Toxic Chemical Release Inventory Reporting Forms and Instructions

TRI Reporting Software
Toxics Release Inventory - Made Easy (TRI-ME) Software 2003
The TRI-ME 2003 software helps facilities in determining and completing their Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know (EPCRA) section 313 and Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) section 6607 obligations. TRI-ME is an interactive,
intelligent, user-friendly software tool that guides facilities through the TRI reporting experience. By leading prospective
reporters through a series of logically ordered questions, TRI-ME streamlines the analysis needed to determine if a user must
complete a Form R report or Form A Certification Statement for a particular chemical. For those facilities required to report,
the software provides the user with guidance for each data element on the reporting forms. Additionally, this software has a
one-stop guidance feature, the TRI Assistance Library that allows users to search the statute, regulations, and many EPCRA
section 313 guidance documents by key word. For the more experienced reporter, TRI-ME allows direct data entry onto
electronic versions of the Form R and Form A Certification Statement. TRI-ME will check the data for common errors and
then prepare the forms. All of the information contained in this RY2003 Reporting Forms and Instructions book is contained
within TRI-ME.
TRI-ME allows the user to submit the forms on paper, floppy disk, or electronically via an Internet connection. TRI-ME has
the ability to submit electronically over the Internet using EPA’s Central Data Exchange without mailing any paper to EPA. In
past years, facilities had to submit a signed certification statement. Now facilities can certify their submissions electronically
without mailing any paper to EPA. After submission of data to EPA via CDX, a receipt is generated and sent via email to the
facility.
Toxics Release Inventory Assistance Library
The TRI Assistance Library is a searchable, indexed file that contains the statutes, the regulations, and most of the key
guidance documents a facility is likely to need for TRI reporting. The TRI Assistance Library is integrated into TRI-ME.
What Happened to the Automated TRI Reporting Software (ATRS)?
EPA is no longer producing new versions of ATRS. After Reporting Year 2001, EPA replaced ATRS with the TRI-ME
software. For Reporting Year 2003, facilities are encouraged to use the TRI-ME software. TRI-ME was distributed as a pilot
for Reporting Year 2000. In Reporting Year 2001, EPA distributed both TRI-ME and ATRS to all TRI reporting facilities.
Can I Use or Load Past Year’s data into TRI-ME?
You may load prior year data from Reporting Year 2002 submission diskettes or from TRI-ME Reporting Year 2002 facility
files. With few exceptions, all of your prior year data will be loaded directly into the Reporting Year 2003 forms. To load
Reporting Year 2000 or 2001 data into TRI-ME 2003, you must first load your data into TRI-ME 2002.
Can I Use TRI-ME if I Have My Own TRI Software?
Some facilities have their own software or use private software to assist in preparing their TRI reports. This “third party
software” is often designed to produce output files that match EPA’s Magnetic Media File Formats (sometimes called the TRI
18 flat files). These file formats can be found on the TRI Home page at . You may load these flat files
directly into TRI-ME and then use TRI-ME to check your forms for common errors. You can then also use TRI-ME to submit
the forms to U.S. EPA and your state.
What Are the Key Features of TRI-ME?
’ TRI-ME allows prior TRI reporters to submit electronically without the need to separately mail paper certification to
U.S. EPA.
T An expert desk top software tool that guides facilities through the process of determining whether they must report
based on the SIC codes, number of employees and chemical threshold criteria.
T Walks users through the process of preparing and submitting their forms. Many routine tasks associated with the
preparation and submission of the forms have been eliminated or streamlined.
T Assists facilities in understanding each element of the Form R and Form A Certification Statement.
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