The release of hazardous chemicals to the environment is a very real concern. It is essential that Tennessee determine which chemicals pose threats to human health and the environment and ensure that emissions of these chemicals are reduced to nontoxic levels and eliminated to the greatest extent possible.

By definition, a chemical is hazardous if it exhibits any one or more of the following characteristics:

Ignitable -- causes fire at certain temperatures
Corrosive -- destructively attacks living tissues and building materials
Reactive -- produces dangerous results, such as vapor, fire or explosion
Toxic -- at certain exposures causes illness or death

Tennessee and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limit the amount of chemicals released to the environment by regulating business and industry through state and federal laws. To further limit risks to public health and the environment, it is essential that government, business, environmental groups and citizens work closely together to reduce the amount of waste generated in the state. Through these partnerships, we can encourage and achieve voluntary reductions of hazardous chemical emissions well beyond the regulatory mandates and thus reduce the exposure to chemicals for all Tennesseans.

Tennessee has had some real success in reducing the amount of hazardous waste generated in the state. In 1990, the Tennessee General Assembly passed the Hazardous Waste Reduction Act, requiring most industries to cut their hazardous waste by 25 percent by 1995.

Tennessee exceeded this 25 percent goal by 1992
with an aggregate reduction of over 42 percent.

High-Priority Chemicals

In November 1993, EPA announced that Tennessee ranked 10th best in the nation in reducing releases of certain high-priority chemicals. The EPA 33/50 Program is a voluntary program initiated in 1991 that seeks to reduce the releases of 17 high-priority toxic chemicals 33 percent by 1992 and 50 percent by 1995. Tennessee industries in the program have exceeded this goal with reductions of 55 percent.

Tennessee and TRI

Each year, manufacturing companies must report their releases of more than 300 specific hazardous chemicals which have been determined to be toxic. This information is reported through the EPA Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). The intent of the TRI is to provide communities and local officials with the necessary information to better respond to chemical accidents and to be more knowledgeable of possible chemical hazards. The reporting of these numbers alone cannot accurately reflect the health and environmental hazards associated with these releases.

According to the 1992 data, Tennessee industry ranked third in the nation in the total weight of these specific chemicals discharged into the air, land and water. However, these numbers must be kept in perspective, as the data do not take into account concentrations and relative toxicity of the chemicals reported.

All chemicals are not equally toxic. For example, a pound of acetone released into the air is not nearly as significant as a pound of benzene. Therefore, the real risks to health and the environment are quite different.

Tennessee industry is making progress in reducing these emissions. The graph depicting total TRI releases shows the progress made since 1988 and projects an anticipated decrease in toxic chemical emissions through the year 2000, based on the current chemical reporting list.

TRI and the 2000 Initiative

In July 1993, the TDEC began a statewide effort, called the "2000 Initiative," specifically to reduce chemical emissions by Tennessee industries and to educate the public about the risks associated with chemical emissions. In April 1994, TDEC in partnership with the 2000 Initiative Industry Committee announced an ambitious statewide goal to reduce voluntarily the emissions of the current TRI chemicals by 50 percent by the year 2000. This goal was issued as a challenge to all Tennessee industries to reduce their emissions of these chemicals.

The committee is composed several Tennessee-based industries working in partnership with TDEC. Their mission is to provide leadership for and to encourage the participation of other state industries by establishing goals for toxics reductions and by promoting pollution prevention and other voluntary efforts that focus on reducing environmental risks to human health and the environment.