Document 2JaeRdpkw1x5R61YM0jRwROB6

URL 2 0 3 5 7 Government with the key role in hammering out a reasonable compromise on the total AdministrSm split on clean air changes package, which, Mr. Train says, will "provide EPA with the flexibility needed to achieve compliance with air The Nixon Admitraom, as prom nondegradation of clean eir wnnltj *`ry. quality standards without weakening ised, has propd- a package of move the authority of the Federal Gov the basic thrust of the statute." All of amendments to ten Cfcan Air An ernment to promulgate -uanrlarHs mnre which tends to make the controversy requirements,dririaig tbr changes are sfringeHT **' tn protect nnh. over changing the Clean Air Act less needed to heifMrtbe Mian's energy he health or welfare." EPA savs. In es exacerbating and improves chances problems. sence, the AdmmisTration proposal that Congress will act favorably on As expectri&thife poposals have would negate _a court order that re- most of the proposals after some tin sparked contrwamjaac only among ouired EPA to prevent "significant de. kering and perhaps heated debate on the White HoanOBwcrem. and envi ronmentalists,Asfrite within the Ad noration' ot the nation's a~tr~Quality. the provisions on which Mr. Train has he U.S. District Court tor"tRe District voiced objections. ministration iriBTflrmiaininilnl Pro of Columbia ruled that allowing states tection Agenc^dakiwlxator Russell to permit deterioration of clean air is Emergency rules setE. Train has dtaowldtar jgnk that `'contrary to the legislative policy" of be takes a decMtjftfte of two of the Clean Air Act. It ordered EPA to for vinyl chloridethe AdministaMuto key proposals. issue new rules to prevent "significant These proposaM&K<fDr come degra deterioration" of airquality. dation of curflti# pristine air and EPA then developed four alternative Immediate steps taken by the Govern allow use of inwtttoat ar alternative sets of regulations to prevent dean air ment to safeguard workers from dying control strategimnafaei than perma from getting dirty. EPA proposals re of a rare liver cancer most likely due to nent controls sfeaa lowsulfur fuels quired use of "best available" control vinyl chloride exposure won't unduly or scrubbing ftitmiocy for power technology for 16 categories of air pol burden most firms either making the plant emissions, any ether op lution sources including sulfuric acid monomer or converting it to polyvinyl pose both or iifftirfiTfciie options in plants, petroleum refineries, and any chloride. Small producers of finished Congressional triBway. "EPA does other stationary sources that emit more PVC goods may find complying with not support propads in these areas." than 4000 tons per year of any pollu the interim ceiling of 50 p.p.m. vinyl Mr. Train says, Aw "other agencies tant covered by national standards. chloride in work-place air costly, de feel strongly thatAptazion is needed, Under other provisions of the Ad pending upon the analytical method and we agree thaadfcee. matters repre ministration's amendments to the required. But the real rub for many sent issues that xfcald be examined by Clean Air Act: firms, big or small, will come later ir Congress." The President could require plants meeting the 1-p.p.m. vinyl chloride ex EPA notes thatather agencies feel to burn coal rather than oil or gas until posure limit proposed for a permanent that indefinite ua^intermutent con 1980, provided health-based standards standard. trol systems wS ha "significantly are maintained. Two rules on vinyl chloride by the cheaper, use less ag1. and result in EPA could temporarily suspend Occupational Safety and Health Ad less solid wastes rim some stack gas emission limits for power plants until ministration were due to appear in the cleaning technology" Ob the other November 1974 if necessary fuel is un Federal Register late last week or early hand, EPA belief that "sulfates available, and subject to conditions this week. OSHA will set an emergency formed from sulfurwide gaseous emis preventing imminent or substantial temporary standard and propose a per sions are causing priCc health prob danger to public health. manent standard to succeed it. The lems now, that pezammnt controls will EPA could extend by five years rules will affect all plants handling the be necessary to prom* public health in the dean air deadline for 38 metropoli chemical. the future, and dri costs could be tan areas that could not meet 1977 air The emergency ruling will lower the greater in the long me should new re quality standards, and an additional current ceiling of 500 p.p.m. vinyl quirements to deel sulfates force five-year extension could be granted. chloride to 50 p.p.m., OSHA chief expensive retrofits." EPA would get authority to waive John H. Stender said in a March 22 new source performance standards to statement. It also will call for work encourage innovative and experimental place monitoring and. when the new control technology, provided that pri ceiling is exceeded, wearing such gear mary air quality standards are met. as air-supplied respirators as well as EPA would get authority to set impervious suits in some instances. design on equipment standards for The National Institute for Occupa sources when it is not feasible to set tional Safety and Health is urging emission or performance standards. OSHA to require use of an analytical Civil penalties of up to $25,000 per method involving a gas collecting tube day of violation of air quality standards tied in with a gas chromatograph. The by stationary sources could be levied. method's sensitivity is about 1 p.p.m. Environmental impact statements vinyl chloride. The technique is criti by the Federal Energy Office would be cized by one industry expert as being required when ordering certain coal "too expensive" and not providing conversions or coal allocation actions of "real-time" analysis. For PVC finishing more than one year's duration. operations, he adds, a simpler method, Federal auto emission standards using, for example, a Drager tube at a for the 1975 model year for carbon cost of SI.00 per test, would be ade monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen quate to demonstrate compliance with oxides would be extended through the the emergency standard. 1976 and 1977 model years. The ceiling reduction results from On balance, these Administration investigations (C&EN, Feb. 25. page proposals are more moderate than 16) of Prof. Cesare Maltoni. Istiiuto Di some options that were heatedly debat Oncologia, Bologna. Italy, Mr. Stender ed within the Administration. Indeed, says. "Maltoni's studies demonstrated some EPA officials credit Mr. Train that reduction from 500 p.p.m. to 50 Aprill. 1974 C&EN 11 URL 2 0 3 5 8 p.p.m. provides a considerable degree of protection from the 250-p.p.m. con centration (of vinyl chloride in air] ob served by Maltoni to be cancer-causing in animals, while those exposed only to 50 p.p.m. showed no apparent ill ef fects, " he explains. (Prof. Maltoni is running further tests with greater numbers of rats at the 50-p.p.m. level, however, to confirm or refute this "no effect" finding.) Just hours after Mr. Stender's brief statement to the press was issued, or ganized labor and chemical industry officials met privately and separately with him. Industry has opposed an emergency rule, preferring to await the results of ongoing epidemiology and Stender: Interim celling of 50 p.p.m. animal toxicity studies, while working methodically toward a new, permanent to become so, not -work "directly in rule. Organized labor, meantime, has vinyl chloride monomer operations." asked for a tough emergency rule at Prof. Maltoni found that the offspring once with "no measurable exposure" of rats exposed to 10,000 and 6000 and medical tests, among other things. p.p.m. of vinyl chloride developed sub Sheldon Samuels, safety and health cutaneous fibrosing angiosarcomas. director for AFL-CIO's industrial union "Serious objections" to XIOSH's department, criticizes the emergency medical protocol are raised by Dr. Sid rule as ineffective. The new ceiling "is ney Wolfe, of the Ralph Xader-affili- ao high," he say's, "that the United ated Health Research Group. For one, Rubber Workers Union tells us that he tells C&EX, it "seems absurd" not, only 20% of the plants it represents to cover workers in contact with vinyl] would have to make any changes at all chloride in operations other than thel to meet it." At least six PVC plants monomer and polymer plants. What V and one vinyl chloride plant now oper more, liver function tests should be ate at levels of 10 p.p.m., he says. done every four months, he urges, to PVC plants inside buildings occa detect the cancer sooner. sionally exceed the new ceiling, partic ularly in the area of polymerization re actors. Workers who clean reactors are apparently those most susceptible to the liver cancer. Researchers have BLS releases nuclear manpower figures found that during reactor scraping op erations, after polymerization, concen With AEC and the nuclear industry in trations close to the worker's hand the midst of a major gearing up on the ranged from 600 to 1000 p.p.m. [Arch. breeder and other nuclear power proj Environ. Health, 22, 79 (1971)]. Clean*/ ects, the Bureau of Labor Statistics up methods now are safer. (BLS) has released new figures on how OSHA's Stender visited Dow Chemi many people are employed at what in cal and Union Carbide plants in Free the atomic energy field in the U.S. and Texas City, Tex., respective As of last July (latest available fig rbefore opting for the emergent ures), BLS says that about 171,000 rule. "Theoretically," he aays, a ppeer rsons were employed in atomic ener manent standard "can be on the boogky work with employment almost as early as June." It's expected tha equally divided between Government- OSHA will bypass setting up an advi- owned establishments operated by con ory panel for the permanent rule andl tractors (85,100) and privately owned that a public hearing will be requested. I establishments (85,800) including non OSHA last week was expected to | profit institutions. BLS adds that em adopt most of the medical surveillance 1 ployment has steadily declined at Gov programs urged by XIOSH. The pro-1 ernment-owned facilities since 1967-- gram covers all monomer and PVC I when about 101,500 were plant employees, including clerical and I employed--and dropped by about managerial staff. Besides such lab pro 10,000 from 1971 to 1973. However, cedures as complete blood count, uri employment in privately owned estab nalysis, and chest x-ray, the program lishments believed by AEC to be en recommends five mandatory liver func gaged In atomic energy activities has tion tests: total bilirubin, alkaline increased by 24,300 above a 61.500 phosphatase, serum glutamic oxaiace- level reported in 1971. BLS attributes tic transaminase, serum glutamic py about half (12,900 employees) of the ruvic transaminase, and gamma gluta increase in private employment to new myl transpeptidase. The tests are to be establishments added in the two-year done yearly, except when abnormalities period, and the remaining 11,400 to show up or when a worker already has growth in the private sector. had lOy'ears of vinyl chloride exposure. BLS collected these and other em Significantly, XIOSH urges that ployment data from about 60 Govern pregnant women, or those who exPpecJ ment-owned and about 740 privately owned establishments. Excluded were employees of federal, state, and local governments, those working in urani um mining and construction (other than reactors), and personnel employed in non-AEC-connected university atomic energy research and teaching. "More than 45% of the atomic energy workers surveyed in 1973 were scien tists, engineers, and technicians. BLS says. Engineers made up the largest group (33,000), followed by technicians (31,600 including nuclear reactor oper ators) and scientists (13,600). Chemical engineers accounted for 2300 of the en gineering work force with 1100 of the chemical engineers engaged in R&D. Chemists accounted for 3700 of the sci entists' work force, with 2500 engaged in R&D. Overall, about 45% (20,800) of the scientists and engineers were working on R&D projects, with about 34% of the engineers and about 70% of the sci entists engaged in R&D. Of the 11.200 engineers working in R&D, 8000 worked in Government-owned facili ties, and 3200 in privately owned facili ties. About 9600 mathematicians and earth, physical, and life scientists were employed in R&D projects, with 8200 working in Government-owned facili ties, and 1400 working in privately owned facilities. BLS points out that of 20 different industrial segments surveyed, three segments employed nearly 80,000 employees or 47% of the atomic energy manpower: Weapons de%*elopment and pro duction. Total employment: 31,600. About 4300 of these workers were engi neers, about 2600 scientists. Chemical engineers accounted for 296 of this work force, chemists <9 positions. Reactor and reactor component design and manufacturing. Total em ployment: 26,900. About 5900 of these workers were engineers, about 500 sci entists. Chemical engineers accounted for 286 of this work force, chemists about 100 positions. Design and engineering of nuclear facilities. Total employment: 21,500. About 9200 of these workers w-ere engi neers, about 400 scientists. Chemical engineers accounted for 211 of this work force, chemists about 45 posi tions. All other segments of the atomic en ergy Held surveyed employed 91,000 workers, including 13,600 engineers and 10,100 scientists. C-hemical engi neers in the "other segments" category numbered 1507 and chemists 2776. About 55% of all scientists and engi neers in atomic energy activities were supported by federal funds, BLS says. In the private sector, only 17% of the scientists and engineers were supported with federal funds in 1973. This com pares with 26% in 1971 and 32% in 1970. Private industry's own funds sup ported 63% of their scientific and engi neering work force, other sources the remaining 20%, BLS says. *9 CM Amrll 1 DEAR CUSTOMER DUE TO A CLERICAL ERROR, THERE ARE NO ORIGINALS FOR THE BATES RANGE SHOWN <40 3 ? to Photocopying Dfgttaf Pitting Document imaging Managementservices URL 2 0 3 6 0 /fee new and old chemicals were heard mize use of benzene extraction and at an American Cancer Society fractionating capacity. seminar in St. Augustine, Fla., FEO modify petroleum alloca where the current cancer scare aver tion regulations to assure feedstock vinyl chloride was aired. There, Dr. needs for new benzene capacity. Irving J. Selikoff, Mount Sinai The Environmental Protection School of Medicine, New York Agency reconsider its plans for re City, estimated that perhaps 5% of moving lead from gasoline, since the polyvinyl chloride work force additional benzene will be needed will get an incurable liver cancer. for octane building. Although this estimate is based largely on medical studies at a {Goodyear Tire & Rubber PVC >lant, much more is expected to be Strike continues at earned when the New York Acade my of Sciences holds a by-invita- Dow Midland complex Mr. WKjteimag and Mr. Bren nan provterf tlK committee with the specifhsef the industry's posi tion-only meeting May 10--11 with papers given by virtually all the top scientists studying vinyl chloride. Dow Chemical's Midland, Mich., production facilities set a new rec ord last Wednesday by operating at tion. SCOlA's Whittemore fo more than 90% of capacity the first cused on 2GB and sector-by-sector Benzene shortagereciprocity puuiwuns tbe chemical pinned on governmentindustry wants included in the time ever, a Dow spokesman boasts. What makes the boast in teresting is that the Midland com trade bill. MOfi Brennan focused plex is Deing struck by its hourly on the need forose of industry ad Benzene supplies arc 10 to 15% workers and is being operated by vice in the negotiations and for below anticipated demand and they some 2700 salaried employees curbing "enacssiwe" tariff cutting are likely to stay that way. Big con working 22-hour shifts. authority inter House bill. sumers such as styrene makers are The strike began March 18 after being forced to cut back produc contract negotiations between CancerfaSI passes, infighting goes on tion. And much of the blame for this situation lies with the Federal Energy Office. These are the major findings of a United Steel workers Local 12075 and the company broke down. The contract had expired March 11, but was extended while negotiations new report by the Petrochemical went on. However, a majority of the A bill authcaring federal cancer re Energy Group (PEG), an organiza 5300 union members rejected Dow's search efforts ta continue for three tion of 21 major chemical produc offer of SI.62 per hour in additional more years at a cost totaling nearly ers. According to the organization, wages and benefits (74 cents in ac $2.6 billion saied through the Sen companies in the chemical industry tual wages) spread over a three- ate last week without a "nay" vote, are still experiencing significant year period. According to Dow, the despite the threat of a veto by shortages of particular feedstocks of current average hourly rate at Mid President Nason. as much as 50% in some cases. land is S5.32 for union workers. Although supporting more cancer Total U.S. benzene production in At the outset there was mass research, the Administration op 1973, PEG estimates, was 1.45 bil picketing at the Midland works and poses the biffs provision setting up lion gallons, and imports amounted also picketing at company head a five-member Presidential panel to to 23 million gallons. With demand quarters. There were reports of oversee all federal biomedical re estimated at 1.74 billion gallons minor scuffles between striking and search. Neither enhanced Congres (based on available derivative ca- nonstriking employees, but the sit Rsional control nor better adminis tration of health programs would , a potential 260 million gal- uation is now said to be quiet. lortage resulted. A PEG Dow went to court March 19 to result, Frank Carlucci, Health, Ed spokesman sees this shortfall gpeetra n injunction against the strik ucation, and Welfare undersecreta sisting into 1974. ers; instead, the union local signed ry, has said in urging a veto. PEG claims that, despite priori a letter of understanding (in lieu of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D.- ties given petrochemicals in the injunction) limiting it to 75 pickets Mass.) and others won approval for mandatory petroleum allocation at each plant gate and at head the panel, particularly by question program, crude oil allocations to re quarters. However, Dow says, there ing the wisdom of cutbacks at the finers may have reduced benzene was difficulty getting trucks in and ENational Institutes of Health, while troduction by forcing refiners with out of the plant, ana some harass cancer and heart disease research arge benzene extraction facilities ment of nonstriking workers. So have received added funds. (such as Gulf Oil) to sell "excess" Dow went back to court on March Among Sen. Kennedy's argu crude to smaller refiners that don't 23 and obtained a preliminary in ments for the bill is what he calls have benzene capacity. junction that enjoined mass picket the need to counter a "chemical FEO refinery yield programs also ing, and called on both parties to onslaught." Some 10,000 new may be discouraging benzene out resume negotiations in good faith. chemicals are produced yearly in put by shifting refinery output At press time, negotiations were quantities of 1 ton or more. About toward middle distillates' or gaso still under way, but there were no 500 are tested in the U.S. each line. predictions as to the outcome. Jrear, he adds. "Obviously at this PEG recommendations for easing A side effect of the strike is that evel we cannot catch up with test supplies include that: Dow, for the first time ini its histo ing the older chemicals or even FEO make allowances for ben ry, will hold its annual stockholders make a dent in the yearly inunda zene needs before allocating crude meeting outside of Midland. The tion of the new," he concludes. oil among refiners, and start a re meeting will be held instead in Similar viewpoints on testing finery' monitoring program to maxi Miami on May 8. April 1, 1974 C&EN 5 I Vinyl Chloride Exposure Should Be Cut To Unmeasurable Levels, Officials Urge My o Wau. Strut Jouxnal Staff Rtyorter step of appointing an advisory committee tq WASHINGTON -- Over the objections of make recommendations. Expedited stan- . Industry, federal scientists are recommend dard setting might take up to four or five * ing that worker exposure to vinyl chloride months. v be reduced to amounts too email to be mea Any decision to avoid a more immediate , sured cer. in order to avert possible Uver can emergency standard would distress labor groups. Tbe AFL-CSO's industrial unicn de Federal standards currently limit expo partment had sought such a standard, which sure to vinyl chloride to 800 parts-per mil would Impose engineering and workplace! lion in file atmosphere, and industry experts practices to reduce vinyl chloride exposures have urged that the limit be set at 80 parts while a penpscent standard is being pre per mOHoo, . pared. Without such rules, there isn't any However, scientists at the National Insti protection for workers while tbs standard- tute for Occupational Safety and Health are mefanft process moves forward, said Shel Unable "to describe a safe exposure level," don Samuels, the industrial <" depart Dr. Marcos Key,.the institute's director, ad ment's safety and health director. vised tile Labor Department. Therefore, be added, "We rejected the concept of a threshold limit for vinyl chloride gas in the atmosphere." "Nothing is happening in the plants" to improve protection of workers because con cerns are awaiting Issuance of federal stan dards. Mr. Samuels asserted. 8ome con Instead, the institute is recommending cerns have asserted they ere reducing expo that when an employe is exposed to sny sures and improving procedures without measurable concentration of vinyl chloride federal directives. gas, he should wear an air-supplied respira Dr. Keys recommendation covers cam' tor. -* panics that convert vinyl chloride, a color' In addition, the proposal calls for a con less gas, into polyvinyl chloride, a widely trol plan to reduce air-bome levels of vinyl used solid plastic ">*<< chloride to amounts that can't be detected by certain recommended procedures, as well as an air-sampling procedure and a system of full body protective clothing lor workers in regulated areas. In a memo to tbe department's Occupa tional Safety and Health Administration, Dr. Key said nine cases of angiosarcoma, a rare type of Uver cancer, have been discov ered among workers exposed to vinyl chlor ide for periods of 12 years and longer. Some 8,800 employes at ST plants operated by 23 U.S. manufacturers are potentially in volved. a 7r~3 to o CT' The problem came to public attention in January when a division of B. F. Goodrich Co. said four workers at its Louisville, Ky., plant, which converts vinyl chloride into polyvinyl chloride, had died from the rare liver cancer. Dr., Key's institute, an arm of tbe De partment of Health, Education and Welfare, makes scientific . recommendations on worker exposure to hazardous substances. However, actual standards are set by the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA. Tbe department hasn't decided whether to issue an emergency standard for vinyl chloride exposure, an OSHA spokesman said yesterday. Dr. Key is proposing "expe dited" procedures to formulate a permanent standard. Under such procedures, the de partment might, for example, skip the usual \ Goodrich to Fund Study Of Vinyl Chloride Cancer By WiU Brassi JoVKifaj.Btag Reporter AKRON, Ohio - B.F. Goodrich Co. said It Is funding a medical research program on angiosarcoma, a form of liver cancer, and related liver diseases at University of Louisville's health set' ences center and cancer center. lbe first year of the program is esti> mated to cost <300,000, all to be supplied by Goodrich, the university .said, "it is our goal to provide medical information 'that can be applied practically tn the detection and treatment of liver all* meets that may have resulted from worker exposure to vinyl - chloride," said Dr. Harold Boyer, vice president for health affairs. University of Louis' ville. ' ' Eventually the program could lead to expanded medical studies on liver diseases for which aAMHrmai support from other sources would be sought, the university said. Goodrich became concerned about file rare form of liver cancer after sev eral fatal cases were discovered at Its Louisville polyvinyl chloride plant, sug gesting that the disease may be trig gered by exposure to chemicals in volved in Its production. URL 2 0 3 6 2 | ' i