Proposal reduces VOCs through product changes The chemical manufacturing industry has agreed to manufacturing changes in consumer products, which will cut volatile organic compound (VOC) releases by one-fourth, or about 130,000 tons annually. Negotiated by the Chemical Specialties Manufacturers' Association and EPA, the agreement will require manufacturers to reformulate consumer products to reduce VOC content in return for a single national emissions standard from these products. The proposal governs VOC emissions from 24 classes of consumer products, such as window cleaners, air fresheners, and hair-styling mousse. EPA intends to issue the proposed rule by late December and finalize it in March, according to Bruce Moore of the Office of Air and Radiation. It will become effective July 1. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA had until March 1997 to issue rules on emissions from consumer and commercial products. The impetus for accelerating the national rule was state action. Several states jumped ahead of EPA, passing or proposing consumer product VOC limits. Most recently, New Jersey announced a final rule on commercial product VOC reductions Nov. 6, said Art Deim of the state Department of Environmental Protection. "We've been waiting a long time for EPA to do this. They took too long," Deim said. New Jersey's rule states that it will be superseded by EPA's finalized rule. California, Massachusetts, New York, and Texas also have VOC emissions limits for consumer products, and Connecticut, Oregon, and Rhode Island have proposed rules. Most states' rules are similar to EPA's, Moore said.
Partial delisting of NPL sites approved Portions of Superfund sites that have been cleaned according to the law's requirements can be removed from the National Priorities List (NPL), according to a final policy announced Nov. 1 [Federal Register, 1995, 60(211), 55466-67]. The policy is intended to encourage faster redevelopment of sites, an EPA official said. Under the new policy the owner of a contaminated site can redevelop a geographic segment of it if the segment meets Superfund's cleanup re-
quirements, said Hugo Fleischman of the Office of Solid Waste. The contaminated portion will remain on the NPL. The policy was derived as a pilot for military base closure cleanups, in which a section of the base is cleaned and turned over to the community to develop. Fleischman said he expects many site owners to petition to remove parts of sites from the list, but he is uncertain if developers will be interested in the delisted site portions. The cleanup industry is split on the policy's effect, according to Terry Belt, executive director of the Hazardous Waste Action Coalition, which represents the cleanup industry. On the one hand, the policy may encourage cleanups through redevelopment opportunities, but, she said, some in the industry feel that the policy avoids the question of future liability, and this failure may lead to stalled redevelopment prospects and slower cleanups. Still, the policy is a step in the right direction, others say. "My impression is that anything that offers any type of delisting helps the industry," said Toby Clark, chief executive officer of Clean Sites, a remediation services firm.
MACT rule may shut down smaller incinerators New emissions limits on municipal solid waste incinerators are expected to cut emissions substantially but may cause older facilities to close. The new standards require municipal waste incinerator operators to install advanced technologies to control a host of pollutants including dioxin, metals, and acid gases. The final rule, required under the Clean Air Act, establishes maximum achievable control technology (MACT) standards that will eliminate 97-99% of emissions, EPA said. The rule affects some 130 currently operating facilities, most of them wasteto-energy facilities, according to Walter Stevenson of the Office of Air and Radiation. About half will require minor adjustments to existing equipment, he said, and the rest will need to retrofit their facilities. EPA estimated the cost to be $450 million annually. The net impact of the rule may be to increase trash going to landfills, according to David Sussman, senior vice president for environmental affairs, Ogden Projects Inc., a
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waste incineration firm. The rule, he claimed, was the most stringent standard ever levied on an industry. It will require installation of acid gas scrubbers and carbon injection and catalytic reduction units and may provide revenue for a foundering air pollution control industry, according to HSBC Washington Analysis, a financial firm that tracks the industry. However, HSBC also predicted that several municipal waste incinerators will close rather than add new controls. All the upgrades must be in place by 2000.
TRI reporting set out in federal contracts Federal contractors have been singled out under an Executive Order to comply with Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting requirements. However, contractors should already be reporting TRI data, according to an official for the General Services Administration (GSA), which administers federal acquisition regulations. An Oct. 30 interim final rule providing guidance to Executive Order 12969 requires federal agencies to include TRI reporting in federal contracts [Federal Register, 1995, 60(209), 55305-8]. "The executive order makes [TRI reporting] a formal requirement to do business with the federal government. Contractors have to certify that they are going to comply with the regulations," said Paul Schaffer, an Office of Acquisition Management contract specialist. If contractors do not comply with the provisions of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), the contract can be terminated, he said. The requirement is not new, however, according to GSA's Ralph De Stefano. The Pollution Prevention Act made clear that federal contractors must comply with environmental laws, which includes TRI reporting, he said. "This is just another tool for TRI enforcement through the federal acquisition regulation process," he said. The Executive Order does not add or change existing EPCRA filing requirements, Schaffer said. For instance, contractors need not report TRI data if they do not meet the reporting requirements of EPCRA. And the Executive Order applies only to a competitive contract worth $100,000 or more over its life, he said.
