Hawai'i reported a 5 percent increase in toxic releases in 2008 compared with 2007, according to the latest data available from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

But EPA officials said the information — which comes from power plants, military bases, refineries and other industries — should inform nearby communities, not alarm them.

"We encourage people to use data from the Toxics Release Inventory in order to gain a better understanding of what is being released into their neighborhoods," said Laura Yoshii, acting EPA administrator for the Pacific Southwest region.

The data come from one of the largest publicly available databases, which provides information on more than 650 toxic chemicals released by various industries. The chemical information in the database is calculated by industrial facilities and reported to the EPA, as required by law.

Hawai'i EPA spokesman Dean Higuchi said these facilities report all the chemicals they use, even those they contain, clean up and ship out of state for disposal.

For example, wastewater treatment plants use chlorine to kill bacteria but report chlorine use as a chemical release, Higuchi said.

He said that lead and lead compounds turn up on the lists with regularity, especially at military facilities such as the Big Island's Army Pohakuloa Training Area, or the Marine's Pu'uloa 'Ewa Beach range. The lead is from bullets fired in various exercises.

Lead is included in a list of "Persistent, Bioaccumulative and Toxic" chemical releases dominated by military facilities and power plants.

In 2007, Higuchi noted a big rise in lead that corresponded with a training push at Schofield Barracks, but all the facilities clean up their own ranges.

While the word "release" can sound ominous, Higuchi said, the monitoring is part of an effort to boost pollution prevention and reduce any impact from chemicals.

"This is a way to gauge what chemicals are being used in your neighborhoods," he said. "There's nothing wrong with that if they are managed properly."