Environmental report finds that toxic emissions are declining

Toxic air emissions from industrial facilities have dropped 26 percent in Marion County over the past decade, but the nation boasted a far larger decline, according to a new report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The annual report, called the Toxics Release Inventory National Analysis, shows releases of toxic chemicals into the air from facilities reporting to the program dropped 56 percent nationally during that span.

Hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, toluene and mercury were among chemicals with significantly lower air releases at TRI-covered facilities. Coal- and oil-fired electric utilities accounted for more than 90 percent of the reductions in those three chemicals.

The report shows that 72 Marion County facilities in 2015 generated a total of 34.3 million pounds of production-related chemical waste. Of this amount, 12.7 million pounds were disposed of or released into the air, water or land. The remainder was managed using a variety of methods including recycling, energy recovery and treatment.

TRI data comes from facilities in industry sectors such as manufacturing, metal mining, electric utilities and commercial hazardous waste management. Nearly 22,000 facilities nationally submitted TRI data in 2015.•