December 9, 2013 | Drawing Detroit
A number of national and international environmental incidents in the early 1980s led to the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) in 1986. EPCRA mandates all facilities that handle or produce at least 10,000 pounds of any of 650 chemicals known to be harmful to humans or the environment annually report any releases into the environment This information is made available to the public via the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). In this post we will examine releases of two of those 650 chemicals – lead and lead-based compounds. By releases the EPCRA means releases into the air, water or land. Federal law designates landfilling as a form of release as well, even though the lead may be buried. Below is a map showing the location of the 2012 reporters and releases of lead and lead-based compounds in the Southeast Michigan area. [...]