate emissions. HOVENSA is no longer operating as an oil refinery, which has significantly reduced its emissions.

“This report informs the public about the types of pollution in our communities and where they come from,” said Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator. “It is an invaluable tool that shows the volume of pollutants that were coming from the HOVENSA facility when it was operating as a refinery.”

Since 1988, Toxic Release Inventory data has been provided to the public annually to help people learn more about the chemicals present in their local environment and gauge environmental trends over time. The inventory contains the most comprehensive information about chemicals released into the environment reported annually by certain industries and federal facilities. Most of these facilities have permits issued under federal regulations that set limits on the amount of chemicals that they are allowed to release into the air, water or land.

Facilities must report their toxic chemical releases by July 1 of each year. This year, the EPA made a preliminary set of data for 2011 available on July 31. Nationally, over 20,000 facilities reported on approximately 682 chemicals and chemical categories for calendar year 2011.

The full report is available at: http://epa.gov/tri/NationalAnalysis.

For program overview, visit: http://www.epa.gov/tri.

To view an area fact sheet, visit: http://www.epa.gov/triexplorer/statefactsheet.htm.

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/eparegion2 and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.

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