US EPA takes six chemicals off reporting, control lists

18 November 2004 21:04  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (CNI)--The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Thursday it is delisting or exempting six chemicals from toxic reporting or control lists, saying the compounds have negligible impact on the environment.

 

EPA said that under authority granted it by the Clean Air Act (CAA), it is removing the solvent ethylene glycol mono-butyl ether (EGBE) from the list of air toxics, also known as the list of hazardous air pollutants.

 

EPA last delisted an air toxic, caprolactam, in 1996.

 

The agency said the multi-use chemical t-butyl acetate (TBAC) and four refrigerants are being exempted from control as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). 

 

Removal of EGBE from the air toxics list had been requested by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) in 1997, EPA said.  The VOC control exemptions had been sought by Lyondell Chemical in the same year.

 

EPA also said it is taking phosmet off the Extremely Hazardous Substance (EHS) list under section 302 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA), meaning that phosmet will no longer be subject to reporting requirements under section 302.

 

EGBE is used in hydraulic fluids and in water-based coatings for various industries including metal can manufacturing.  It also is used in varnishes, vinyl and acrylic paints and as a solvent for varnishes, enamels, spray lacquers, dry cleaning compounds, textiles and cosmetics.

 

EPA said it decided to delist EGBE “after extensively reviewing the levels of EGBE in the air and the health and environmental impacts associated with those levels.” The agency concluded that “potential outdoor exposures to EGBE may not reasonably be anticipated to cause human health or environmental problems.”

 

In its announcement, EPA noted that as a consequence of its delisting, “EGBE use and, therefore, emissions may increase.”  But the delisting, EPA added, “creates incentives for industry to use EGBE instead of other more toxic solvents.”  And while EGBE is being removed from the air toxics list, EPA noted that companies “must still report EGBE under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), and EPA will continue to regulate it as a VOC.”

 

TBAC is used to make pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and other products and also can be used as a solvent in a variety of applications.  After extensive review, EPA said it “has determined that TBAC meets the criteria used to define a compound as ‘negligibly reactive’.” 

 

The term “negligibly reactive” means the exempted compound forms less ground-level ozone than ethane.  EPA has exempted 48 VOCs since 1977. 

 

Exclusion of TBAC as a VOC, said EPA, “will help states focus on controlling emissions of those pollutants that are demonstrated to be ozone precursors.  In addition, a number of manufacturers of paints, inks, and adhesives have indicated that if TBAC were excluded from regulation as a VOC, they would use it in their products in place of other compounds that are as much as 20 to 30 times more likely to form ground-level ozone, or smog.  Such substitutions will help decrease ground-level ozone formation, generating public health benefits.”

 

In addition to TBAC, EPA is excluding HFE-7000, HFE-7500, HFC 227ea and methyl formate from control as VOCs. 

 

“These compounds,” said EPA, “which are used as refrigerants, fire suppressants and propellants, contribute little or nothing to ground-level ozone formation.  All four of these compounds are environmentally preferable substitutes for CFCs and HCFCs, which contribute to the destruction of earth's stratospheric ozone layer.”

 

In the action on phosmet - a non-systemic organophosphate insecticide used for agricultural crop protection of fruit, nut and certain field crops - EPA noted that phosmet is still a "hazardous chemical" under EPCRA section 311 and 312 requirements, except when it is used in routine agricultural operations such as a pesticide applied on crops. 

 

“Therefore,” said EPA, “facilities that process or distribute phosmet would still be subject to EPCRA section 311 and 312 reporting requirements (inventory and material safety data sheets) if they have phosmet present in amounts equal to or greater than 10,000 pounds [4.5 tonne].”  

 

“This action,” the agency noted, “does not alter EPA’s ongoing regulation of phosmet under the existing EPA pesticide regulatory program.”

ICIS Copyright © Reed Business Information 2009

Author: Joe Kamalick
+1 713 525 2653

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