EPA finds trichloroethylene poses an unreasonable risk to human health

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a revision to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk determination for trichloroethylene (TCE), finding that TCE, as a whole chemical substance, presents an unreasonable risk of injury to human health when evaluated under its conditions of use. The next step in the process is to develop a risk management rulemaking to identify and require the implementation of measures to manage these risks.

Uses and Risks Associated with TCE

TCE is a volatile organic compound used mostly in industrial and commercial processes. Consumer uses include cleaning and furniture care products, arts and crafts, spray coatings and automotive care products like brake cleaners.  

In the revised risk determination based on the 2020 risk evaluation, EPA found that TCE presents unreasonable risk to the health of workers, occupational non-users (workers nearby but not in direct contact with this chemical), consumers, and bystanders. EPA identified risks for adverse human health effects not related to cancer, including neurotoxicity and liver effects, from acute and chronic inhalation and dermal exposures to TCE. EPA also identified risks for cancer from chronic inhalation and dermal exposures to TCE.

EPA used the whole chemical risk determination approach for TCE in part because there are benchmark exceedances for multiple conditions of use (spanning across most aspects of the chemical life cycle from manufacturing (import), processing, commercial use, consumer use and disposal) for health of workers, occupational non-users, consumers, and bystanders, and because the health effects associated with TCE exposures are severe and potentially irreversible (including developmental toxicity, reproductive toxicity, liver toxicity, kidney toxicity, immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity and cancer).

Overall, EPA determined that 52 of the 54 conditions of use EPA evaluated drive the unreasonable risk determination. Two out of 54 conditions of use do not drive the unreasonable risk: consumer use of TCE in pepper spray and distribution in commerce. The revised risk determination supersedes the condition of use-specific no unreasonable risk determinations that were previously issued by order under section 6(i) of TSCA in the 2020 TCE risk evaluation.

The revised risk determination for TCE does not reflect an assumption that workers always and appropriately wear personal protective equipment (PPE), even though some facilities might be using PPE as one means to reduce workers’ exposure. This decision should not be viewed as an indication that EPA believes there is widespread non-compliance with applicable Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards. In fact, EPA has received public comments from industry respondents about occupational safety practices currently in use at their facilities and will consider these comments, as well as other information on use of PPE, engineering controls and other ways industry protects its workers as potential ways to address unreasonable risk during the risk management process. The consideration of this information will be part of the risk management process.

EPA understands there could be occupational safety protections in place at some workplace locations. However, not assuming use of PPE in its baseline exposure scenarios reflects EPA’s recognition that certain subpopulations of workers exist that may be highly exposed because:

  • They are not covered by OSHA standards (e.g., self-employed individuals and public sector workers who are not covered by a state plan);
  • Their employers are out of compliance with OSHA standards;
  • OSHA’s chemical-specific Permissible Exposure Limits (largely adopted in the 1970’s) are described by OSHA as being “outdated and inadequate for ensuring protection of worker health;” or
  • The OSHA permissible exposure limit alone may be inadequate for ensuring protection of worker health, as is the case for TCE.

As EPA moves forward with a risk management rulemaking for TCE, the agency will strive for consistency with existing OSHA requirements or best industry practices when those measures would address the identified unreasonable risk. EPA will propose occupational safety measures in the risk management process that would meet TSCA’s statutory requirement to eliminate unreasonable risk of injury to health and the environment.

Next Steps for TCE

EPA is now moving forward on risk management to address the unreasonable risk presented by TCE. While the risk evaluation included a description of the more sensitive endpoint (fetal heart malformations), it was not relied on to determine whether there is unreasonable risk from TCE because of direction not to do so that was provided by the previous political leadership. Unreasonable risks were nevertheless identified for most uses of TCE, but the magnitude of the risk from exposures to TCE would have been greater had EPA relied upon the fetal cardiac defect (CHD) endpoint that had been used in previous EPA peer-reviewed assessments. Therefore, EPA developed existing chemical exposure limits based on both the immune endpoint and the CHD endpoint in support of risk management, and the public will have an opportunity to comment on these in the forthcoming proposed regulatory action.

Note that in taking this action, EPA has not conducted a new scientific analysis on this chemical substance and the risk evaluation continues to characterize risks associated with individual conditions of use in the risk evaluation of TCE in order to inform risk management.

In June 2021, EPA announced a path forward for the first 10 chemicals to undergo risk evaluation under TSCA to ensure the public is protected from unreasonable risks from these chemicals in a way that is supported by science and the law. The revised risk determination for TCE was developed in accordance with these policy changes, as well as the Biden-Harris Administration’s Executive Orders and other directives, including those on environmental justice, scientific integrity and regulatory review. EPA’s revisions ensure that the TCE risk determination better aligns with the objectives of protecting health and the environment under amended TSCA.

Separately, EPA is conducting a screening-level approach to assess risks from the air and water pathways for several of the first 10 chemicals, including TCE. The goal of the screening approach is to evaluate the surface water, drinking water, and ambient air pathways for TCE that were excluded from the 2020 risk evaluation, and to determine if there are risks that were unaccounted for in that risk evaluation. EPA expects to describe its findings regarding the chemical-specific application of this screening-level approach in its proposed risk management rule for TCE.

Additionally, EPA expects to focus its risk management action on the conditions of use that drive the unreasonable risk. However, EPA is not limited to regulating the specific activities found to drive unreasonable risk and may select from among a wide range of risk management requirements. As a general example, EPA may regulate upstream activities (e.g., processing, distribution in commerce) to address downstream activities (e.g., consumer uses) driving unreasonable risk, even if the upstream activities do not drive the unreasonable risk.

Read more on EPA’s website.

Source: U.S. EPA

U.S. floats new steel, aluminum tariffs based on carbon emissions

Read the full story from Reuters.

U.S. officials are proposing to levy tariffs on steel and aluminum based on how much carbon the producing country’s industries emit, in a bid to fight climate change and “dirty” metals made in China and elsewhere, two people familiar with the plan said on Wednesday.

U.S. Department of Energy recognizes Better Plants partner Waupaca Foundry, Inc. for energy efficiency leadership

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently recognized Better Buildings, Better Plants partner Waupaca Foundry, Inc. for energy efficiency advances made in its Waupaca, Wisconsin facilities. DOE staff toured Waupaca’s Plant 1 to see firsthand examples of the efficiency innovations made throughout its portfolio.

As the world’s largest iron foundry, Waupaca melts up to 9,500 tons of iron per day. The company committed six facilities across the U.S. as an inaugural Better Plants partner and has reduced energy intensity by more than 20% to date. Since joining Better Plants, Waupaca’s commitment has expanded to include decarbonization through participation in DOE’s Low Carbon Pilot and Better Climate Challenge.

Waupaca received a 2022 Better Plants Better Project Award for upgrading and optimizing the compressed air system at Plant 1, increasing the system’s energy efficiency by 13.5% and reducing annual energy usage by 18,000 MMBtu and annual water usage by 13 million gallons.

At Plant 2/3, the company upgraded and expanded the waste heat recovery system by installing a new control system, upgrading piping, adding three new air units, incorporating new controls and heat recovery technologies, and commissioning the new system and additional air units to ensure all operational requirements were met. The improvements increased the amount of waste heat recovered at Plant 2/3 by 42% and informed Waupaca’s implementation of waste heat recovery upgrades at Plant 1.

The combined savings at Plants 1 and 2/3 reduced Waupaca’s natural gas usage by 1,200,000 therms per year, equivalent to $540,000 in annual savings and an annual reduction of 72,000 tons of CO2. Waupaca shared its process and results in a Better Plants Showcase Project so that other organizations may learn from its success.

Better Plants is part of the Better Buildings Initiative, through which DOE partners with public and private sector organizations to make commercial, public, industrial, and residential buildings more efficient, thereby saving energy and money while creating jobs. To date, more than 900 Better Buildings partners have shared their innovative approaches and strategies for adopting energy efficient technologies. Discover more than 3,000 of these solutions in the Better Buildings Solution Center.

MnTAP publication highlights work of 2022 P2 interns

The 2022 MnTAP Solutions magazine highlights the projects led by our 16 talented interns and the companies that supported their recommendations to reduce waste, water, energy. These projects resulted in proposed solutions that could save the companies $3,068,000 annually as well as significant environmental impacts.

EPA finds methylene chloride poses an unreasonable risk to human health

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a revision to the risk determination for methylene chloride, finding that methylene chloride, as a whole chemical substance, presents an unreasonable risk of injury to human health when evaluated under its conditions of use. The next step in the process is to develop a risk management rulemaking to identify and apply measures that will manage these risks.

Uses and Risks Associated with Methylene Chloride

Methylene chloride is a volatile chemical used as a solvent in vapor degreasing, metal cleaning, in the production of refrigerant chemicals, and as an ingredient in sealants and adhesive removers. Common consumer uses include adhesives, sealants, degreasers, cleaners and automobile products.

In its revised risk determination based on the 2020 risk evaluation, EPA found that methylene chloride presents unreasonable risk to the health of workers, occupational non-users (workers nearby but not in direct contact with this chemical), consumers and bystanders. EPA identified risks for adverse human health effects not related to cancer, including neurotoxicity and liver effects, from acute and chronic inhalation and dermal exposures to methylene chloride. EPA also identified risks for cancer from chronic inhalation and dermal exposures to methylene chloride.

EPA used the whole chemical risk determination approach for methylene chloride in part because there are benchmark exceedances for multiple conditions of use (spanning across most aspects of the chemical lifecycle from manufacturing (import), processing, commercial use, consumer use, and disposal) for health of workers, occupational non-users, consumers and bystanders, and because the health effects associated with methylene chloride exposures are severe and potentially irreversible (specifically cancer, coma, hypoxia and death).

Overall, EPA determined that 52 of the 53 conditions of use EPA evaluated drive the unreasonable risk determination. One condition of use does not drive the unreasonable risk: distribution in commerce. The revised risk determination supersedes the condition of use-specific no unreasonable risk determinations that were previously issued by order under section 6(i) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in the 2020 methylene chloride risk evaluation.

The revised risk determination for methylene chloride does not reflect an assumption that workers always and appropriately wear personal protective equipment (PPE), even though some facilities might be using PPE as one means to reduce workers’ exposure. This decision should not be viewed as an indication that EPA believes there is widespread non-compliance with applicable Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards. In fact, EPA has received public comments from industry respondents about occupational safety practices currently in use at their facilities and will consider these comments, as well as other information on use of PPE, engineering controls, and other ways industry protects its workers, as potential ways to address unreasonable risk during the risk management process. The consideration of this information will be part of the risk management process.

EPA understands there could be occupational safety protections in place at some workplace locations. However, not assuming use of PPE in its baseline exposure scenarios reflects EPA’s recognition that certain subpopulations of workers exist that may be highly exposed because:

As EPA moves forward with a risk management rulemaking for methylene chloride, the agency will strive for consistency with existing OSHA requirements or best industry practices when those measures would address the identified unreasonable risk. EPA will propose occupational safety measures in the risk management process that would meet TSCA’s statutory requirement to eliminate unreasonable risk of injury to health and the environment.

Next Steps for Methylene Chloride

EPA is now moving forward on risk management to address the unreasonable risk presented by methylene chloride. Note that in taking this action, EPA has not conducted a new scientific analysis on this chemical and the risk evaluation continues to characterize risks associated with individual conditions of use in the risk evaluation of methylene chloride in order to inform risk management.

In June 2021, EPA announced a path forward for the first 10 chemicals to undergo risk evaluation under TSCA to ensure the public is protected from unreasonable risks from these chemicals in a way that is supported by science and the law. The revised risk determination for methylene chloride was developed in accordance with these policy changes, as well as the Biden-Harris Administration’s Executive Orders and other directives, including those on environmental justice, scientific integrity, and regulatory review. EPA’s revisions ensure that the methylene chloride risk determination better aligns with the objectives of protecting health and the environment under the amended TSCA.

Separately, EPA is conducting a screening-level approach to assess potential risks from the air and water pathways for several of the first 10 chemicals, including methylene chloride. The goal of the screening approach is to evaluate the surface water, drinking water, and ambient air pathways for methylene chloride that were excluded from the 2020 risk evaluation, and to identify if there are risks that were unaccounted for in that risk evaluation. EPA expects to describe its findings regarding the chemical-specific application of this screening-level approach in its proposed risk management rule for methylene chloride.

Additionally, EPA expects to focus its risk management action on the conditions of use that drive the unreasonable risk. However, EPA is not limited to regulating the specific activities found to drive unreasonable risk, and may select from among a wide range of risk management requirements. As a general example, EPA may regulate upstream activities (e.g., processing, distribution in commerce) to address downstream activities (e.g., consumer uses) driving unreasonable risk, even if the upstream activities do not drive the unreasonable risk.

Read More.

Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap

DOE’s Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap frames the emerging and transformative technology pathways needed to achieve net-zero GHG emissions in the industrial sector by 2050. It identifies four key pillars of industrial decarbonization:

  • energy efficiency;
  • industrial electrification;
  • low-carbon fuels, feedstocks, and energy sources (LCFFES); and
  • carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS).

Each represents a high-level element of an industrial decarbonization action plan, and a cohesive strategy will require all four pillars to be pursued in parallel. The report also covers decarbonization in five industry subsectors:

  • iron and steel
  • chemical manufacturing
  • food and beverage
  • petroleum refining
  • cement manufacturing

Cooling system energy savings in three “easy” steps

Read the full story at Chiller & Cooling Best Practices.

An Illinois food service products manufacturer now saves nearly 60% of their base annual cooling energy costs through improvements made in three phases over several years. The plant, which has a 1200 ton chilled water plant, implemented upgrades including pump and tower fan VFDs and enhanced function controls, free cooling, and chiller compressor drive retrofits. The revisions built through successive phases to capture further benefits from more complete utilization of the preceding steps’ capabilities.

ShAPE™: Energy Efficient Manufacturing of Extraordinary Materials

Read the full story from DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

In 2019, the Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) awarded Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) $1.8M to develop new ways to manufacture high-performance aluminum alloy tubing with lower embedded energy and improved mechanical properties relative to conventional methods. The process developed by PNNL reduces the cost of advanced and high-strength aluminum alloys, allowing for broader applications throughout the economy.

Swedish Space Corporation partners with Boliden to reduce emission footprint using satellite data

Read the full story at SatNews.

Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) and the Swedish mining and metals company, Boliden, have entered into a partnership to track and reduce emissions from smelters.

TURI releases guide to safer alternatives for halogenated solvents

TURI’s new Alternatives to Halogenated Solvents Used in Surface Cleaning Guide provides insight into safer options for specific applications, shows how to evaluate those alternatives, and determine information needed from equipment vendors. Links to case studies sprinkled throughout showcase safer alternative chemistries and equipment used, performance testing process, and return on investment.