EPA releases 2006 Maine Data

On February 21 the EPA released the results of the 2006 Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) data. This publicly available data comes from industry reports about releases to water, land and air. The industries reporting are larger than 10 workers and exceed chemical thresholds from the fields of power plants and manufacturers.

"During 2006, the latest year for which data are available, approximately 27.7 million pounds of chemicals were released in the six New England states, a reduction of about 2.5 million pounds."

Maine Specific Data

In Maine, the reporting data show that overall releases of pollutants to the environment have declined. Within the state, 98 facilities reported in 2006 approximately 10.6 million pounds (a reduction of 964,058 pounds). Approximately 47.6 percent of releases in Maine were emitted to the air and 32.5 percent of releases were discharged to water during 2006.

The top five chemicals released to the environment on- and off-site during 2006 in Maine were:

Nitrate Compounds 2005 releases = 3,035,733 lbs. 2006 releases = 2,812,904 lbs.
Methanol 2005 releases = 2,739,559 lbs. 2006 releases = 2,501,288 lbs.
Zinc Compounds 2005 releases = 1,087,639 lbs. 2006 releases = 1,114,087 lbs.
Manganese Compounds 2005 releases = 1,050,038 lbs. 2006 releases = 1,029,511 lbs.
Ammonia 2005 releases = 886,749 lbs. 2006 releases = 866,754 lbs.

The five facilities that reported the largest quantity of on- and off-site environmental releases in Maine under TRI for 2006 were:

McCain Foods USA, Easton -->2,278,292 lbs.
Verso Paper Holdings, LLC, Jay -->1,928,971 lbs.
Newpage Paper Corp., Rumford -->1,700,733 lbs.
SD Warren Co. Sappi Fine Paper, Skowhegan -->1,470,906 lbs
Domtar Maine Corp., Baileyville -->1,119,196 lbs.

More information: - TRI in Maine Fact Sheet (epa.gov/triexplorer/statefactsheet.htm)

The good news is that most chemical releases decreased. Have a green day.