Document R2OBnXKdq9doBjKe0DwDarKnV

FILE NAME: Friction Materials Standards Institute (FMS) DATE: 1971 Sept 29 DOC#: FMS011 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Letter to FMS from Raybestos RE Asbestos Study Committee Meeting / '" x Raybestos^vM anhattan : * * n io < < rr 5 \ O ro-- m o-ws 3 mPTT September 27, 1971 a 3 Oam 3 o 3 I Mr. E. Drislane o Friction Materials Standards Institute, Inc. 370 Lexington Avenue New York, New York 10017 Dear Ed: I 'am returning your draft copy of the minutes of our meeting of the Asbestos Study Committee without change, I think yo u have covered the matters that were discussed quite well. As agreed upon at that meeting, I em also enclosing -a copy of the Federal proposal for the emission standards for asbestos. You will recall that the members of the committee thought it well to see this draft copy even though we now know that the.Federal standards will be quite different. Nonetheless itJLs.being sub mitted for information purposes. You are to make copies and distribute such to the members of the comnittee. In addition I am enclosing a copy of the comments and suggestions that were made regarding this initial draft by the AIA at a recent meeting that was held in Atlanta about mid-August. These comments and suggestions were given to the entire group assembled and w e were advised that they would be given consideration in the revised version, which we have yet to see. Again, this is being supplied for information purposes. Further, I agreed to advise all "the Committee members as to'what happened at our unofficial meeting with some members of the Illinois Pollution 'Control Board held in Chicago on September 17. Since that meeting covered matters other than the ban on asbestos in brake lining, I will quote you from portions of the minutes I have received regarding that session. I would urge that you advise our committee members that this information is to be considered extremely confidential at this point, especially since the meeting w'as held in advance .of the public hearings. 1 Those present in Chicago on September 17 were Timothy Harker, Administrative Assistant to the Illinois Pollution Control Board, and Walter Romanok, also of the Illinois Pollution Control Board on a part tine basis. Representing them from a technical stand point was Dr. Colin Harwood, whom I believe was instrumental in writing a great portion of the proposed regulations. He is from an Illinois Institute of Technical Research, I believe is the proper title. Representing our side was Dr. George Wright of St. Luke's Hospital in Cleveland, E. M. Fenner, W. P. Raines and Dr. S. Speil of J/M, and myself. The two-hour meeting was quite cordial and useful. Despite Barker's great reluctance to schedule the meeting, and his suggestion on September 13 that it be cancelled, he proved to be quite communi cative and certainly did not evidence hostility. We learned that public hearings will be held in Illinois on Wednesday, October 6, in Granite City at 9:30 A.M. in. the court house; on Friday, October 15, in Chicago at the Field Museum at 10:00 A.M.; and Tuesday, October 19, in Waukegan at 10:00 A.M. at the public library, Karker indicated a preference that the asbestos industry, through the AIA/NA, testify as a unit rather than each asbestos company testifying separately. Harker indicated a strong preference that the industry present its testimony at the Waukegan hearing rather than at the Chicago hearing. They expect the Chicago hearing to be "crowded". It is neither necessary nor desirable to appear at more than one of the hearings. Testimony should be given .verbally and in writing. Ten copies or the written version should be submitted to the Board in advance, he advised Harker that we would let him know which hearing we would present our testimony at, who would testify for the industry, and the amount of time that we would require. Cm the matter of the brake lining ban, this subject required surprisingly brief discussion. Harker called it "a weak point in our* regulations". He implied--though he did not say so--that it was inserted in order to gain publicity for the proposed regulations and hearings. He said it would "stimulate discussion". Harker did say that one automobile company had told him that their company would be using only asbestos-free disc brakes by 197S and that the asbestos ban would thus not affect them. - 3- Dr. Harwood said that CM and Chrysler had told him that they saw no way of eliminating asbestos from brake blocks or discs without seriously diminishing the effectiveness of the brakes. Harker seemed impressed by this and commented that the Board didn't want to kill more people than it "saved" by any such ban. We mentioned the Bendix studies being conducted for the EPA relative to the emissions of moving vehicles. The Illinois people seem to know very little aboutvhat the Federal EPA is doing relative to asbestos emission standards and what the Bendix test involvement is. Harker also mentioned that New York City is testing the air in subways and other closed in areas to see what the asbestos fiber level is there, presumably being produced from vehicles. * I believe that summarizes what transpired to a great extent at that meeting. In view of the time limitations for these hearings, frtm the standpoint of getting prepared, it would seem that the AIA/NA will carry the ball for the entire group since I do not think that the FNSI Committee can function with any realistic data at this point. This is a personal opinion of mine and I would appreciate any comnents anyone might care to make regarding such a positicnIn the meanwhile, through Johns-Manville, the AIA has testified at various city and state hearings on the ban of asbestos in spray coating and also testified in Washington in a written form regarding the hazardous nature of asbestos so I believe we have a format winich can be presented from that group in Illinois and be effective. Sane of it will be written and in addition we will probably have people testify on the aspects other than the brake lining ban. I believe the portion on the brake lining ban will be limited to the publica tions which I submitted to each coimittee member at our first meeting. I believe this..concludes my report to you and the items that I agreed to take care of. If there are any other areas where I can be of help, please let me know. Very truly yours, E. P. Stefl Attachments 0 I have just been advised that the ALA/NA testimony will be presented c.n Fridav, 10/15. in Chicago. Perhaps you would care to be present.