Mercury Air Releases Trend in the 2015 TRI National Analysis
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This graph shows the trend in the pounds of mercury and mercury compounds released to air.
From 2005 to 2015:
- Releases of mercury and mercury compounds to air decreased by 55%.
- Electric utilities are driving the decline in mercury air emissions, with a 69% reduction. Reasons for this decrease include a shift from coal to other fuel sources and installation of control technologies at coal-fired power plants.
In 2015:
- Electric utilities, which include coal- and oil-fired power plants, accounted for 48% of the mercury and mercury compounds air emissions reported to TRI.
This page was published in January 2017 and uses the 2015 TRI National Analysis dataset made public in TRI Explorer in October 2016.