TRI Background Page 1 of 2

Tuesday, January 30, 2007 4:08:16 PM

TRI: Background
Community’s Right to Know

In 1986, the U.S. Congress enacted into law the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act
(EPCRA). The primary objective of the law is to inform the public of potential chemical hazards in their
communities.

Each year manufacturing and mining facilities subject to the EPCRA law are required to submit reports on the
use and management of chemicals at their facilities to federal, state and local government. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) compiles portions of these reports in a database, commonly referred
to as the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). State and local governments use relevant information in the reports to
respond, if necessary, in the event of a chemical spill or other emergency.

What is the Toxics Release Inventory Report?

The TRI report is an annual compilation of data about the use and management of chemicals at a manufacturing
or mining facility. The TRI report includes emissions to air, discharges to water, placements on land or off-site
transfers to landfills or recycling facilities, even though such activities are authorized or permitted by
regulatory authorities as safe.

Facilities are required to report from a list of designated chemicals when the quantity managed, used or handled
is above a specified threshold. The list includes naturally occurring mined metals and metal compounds such as
copper, lead, zinc and nickel.

The EPA establishes the rules and regulations for the TRI report and from time to time changes the reporting
requirements.

Manufacturers in Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes 20-39 (which includes primary metal smelters
and refineries in SIC 33) have been required to file TRI reports since 1987. These facilities also report on
pollution prevention and recycling activities.

In 1997, the EPA extended the TRI reporting requirements to seven other industries, including metal mining
and commercial hazardous waste management facilities. Metal mines and the other newly added industrial
sectors are required to file their first TRI report on July 1, 1999, for the calendar year 1998.

Do TRI data represent risk posed by a facility?

The TRI report is not designed to provide an evaluation of risk to people or the environment. According to the
EPA, data in the TRI report "are not sufficient to determine exposure or to calculate potential adverse effects on
human health and the environment." Since chemicals in the TRI report are addressed by other laws designed to
protect human health and the environment, the TRI report does not add any additional information as to the risk
posed. Instead, risk to human health and the environment is controlled by laws, regulations and permits with
which facilities must comply in order to operate.

For example, chemical particles in smoke emitted from a stack and controlled by permit under the Clean Air

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Act are included in the TRI report. The Clean Air Act is the controlling law protecting health and the
environment. The TRI report provides the public information about these permitted releases. It does not assess
risk.

Under EPA's new TRI reporting requirements, the mere movement of broken rock from one area of the mine
site to another must be reported as a "release to the land." It is clear that such a report does not address risk.

http://www.asarco.com/tri_back.html 1/30/2007