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Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI)

Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI). February 13, 2008. Introduction. What is the Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) Model and How Does It Work? What Kinds of Questions Can RSEI Answer? Who is using RSEI? Points to Remember.

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Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI)

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  1. Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) February 13, 2008

  2. Introduction • What is the Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) Model and How Does It Work? • What Kinds of Questions Can RSEI Answer? • Who is using RSEI? • Points to Remember

  3. What Is the Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators Model? RSEI is ascreening-level model for assessing potential chronic human health impacts of industrial releases of toxic chemicals: RSEI provides the following types of screening analyses: • Pounds • Hazard • Risk-related

  4. Why Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators? The Need for Risk Context: “The determination of potential risk depends upon many factors, including the toxicity of the chemical, the fate of the chemical, and the amount and duration of human or other exposure to the chemical after it is released.” Source: Toxics Release Inventory: Factors to Consider When Using TRI Data, November 2002, emphasis added.

  5. RSEI and Risk Assessment • RSEI incorporates components of risk assessment: • Amount of chemical released • Fate and transport of the chemical • Route and extent of human exposure • Number of people affected • Toxicity of the chemical • RSEI isnot a formal risk assessment—RSEI uses simplifying assumptions. It is useful for performance measurement, prioritization, and trend analysis because it incorporates toxicity and exposure considerations in addition to amount released.

  6. How Does RSEI Work? RSEI uses: • Toxics Release Inventory data • Existing exposure models and databases • Reviewed toxicity data

  7. What Kinds of Questions Can RSEI Answer? • What are the trends in hazard and risk scores associated with toxic chemical releases and other waste management activities at industrial facilities? • When comparing industries, how can I rank which industry sectors are associated with relatively more potential risk? • What is the relative contribution of specific chemicals to the risk score in a community (state, county, city), and how do I prioritizethese for follow-up activities? • For any given scenario, what release pathway for a particular chemical poses the greatest risk-related concerns?

  8. What’s new in RSEI 2.1.5? • Reporting Years 1996-2005 • Metals and metal compounds combined • Updated Toxicity Weights • cobalt, nickel, barium, n-hexane, toluene, and 1,4-dichlorobenzene • More facility stack information from NEI • Facility location from LRT • Chromium speciation based on OAQPS 2002 NEI based on SIC code

  9. Who is Using RSEI? • OPPT: Annual Performance Goals; CARE prioritization; Tribal activities • OW: Modeling of Exposure from Fish Ingestion • OECA: Targeting; Prioritization; Environmental Justice • OCHP: Assessment of School Populations • Regional Offices: Enforcement Prioritization; Permitting; Environmental Justice • States: P2 technical assistance; Prioritization • Academia: Cross-media Risk Transfers; Environmental Justice; MapEcos • Private Sector: Performance Tracking

  10. Points to Remember RSEI PROVIDES QUICK PERSPECTIVES ON HAZARD & RISK, BUT IS ONLY THE FIRST STEP! • RSEI uses facility-reported TRI data which can contain reporting errors. If it’s not reported to TRI, it’s not modeled in RSEI. • RSEI toxicity weights are based on chronic human toxicity associated with long-term exposure and do not address acute human toxicity or environmental toxicity. • Dermal and food ingestion pathways (other than fish consumption), and other indirect exposure pathways are not evaluated.

  11. Points to Remember cont. • Except for chromium, metals and metal compounds are assumed to be present in the most toxic form. • Simplifying assumptions for stack heights, diameters, and exit gas velocities are used where facility-specific data are not available. • RSEI results do not indicate whether hazard or risk from a chemical or facility is “acceptable” to a population or individual. • RSEI is useful in many applications where TRI pounds have been used as a risk surrogate.

  12. Contacts • Lynne Blake-Hedges: (202) 564-8807blake-hedges.lynne@epa.gov • Richard Engler: (202) 564-8587engler.richard@epa.gov • Istanbul Yusuf: (202) 564-8811yusuf.istanbul@epa.gov • Robert Lee: (202) 564-8786 URL: http://www.epa.gov/oppt/rsei

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