EPA WATCH
Health effects data sought on 21 air pollutants In what EPA officials are calling the largest information request under the Toxic Substances Control Act, the agency proposed June 26 that manufacturers and processors of 21 chemicals test the substances for human health effects. Data generated by the testing would cover a wide range of health endpoints, including effects on the reproductive system and a developing fetus; effects on the nerrespiratory, and immune systems; and carcinogenicity (Federal Register 1996 62(124) 33177-200) The most prominent use of the data will be to help EPA assess the so-called residual risk of these 21 hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). The 21 are among 189 HAPs that are subject to the Clean Air Act's technology-based control standards known as MACT, or maximum achievable control technology standards. Eight years after these industrial emission control standards are in place, the agency must determine if any "residual risk" to human and environmental health remains. If the MACT standard is proven to be inadequate EPA tighten controls The health data will also be used by other federal agencies. For instance, 15 of the 21 chemicals are candidates for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's update of its permissible exposure limit program, which is designed to protect workers from overexposure to industrial chemicals. The health effects data could also be used by community members to increase their knowledge of toxic chemical hazards, the agency said. The Chemical Manufacturers' Association (CMA) believes most of the information is already in agency hands and additional data are not relevant to the real world, said CMA's Christine Tripp. Agency officials disagree, saying that many of the necessary studies have not been done and that the results in EPA's database are out-of-date.
Industry's job, according to Gary Timm of the Office of Pollution, Prevention and Toxics, is to demonstrate that a request is inappropriate. He added that lack of research funding drove EPA to industry. "Neither the National Toxicology Program nor EPA had the kind of money needed to actually sponsor this kind of research," said Timm. The agency plans to hold a public hearing in the fall—in the middle of the six-month comment period.
Major NOX reductions proposed for trucks, buses New national standards proposed June 27 to reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) and hydrocarbons from trucks and buses will will reduce U.S. NO x emissions 5% by 2020, EPA said. The proposal enjoys "unprecedented" support from interested parties, including engine and trucking organizations, states, and environmentalists, EPA added. The reason for the support, the agency said, is groundwork laid by an historic agreement reached last year by the California Air Resources Board and representatives from "essentially every" major engine manufacturer to control NO and hydrocarbons from highway heaw-duty engines [Federal Register 1996 61(125) 33421-69) Despite the progress in making cleaner vehicles, the agency said, NO x emissions are expected to rise by the early 2000s because of industrial growth and increased motor vehicle use, making it difficult for states to meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for groundlevel ozone and particulate matter. Mobile sources account for 45% of all NO emissions Of mobile sources, trucks and buses contribute 20%, or 10% of total national NO emissions. Approximately 80 million people in 31 states are exposed to air that does not meet standards for ozone and particulates EPA said Manufacturers will be allowed to meet the proposed standard in the most cost-effective manner. Possible
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controls include fuel modifications, in-cylinder changes, and exhaust-gas recirculation. Compliance will raise the retail price of a truck or bus by $200-$500 in the short term, but that cost will halve in five years. The standards are proposed to become effective with the 2004 model year, and by the time the fleet turns over (in about 2020), the emissions reductions are expected to be 1.2 million tons per year.
Proposal gives states control of top pesticides States would be given authority to control the sale and use of five common pesticides under a June 26 proposal to protect groundwater. To gain such authority, states must develop management plans for alachlor, atrazine, cyanazine, metolachlor, and simazine—all human carcinogens, popular herbicides with similar use patterns, and among the pesticides most frequently detected in groundwater {Federal Register 1996, 61 (124) 33259-301). The proposal grew from negotiations stretching back to the late 1980s and would open options currently not available to states through the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), which regulates pesticides. The proposal enjoys support from states, which EPA staff described as "eager partners" because they would gain new powers as well as the flexibility to tailor pesticide sale and use to statespecific geology crops and other conditions. States could for instance restrict use by region and require that this information be ried FIFRA is different from traditional environmental laws, EPA staff said, because it delegates to states little more than enforcement responsibility. The rule expands state authority in return for requiring states to shoulder development of pesticide management plans. If the plans do not meet EPA approval, these five pesticides would be blocked from
0013-936X/96/0930-376AS12.00/0 © 1996 American Chemical Society
sale or use in the state. EPA staff predicted that funding will be a sticky issue. Currently EPA provides only $5 million annually to all the states for FIFRA enforcement, and this is unlikely to change. Consequently, the proposal suggests that states defray costs through a fee structure, requiring pesticide makers or users to pay to have their pesticides included in the plan. Other funding alternatives, EPA staff said, may require that pesticide makers or users provide states with technical expertise or take over monitoring groundwater conditions to demonstrate that pesticides won't pollute the environment Pesticide makers and users do not believe there is a need for the change and doubt that these five pesticides are particularly risky. But EPA officials counter that there have been hundreds of detections of these pesticides in groundwater and dozens of violations of drinking water and health standards. Atrazine, for instance, the most heavily used pesticide in the country, has often contaminated groundwater, EPA said. The proposal is expected to be finalized next year, staff said. States would have 24 months to develop and submit plans, EPA has three months to approve them, and a three-month startup period would follow. Final implementation, therefore, would not happen until the next century.
Cheaper dioxin controls considered for paper, pulp Publication of a "notice of data availability" on July 15 signals that EPA may be backing away from a technology proposed earlier to control dioxin effluent discharges from the pulp and paper industry and may accept a cheaper technology favored by the industry. The notice focuses on the bleaching processes for fine-grade, high-quality paper products: paper-grade kraft and paper-grade sulfite processes {Federal Register 1996 62(136) 36835-58). Bleaching processes that use chlorine to brighten these papers have been primary generators of dioxins and furans. The announcement seeks comment on two technology options to cut chlorine use and dioxin generation. It also seeks comment on a voluntary incentives program to reward mills that
implement pollution prevention technologies. More than $3 billion in new equipment is at stake, according to the American Forest and Paper Association. That is the amount the industry says it will spend if EPA continues with its 1993 proposal to require "oxygen delignification" technology coupled with substitution of chlorine dioxide for elemental chlorine in the bleaching process. The industry supports substitution of chlorine dioxide without oxygen delignification and has already introduced this process at many plants in the decade since environmental groups first sued EPA to force the rule In its notice, EPA said both technologies will result in a 95% reduction in dioxin generation. Both use chlorine dioxide rather than elemental chlorine to bleach pulp, which helps cut dioxin. Oxygen delignification, however, is done before the bleaching process begins and uses oxygen to purify pulp and remove lignin, a brown natural wood binder. Its removal before bleaching leads to a less polluting process overall with less toxic waste. EPA staff and environmentalists say oxygen delignification is a better "foundation technology" because it relies less on bleaching and will start the industry on a path to closedloop systems that reduce environmental emissions for a host of pollutants besides dioxin. The substitution of chlorine dioxide is cheaper, but it is a dead-end technology, they say. They also challenge the industry's cost figures. The comment period closed Aug. 14 on this latest addition to the long-delayed final "cluster rule" regulating air and effluent emissions from paper and pulp sources. Under court order, the rule was to be finalized in June 1995. This most recent notice marks the fifth time the proposal has been modified since it was proposed in December 1993. EPA officials, noting the complication and controversy in regulating this important and large industry sector, said they could not predict when the rule will be finalized
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