PBT Chemicals; Lowering of Reporting Thresholds for Certain PBT Chemicals; Addition of Certain PBT Chemicals
Rule Summary
In October 1999, EPA finalized a rule related to the reporting of certain persistent bioaccumulative toxic chemicals (PBTs) under Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and Section 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) (also known as the Toxics Release Inventory).
The rule:
- classified 18 chemicals already on the TRI chemical list as PBTs and established lower reporting thresholds for these chemicals,
- added a category of dioxin and dioxin-like compounds to the TRI chemical list and established a 0.1 gram reporting threshold for the category, and
- added a vanadium compounds category to the TRI chemical list.
Rule History
On August 28, 1996, EPA received a petition from Communities For A Better Environment to add dioxin and 27 dioxin-like compounds to the list of chemicals subject to Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting requirements (EPCRA Section 313 and PPA Section 6607). In response to the petition, on May 7, 1997, EPA issued a proposed rule to add a dioxin and dioxin-like compounds category to the TRI chemical list.
On January 5, 1999, EPA issued a separate proposed rule to designate additional TRI chemicals as PBTs and lower their reporting thresholds. Since both of the proposed rules dealt with PBT chemicals, EPA combined them both into one final rule published on October 29, 1999.
Additional Resources
Final Rule (PDF)(88 pp, 788 K, About PDF)
Proposed Rule - 1999 (PDF)(42 pp, 430 K, About PDF)
Proposed Rule - 1997 (PDF)(10 pp, 177 K, About PDF)