Arizona toxic releases down 9% in 2007

The EPA's annual Toxic Release Inventory for 2007, shows 297 facilities in Arizona reported a total of 88 million pounds of toxic chemical releases. Arizona’s total reported on-site and off-site releases decreased 9% (8.6 million pounds), when compared to 2006 data. the majority of releases came from mining facilities and electric power plants.

The Arizona Silverbelt newspaper reports that "on-site land releases decreased by 8 percent, decreasing more than 7 million pounds." They also note that air releases decreased by 13%, down 591 thousand pounds and water releases increased 638 pounds, up 17% from 2006 data.

The biggest releases are copper and lead, according to EPA:

Chemical	Total Releases (in pounds)
Copper Compounds	30,307,852
Lead Compounds	18,963,984
Zinc Compounds	17,465,267
Barium Compounds	4,382,896
Barium	2,363,922
Chromium Compounds (Except Chromite Ore mined in the Transvaal Region)	2,163,255
Manganese	1,532,491
Manganese Compounds	1,440,308
Sulfuric Acid (1994 And After "Acid Aerosols" Only)	877,821
Hydrogen Fluoride	829,340