Characterizing environmental pressures along the US/Mexico border: An application of the Toxics Release Inventory in environmentrics

Public data bases are becoming increasingly available to environmental researchers. We discuss use of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencyʹs Toxics Release Inventory data base for research purposes in the context of characterizing a geographical area in terms of industrial toxic chemical emissions into the environment. We present as examples highlights of ongoing exploratory data summary for the U.S. side of the U.S./Mexico border area during 1988–1992 which show how different parts of the border area have unique patterns of emissions. The TRI was the first national industrial toxic emissions inventory, and constitutes a unique and useful resource for data on industrial toxic chemical releases in the United States for researchers prepared to invest in fully understanding its strengths and limitations.