What TRI facility data means

A TRI record is a facility’s own annual report of listed chemicals it released or otherwise managed. It is a starting point for questions, not a reading of the air or soil at a house.

What the inventory is

The Toxics Release Inventory is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program. Certain industrial facilities that manufacture, process, or otherwise use listed chemicals above reporting thresholds must report each year. The public file includes the facility, the chemical, and how much was released to air, water, or land, transferred off site, or managed in other ways.

Not every business files. Facilities under the thresholds, outside the covered industries, or using chemicals that are not on the list do not appear. A quiet ZIP in this dataset is not proof that no chemicals are used nearby.

What a comparison uses

A Consilium Compare report lists nearby TRI facilities, about how far they sit from the ZIP, and the reported release pounds in the current file. It can also show how many facilities fall inside a wider radius, such as 5 or 10 miles. Pounds, facility counts, and the environmental concern score are kept distinct. A higher score on one side and a larger single release on the other are different facts, and the report says so when both are present.

When the source file names a chemical and the release medium, the report can say what was reported and whether it was mostly to air, water, land, or underground injection. That is still the facility’s annual report. It is not a measurement taken on a block.

What the pounds do not answer

Annual pounds do not say whether a release is at a level that matters for a particular home. They do not include the concentration at a doorway, how long someone is exposed, the permit limit, whether the facility has violations, or which way wind and water move. Two facilities with the same pounds can mean very different things if one releases to air next door and the other injects underground miles away.

A report that names a chemical is not a claim that the chemical was found in a house, a well, or a yard. It is a claim that the facility reported that chemical to EPA.

How to use it before a move

Updated September 29, 2026

Use the list to decide what is worth a closer look: which facilities are nearest, which releases are largest, and whether the two ZIPs you are comparing are looking at the same kind of industrial context. Then check the facility in the current EPA Toxics Release Inventory, local permitting, and, if you are buying a property, the inspection and environmental review for that parcel.

The same section in a paid report is area context. It does not rank the ZIPs, and it does not say one place is safe and the other is not. See the sample report for where the list sits, or the notes on flood zones and air monitors.