EPA WATCH Agency considers options to HWIR proposal EPA is considering three alternatives to its proposed Hazardous Waste Identification Rule (HWIR) for contaminated media, including an industry-backed approach that would drop the federal hazardous waste treatment standard in favor of sitespecific cleanup plans. The agency proposed the HWIR in April 1996 to remove low-risk waste from the stringent RCRA management system, which determines how waste generators have to treat and dispose of hazardous waste on industrial sites {ES&T, April 1196, 149A). Carolyn Hoskinson, EPA's HWIR project leader, said the proposed rule would exempt contaminated materials such as groundwater and soil from these requirements when they pose a low risk. "If you're below the [proposed] bright line, the state or EPA can consider alternative solutions such as putting the waste in a regular landfill or even keeping it on site " said Hoskinson A February EPA staff memo evaluating four options put last April's bright-line approach at one extreme and the industry plan at the other. The bright-line approach uses a numeric standard to decide which wastes get treated and which do not. This method poses a problem, said the memo, because "the toxicology information underlying the brightline concentrations might take forever to resolve or even cause us to have to re-propose the bright line." Under the industry proposal, remediators would develop site-specific cleanup plans based on state remediation action plans to determine which wastes get treated. These plans would not have to include a bright line. The proposal poses a different kind of problem by eliminating any specific federal requirement for treating high-risk waste, the memo said. As a compromise, the memo suggests a "narrative" bright line that would "articulate the agency's expec-
Labeling report recommends simpler language A Feb. 18 report by the interagency Consumer Labeling Initiative (CLI) concluded that consumers want simpler language on warning and ingredient labels. The report recommends substituting common names for chemical names, using telephone hotlines for consumers to obtain product and safety information, and using the heading "first aid" instead of "statements of practical treatment," EPA may implement these recommendations as voluntary guidelines during the summer, according to CLI project manager Mary Dominiak. She said that although the CLI effort is not designed to create a new labeling program, it could eventually lead to regulatory or statutory changes. The project will conduct a national survey as well as policy roundtables and workshops that might build a strong case for some mandated labeling changes. "We're hoping to have solid evidence to work with in 1998," she said. The CLI project is a joint effort of EPA, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, industry, and public interest groups.
tation that highly toxic, highly mobile, or highly concentrated wastes would be treated prior to land disposal." This approach would use a bright line as a guide rather than a rule. The memo said that although this approach would be more flexible and easier to update than the bright line, it would not provide certainty about which wastes should be treated; and it would open the door to site-by-site legal challenges to cleanup decisions made by state or federal regulators Another possibility would be to revise existing regulations and drop the comprehensive proposal. Hoskinson said the target date for the rulemaking is June 1998.
Methyl parathion cleanup strains Superfund Cleanup of the agricultural pesticide methyl parathion sprayed illegally in homes in several southern states could eventually cost $150 million, and it has halted any new Superfund cleanup starts nationwide this year, said Myron Knudson, director of the EPA Region 6 Superfund Division. State environmental agencies in November told EPA that home pesticide applicators and residents had sprayed hundreds of houses in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama to con~ trol roaches and fleas. Since then EPA
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has evacuated hundreds of residents from homes that need cleanup, a process that may require removal of carpets, floorboards, walls, and furnishings. In March, EPA was notified that more than 200 houses may also have been sprayed in Memphis, Term. Karl Alvarez, associate director of the Superfund budget office, said the methyl parathion cleanup this year will likely cost $65 million, which comes from funding that would have been used for new starts. "We estimate that six to eight sites that were ready to go will not start this year," he said. Funds to pay for the cleanups are taken from the $4 billion Superfund trust fund, because the responsible parties in this ca.se are home pesticide applicators who are unable to pay for the cleanup. "This is a severe emergency. In some homes, the dogs and cats have already died, and we believe some children have been harmed by die contamination," said Knudson, adding that urine samples have revealed high methyl parathion levels in some residents. Methyl parathion, which is used mainly on crops such as cotton and soybeans, can cause convulsions, cardiac arrest, and death when used indoors. EPA says the highly toxic pesticide can be safely used on agricultural crops because it degrades and dissipates quickly outdoors.
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