EPA Regions

EPA has 10 regional offices, each of which is responsible for managing the TRI Program across multiple states. Some regional offices are also responsible for territories and tribes.

Map of the US, split into EPA regions

Region 1: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont Region 2: New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands Region 3: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia Region 4: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee Region 5: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin Region 6: Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas Region 7: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska Region 8: Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakaota, Utah, Wyoming Region 9: Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Pacific Islands Region 10: Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington

EPA regions vary in the type and number of facilities located in each. This results in significant differences in TRI chemical waste management practices and quantities, as shown in the figure below.

 

The differences in quantities of waste managed across EPA regions are largely due to the types and number of industrial facilities in each region. For example:

  • Region 10 facilities reported more releases for 2022 than those in any other region, totaling 855 million pounds.
    • Release quantities were driven by one metal mine in Alaska.
  • In Regions 8, 9, and 10, the metal mining sector accounted for more releases than any other sector.
    • Metal mines tend to report high releases due to the large quantities of metals disposed of on site to land. The extraction and processing of minerals generates large amounts of on-site land disposal, primarily of metal-bearing rock (called ore) and waste rock.
    • Metal mines manage very little of their waste through treatment, combustion for energy recovery, or recycling. As a result, regions with significant metal mining operations tend to have higher releases but lower treatment, recycling, and energy recovery quantities than other regions.
  • In Region 7, metal mines reported more releases than almost all other sectors, although only five metal mining facilities in the region reported to TRI for 2022.
  • Region 6 reported the most waste managed, driven by facilities in the chemical manufacturing sector. This sector also accounted for more of the region’s releases than any other sector.
  • Waste managed in Regions 3, 4, and 5 was driven by recycling in the chemical and food manufacturing sectors. These regions all have one or two facilities reporting high quantities (i.e., more than a billion pounds) of chemicals recycled on site for 2022.
  • Regions 4 and 5 had the most facilities reporting for 2022: 4,737 and 5,275 facilities, respectively. Combined, almost half of all facilities that reported to TRI are in these two regions.
  • Regions 1 and 2 had the lowest releases and total waste managed. Nationally, most releases and waste managed are reported by facilities in the metal mining, chemical manufacturing, primary metals manufacturing, electric utilities, food manufacturing, or hazardous waste sectors. Relatively few facilities in these sectors operate in Regions 1 and 2, contributing to lower release and waste management quantities in these two regions.

This page was published in March 2024 and uses the 2022 TRI National Analysis dataset made public in TRI Explorer in October 2023.

TRI National Analysis

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Last updated on March 21, 2024