Getting to the Source of PCBs: Fixing TSCA
Presented by Rick Eichstaedt
March 26, 2013
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209 congeners
Congeners differ in
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Abundance
Physical properties
Biological effects
Aroclors are mixtures of congeners
Attach to sediment particles
Significant human health and environmental
effects
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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.
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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.
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Washington State
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170 pg/l (parts per quadrillion) in water
Translates to 5.3 ppb (parts per billion) for fish tissue
Spokane Tribe
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3.37 pg/l in water
Translates to 0.1 ppb for fish tissue
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Source control strategies generally fall into four
different categories:
Technology-based Strategies
 Local Regulatory Strategies
 Public and Business Outreach
 Regional, National, or International Strategies.
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Specific to PCBs: Controls the manufacturing, processing, distributionin-commerce, use, marking and disposal of PCBs
Bans manufacturing and processing, unless exempted by rule:
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Exempted Manufacturing Processes (EMPs)
Exempted PCB Products (EPPs)
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Distribution of intact, non-leaking electrical equipment is totally enclosed
Bans distribution, except for totally enclosed and authorized PCBs
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
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Disposal – PCBs > 50 ppm and remediation (cleanup) wastes, options
include:
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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 disposal
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Manufacturing exemptions: Inadvertently generated
PCBs, annual average <25 ppm; 50 ppm max
 Notification to EPA if >2 ppm
 Approximately 72 notices from 28 companies on file
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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 PCBs
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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.
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EPA solicited comments and data needed to
characterize/understand ongoing sources and releases
of PCBs:
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Liquid PCBs in equipment and pipelines
Elimination of most use authorizations at levels ≥ 50 ppm
Non-liquid PCBs (including caulk)
Porous surfaces with PCBs
Definitional and marking issues
Use of 50 ppm level for excluded products
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking projected to July 2014.
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242 comments in docket; about 148 individual
commenters
Major groups of commenters
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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)
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Inland Empire Paper/Spokane Riverkeeper/The Lands Council
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Eliminate all federal exclusions or exceptions for inadvertently formed
PCBs as a byproduct or impurity in chemical manufacturing processes
Northwest 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
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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 packaging
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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”
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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
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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 standards
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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 ppm
 Would put U.S. pigment and product manufacturers at additional
competitive disadvantage versus pigment and product importers
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Representative 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
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 “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.”
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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:
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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.
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March 1, 2013 article in Environmental Health
Perspectives.
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“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.”
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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.