Getting to the Source of PCBs: Fixing TSCA - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Getting to the Source of PCBs: Fixing TSCAPresented by Rick EichstaedtMarch 26, 2013Slide2

Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)209

congeners

Congeners differ

inAbundance Physical properties Biological effects Aroclors are mixtures of congeners Attach to sediment particles Significant human health and environmental effectsSlide3

History of PCBs

1865

--- First PCB-like chemical discovered; a by-product of coal tar

(chimney sweeps).1927 --- PCBs were first manufactured commercially by the Anniston Ordnance Company, in Anniston, Alabama.1936 - Scientists issued a report attributing workers’ disease symptoms.1937

--- A study published in the Journal of Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology suggested links between PCBs and liver disease.

1947

--- GE began using PCBs in the manufacture of electrical

equipment.

1970 --- Annual U.S. production peaked

with

85 million pounds of PCBs

produced.

1973 --- U.S. Food and Drug Administration establishes a tolerance level of 5.0 parts per million (ppm) in

fish.

1976 --- Congress passed the Toxic Substances Control

Act.

1977

--- Monsanto stopped manufacturing PCBs in the U.S.

1979 ---

EPA issued

final regulations banning the manufacture of

PCBs.Slide4

PCBs are Nationwide Issue

Between 1930 and 1970, approximately

30,000 tons

were released to air, 60,000 tons to fresh and coastal waters, and 300,000 tons to dumps and landfills.Waters and their sediments contaminated by PCBs have resulted in over 675 advisories restricting the consumption of PCB-contaminated fish, shellfish, and wildlife issued in 37 states and in one U.S. Territory (American Samoa). 5,578 waterbodies on 303(d) list for PCBs.Slide5

PCBs are EverywhereSlide6

Water Quality Criteria for PCBs

Washington State

170 pg/l (parts per quadrillion) in water

Translates to 5.3 ppb (parts per billion) for fish tissueSpokane Tribe3.37 pg/l in waterTranslates to 0.1 ppb for fish tissueSlide7

Reductions Needed In Spokane River to Meet Water Quality StandardsSlide8

How do we address the problem?Source control strategies generally fall into four different categories:

Technology-based

Strategies

Local Regulatory StrategiesPublic and Business OutreachRegional, National, or International Strategies.Slide9

Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 6(e)

Specific to PCBs: Controls the manufacturing, processing, distribution-in-commerce, use, marking and disposal of PCBs

Bans manufacturing and processing, unless exempted by rule:

Exempted Manufacturing Processes (EMPs)Exempted PCB Products (EPPs)Bans distribution, except for totally enclosed and authorized PCBs

Distribution of intact, non-leaking electrical equipment is totally enclosed

Bans use/storage, unless authorized by rule:

Use/storage authorized

>

50 ppm for certain electrical equipment and other uses (e.g., carbonless copy paper; research and development; natural gas pipelines; porous surfaces contaminated by spills; decontaminated materials)

Recycling paper and asphalt shingles

Disposal – PCBs

>

50 ppm and remediation (cleanup) wastes, options include:

TSCA-permitted incinerator; high-efficiency boilers (liquids < 500 ppm); TSCA-permitted landfills (solids); permitted alternative destruction technologies; scrap metal recovery ovens (metals <500 ppm); decontamination; risk-based disposalSlide10

Regulatory Exemptions

Manufacturing

exemptions

: Inadvertently generated PCBs, annual average <25 ppm; 50 ppm maxNotification to EPA if >2 ppmApproximately 72 notices from 28 companies on file Use exemptions: No authorization is needed to use

excluded PCB products

,

products of an excluded manufacturing process

, recycled PCBs, or sewage sludge

Processing and distribution in commerce

allowed

for:

Excluded PCB products

, recycled PCBsSlide11

Inadvertent Generation of PCBs

Combination of carbon, chlorine, and high temperatures can result in PCB

generation.

Up to 200 chemical processes may create PCB byproducts. Products inadvertently containing PCBs include paint, inks, ag chemicals, plastics, and detergent.Source: EPA PCB TMDL Handbook.Slide12

2010 Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Reassessment of PCB Use AuthorizationsEPA solicited comments and data needed to characterize/understand o

ngoing sources and releases of PCBs:

Liquid PCBs in equipment and pipelines

Elimination of most use authorizations at levels ≥ 50 ppmNon-liquid PCBs (including caulk)Porous surfaces with PCBsDefinitional and marking issuesUse of 50 ppm level for excluded products

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking projected to July 2014.Slide13

Comments on the ANPR242 comments in docket; about 148 individual commenters

Major groups of commenters

Electrical utilities (industry)

Natural gas transmitters and distributors (e.g., INGAA, AGA)Parents and workers in New York City schools (caulk)Governments (DOE, Mass. DEP)Recycled paper producers (Inland Paper)Pigment Manufacturers (Color & Pigment Manufacturers Ass’n)Metal/plastic recyclers (e.g., ISRI, MBA Polymers

)

Environmental groups (

Riverkeeper

, TLC)Slide14

Excluded Manufacturing Process/Products: Comments

Inland

Empire Paper/Spokane

Riverkeeper/The Lands CouncilEliminate all federal exclusions or exceptions for inadvertently formed PCBs as a byproduct or impurity in chemical manufacturing processesNorthwest Pulp and Paper Association (NWPPA)NWPPA supports lowering the allowable concentration of PCBs in dyes, inks and pigments products as much as possible, using a phased approach, as the best mechanism for reducing PCB contamination in recycled furnish

Such action must be coordinated and connected federal and state actions involved in developing water quality criteria and implementation

American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA)

Carbonless copy paper manufactured in the U.S. no longer contains PCBs; AF&PA encourages EPA to discontinue use authorization for PCBs in manufactured/imported carbonless copy paper

PCBs in

azo

and

phthalocyanine

pigments should be banned from U.S. commerce,

including

imported products and packagingSlide15

Excluded Manufacturing Process/Products: Comments

Washington State Department of Ecology

Significant amounts of PCBs flow into Puget Sound; primary source is runoff; “ . . . do not have estimate for which sources of PCBs are contributing most to loading”

Does not “recommend that the EPA authorize the use of caulk, paint, or other non-liquid PCB product at concentrations exceeding the level of 50 ppm currently provided . . . for excluded PCB products”California Regional Water Quality Board“In development of this TMDL, we learned that PCBs releases from uncontained spills and outdated products are the largest ongoing sources of PCBs in our waterways” (e.g., caulk, paint, other building materials)

Consider water quality impacts when reducing the exclusion concentration for PCBs

Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservations (CTUIR)

“CTUIR DNR supports the elimination of PCBs from all dyes, pigments and inks”

Overseas manufacturers send products to U.S. and U.S. companies must clean up contamination to meet water quality standardsSlide16

Excluded Manufacturing Process/Products: Comments

Color Pigment Manufacturers Association (CPMA)

1 ppm threshold would eliminate three important pigment groups from commerce, affecting color printing as well as colors in paint and plastics

Technology does not now exist to eliminate PCBs in all organic pigments to a level below 1 ppmWould put U.S. pigment and product manufacturers at additional competitive disadvantage versus pigment and product importersRepresentative Mike Simpson (Idaho) letter to

EPA

EPA regulations inequitably allow overseas manufacturers to export PCB containing products into the U.S. with concentrations up to 50 ppm, while then subjecting our own businesses and communities to surface water quality standards that are nearly 8 million times more stringent

Manufacturing alternatives for similar dyes and pigments that do not contain PCBs are available

“On behalf of the American people and the protection of our environment, I request that your agency make the common-sense decision to revise all appropriate sections of the TSCA regulations that allow imported products to contain PCBs.”Slide17

Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) Resolution

ECOS: national non-profit, non-partisan association of state and territorial environmental agency

leaders.

August 2012: passed a resolution addressed to the EPA that laid out several points about how to best address levels of PCBs in wastewater discharges to our nation's waterbodies:Called for EPA, industry, and states to work together on alternatives to chlorinated solvents used in pigment and ink manufacturing to develop manufacturing processes in the next five years that do not generate

PCBs.

Called for National

approach to the problem of inadvertently created PCBs in inks and pigments.

Supported EPA's

proposed rulemaking to reassess the current use authorizations for PCBs, which includes products with PCBs less than 50 ppm and inadvertently generated PCBs in products at less than 25 ppm. EPA should move forward with this rulemaking to better protect human health and the environment.

Recommended that

EPA continue its efforts reduce PCBs and work with the international community on the elimination of PCBs.Slide18

Nonlegacy PCBs: Pigment Manufacturing By-Products Get a Second Look

March 1, 2013 article in Environmental Health Perspectives.

“The

EPA’s Design for the Environment Program, which is conducting alternative assessments on various chemical products, is not currently involved in any research on pigments. That the EPA initiate such research is one of the recommendations put forth in the ECOS resolution. As rulemaking continues for the EPA’s reassessment of current PCB regulations, an EPA spokeswoman provided no information on the status of the agency’s ongoing assessment of non-

dioxinlike

health effects of

PCBs.”Slide19

We Need to Fix the Law: Standards Will Get More Stringent

EPA’s default

fish consumption rates are

17.5 g/day for adults in the general population.142.4 g/day for subsistence fishers.Oregon’s new standard: 175 g/day.EPA rejected Idaho’s use of 17.5 g/day.Spokane Tribe: 86.6 g/day now , proposed 865 g/day.