Toxics Release Inventory gumshoes have a powerful new probe for finding stories — the TRI Comparative Query Tool. Larry Reisman demonstrated a beta version of the tool at the TRI conference Nov. 2. It is already available to the public online in a limited beta version.

At this stage of development, the tool allows anyone to compare TRI information from a facility to air pollution data from the Clean Air Act database from the same facility or a related one. The comparisons could, for example, allow an investigator to find inconsistencies in the amount of pollution reported by a facility under the two separate laws (EPCRA and the Clean Air Act) — or even possible violations of law by non-reporters.

• TRI Comparative Query Tool [2] (beta).