Document Ra8ngoqJO0355wj3Gv244KBXX

FILE NAME: EPA National Emission Standards DATE: 1978 DOC#: EPA005 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: EPA Final Amendments to Emission Standards  26372 RULES AND REGULATIONS [6560- 01 ] Title 40-- Protection of the Environment CHAPTER I-- ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL 869-7] PART 61-- NATIONAL EMISSION STANDARDS FOR HAZARDOUS AIR* POLLUTANTS Amendments to Asbestos Standard AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: This rule amends the na tional emission standard for asbestos by extending the requirements of the provisions which apply to the spraying of asbestos-containing materials and to demolition and renovation oper ations. These amendments are a result of a determination that the standard did not require control of asbestos emissions during spray application of asbestos-containing materials other than fireproofing and insulation or during the demolition and renovation of structures where friable asbestos materials other than fireproofing and insulation are present. EFFECTIVE DATE: June 19, 1978. ADDRESS: A summary of the public comments on the proposed amend ments and EPA's responses is con tained in the Standards Support Docu ment which may be obtained upon written request from the EPA Library (MD-35), Research Triangle Park, N.C. 27711 (specify Standards Support Document: Promulgated Amendments to National Emission Standard for As bestos, EPA 450/2-77-030, January, 1978). The Standards Support Docu ment is also available for public in spection and copying at the EPA Public Information Reference Unit, Room 2922 (EPA Library), 401 M Street SW., Washington, D.C. 20460. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Don R. Goodwin, Director, Emission Standards and Engineering Division (MD-13), Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, N.C. 27711, telephone number 919 541-5271. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March 2, 1977 (42 FR 12121), amendments to the national emission standard for asbestos were proposed under section 112 of the Clean Air Act. Interested persons participated in the rulemaking by submitting comments to EPA. The comments have been con sidered and, where determined by the Administrator to be appropriate, changes reflecting these comments have been incorporated into the pro mulgated amendments. Under section 112(e) of the Clean Air Act, as amended in 1977, the Ad ministrator may promulgate a "design, equipment, work practice, or oper ational standard, or combination thereof" for control of a hazardous air pollutant if it is infeasible to prescribe an emission standard under section 112(b) for the pollutant. Such infeasi bility occurs, for example, when "a hazardous pollutant or pollutants cannot be emitted through a convey ance designed and constructed to emit or capture such a pollutant" or when "the application of measurement methodology to a particular class of sources is not practicable due to tech nological or economic limitations." The spraying of friable asbestos mate rials and demolition or renovation of buildings containing such materials are sources of asbestos emissions for which EPA believes it is not feasible to prescribe a numerical emission stand ard. This is because asbestos cannot be emitted through a conveyance which readily captures emissions for mea surement and because such measure ment, in any event, would be techno logically and-economically impractical. Therefore, work practice standards rather than emission standards are being promulgated. This promulgation is not affected by the Supreme Court decision in Adamo Wrecking Co. v. U.S. (No. 76-911, de cided January 10, 1978). That case arose in the narrow context of a crimi nal enforcement proceeding and was decided on an interpretation of section 112 prior to its amendment in 1977. The court held that the pre-1977 ver sion of section 112 did not authorize a portion of the national emission stand ard for asbestos (prescribing certain work practices for demolition and ren ovation activities) because it consisted of requirements other than numerical limitations on emissions. The 1977 amendments to section 112 now clear ly authorize the Administrator to pro mulgate work practice or other nonnu merical standards in order to control emissions of hazardous air pollutants. Another important 1977 amendment to the Clean Air Act explicitly au thorizes citizens and States, under sec tion 304, to enforce work practice and other nonnumerical standards promul gated under section 112. S ummary of Amendments The national emission standard for asbestos currently regulates demoli tion and renovation operations involv ing asbestos-containing insulation and fireproofing materials and prohibits the spray application of these materi als if they contain more than 1 per cent asbestos. The promulgated amendments extend coverage of the demolition and renovation provisions (40 CFR 61.22(d)) to all friable asbes tos materials and extend the coverage of the asbestos spraying provisions (40 CFR 61.22(e)) to all materials which contain more than 1 percent asbestos. Materials in which the asbestos fibers are encapsulated with a bituminous or resinous binder and which are not fri able after drying are exempt from the spraying provisions. Summary of E nvironmental and E conomic Impacts The promulgated amendments to the asbestos standard will have a sig nificant beneficial environmental impact by reducing emissions of asbes tos to the atmosphere. There will be minimal solid waste and water pollu tion impacts from the increased amount of friable asbestos materials which must be removed and disposed of in conjunction with demolition or renovation. No impact on national energy consumption is anticipated. The amendments to the demolition and renovation provisions may in crease the cost of demolition or ren ovation because of the increased amount of friable asbestos-containing materials which w;ill be covered by these regulations/' Comments from representatives of the demolition in dustry, however, did not address this point. Therefore, this impact is not ex pected to be significant. Spray-on asbestos-containing decora tive coatings are the primary products prohibited by the amendments to the spraying restrictions. Since substitutes are available for these products, no significant adverse economic impacts are expected to result from prohibit ing their use. S ignificant Comments During the public comment period, EPA received 24 letters commenting on the proposed amendments. These included 16 from industry, 3 from other governmental agencies, and 5 from other interested parties. As a result of these comments, there has been only one significant change made to the amendments since proposal. This change involves the spraying re striction in 61.22(e). The proposed amendments would have prohibited the spraying of all materials contain ing more than 1 percent asbestos by weight. Several commenters, however, re quested that EPA exempt from the spraying restrictions certain bitumi nous- and resinous-based asbestos-con taining coatings. These coatings are typically used as roofing compounds, waterproofing of insulation exposed to the weather, automobile undercoat ings, and industrial maintenance coat ings. Based on information supplied by the commenters, there are no accept able substitutes available for these FEDERAL REGISTER, V O L 43, NO. 118--MONDAY, JUNE 19, 1978 RULES AND REGULATIONS 26373 uses of asbestos. Among the most likely substitutes which have been in vestigated are glass, cotton, wood, cel lulose, mineral wool, hemp, and other types of inorganic and organic fibers; gelling and thickening agents; clay thickeners, including attapulgite; ground cork; styrofoam; ground rubber; vermiculite; feldspar; polyeth ylene fibrous powders; and ceramic fibers. Generally, these substitutes have been found to be unacceptable because of unsatisfactory durability; insufficient bulk; unsatisfactory quali ties related to fibrous reinforcing, ho mogeneity, and adhesiveness; agglom eration during spraying; and settle ment in the container over time. Fur thermore, if asbestos fibers are re leased during application of the coat ings, during their service life, or during demolition or renovation, the fibers will not remain airborne because they are encapsulated by droplets of the binder and are too heavy to remain suspended. Because there do not appear to be acceptable substitutes available and any beneficial environmental impact resulting from the prohibition of this use of asbestos would be negligible, the spraying of materials in which the asbestos fibers are encapsulated by a bituminous or resinous binder and which are not friable after drying is exempt from the provisions of 61.22(e) of the promulgated amend ments. There were several other significant comments which did not result in changes to the amendments. To aid enforcement of the proposed spraying restrictions in 61.22(e), commenters suggested that products should be la beled as to their asbestos content if they contain in excess of 1 percent as bestos by dry weight and have the po tential for spray-on application. Re quiring labeling would constitute a sig nificant change in the amendments and would require reproposal. Rather than reproposing, the need for this provision will be assessed during en forcement of the amendments and, if appropriate, labeling requirements will be proposed. One commenter suggested that the regulation be extended to require re moval of existing asbestos-containing sprayed materials which present sig nificant risks to human health due to deterioration, particularly in buildings accessible to the public. The proposed amendments would have only prohib ited the future application of asbestoscontaining spray material. ' This problem is being addressed through the preparation of a guidance document which will assist govern mental agencies and private individ uals who must decide on proper action to take when sprayed asbestos materi als are found in existing buildings. The first volume of this document dis cusses criteria for determining wheth er asbestos material in a building is a problem; the current knowledge of hazards from spray-on asbestos in buildings: and alternative corrective actions that may be taken, including acceptable removal procedures and the use of sealants for the coating of ma terial. The second volume of the docu ment, which is expected to be' availa ble in late 1978, will present the re sults of studies which will be done on sealants to determine their effective ness and acceptability for coating as bestos materials. Copies of the first volume of this document may be ob tained upon written request from the Emission Standards and Engineering Division (MD-13), Environmental Pro tection Agency, Research Triangle Park, N.C. 27711 (specify Sprayed As bestos-Containing Materials in Build ings: A Guidance Document). The lack of EPA reference methods for making various asbestos measure ments was of concern to some com menters. Specifically, they suggested that EPA publish a method for deter mining the percentage of asbestos in spray materials and reference OSHANIOSH procedures for measuring air "borne asbestos particulate matter from spraying operations. A number of methods for the analy sis of asbestos-containing samples are how in use and the variability of re sults obtained by these methods is ex tremely wide. In an attempt to stand ardize procedures and reduce this vari ability, an EPA provisional electron microscope procedure for measuring the concentration of asbestos in air samples has been developed. This method can also be used for analysis of material samples. It will be further evaluated and refined for use in actual field studies and it found acceptable, may eventually serve as the basis for an EPA reference method. The proce dure is available in a publication enti tled Electron Microscope Measure ment of Airborne Asbestos Concentra tions: A Provisional Methodology Manual, EPA 600/2-77-178, August 1977. Copies of this document may be obtained upon written request from the Environmental Sciences Research Laboratory (MD-49), EPA, Research Triangle Park, N.C. 27711. The OSHA-NIOSH method meas-s ures airborne asbestos fiber concentra tions by phase contrast microscopy. It measures only those fibers which are longer than 5 microns and does not differentiate between asbestos and other fibers. While such a method may be sufficient for enforcing the OSHA workplace asbestos standard, it , is not sufficient as an indicator of total asbestos concentration in the am bient air. Many asbestos fibers are smaller than the smallest measured by the OSHA-NIOSH method and these fibers can contribute significantly to the amount of asbestos which may be present in the ambient air. The provi sional electron microscope method de scribed above is useful for estimating airborne asbestos fiber concentrations with greater precision. Some commenters suggested that since asbestos is a carcinogen and no threshold level for health effects has been established, the 1 percent allowa ble asbestos content for spray-on ma terials permits too much environmen tal contamination and should be low ered considerably, if not completely eliminated. The 1 percent allowable asbestos content was selected primar ily to allow the spray application of materials which contain trace amounts of asbestos which occur in numerous natural substances and which could not be reduced or eliminated without effectively banning the use of these materials. M iscellaneous Note.--The * Environmental Protection Agency has determined that this document does not contain a major action requiring preparation of an Economic Impact Analy sis under Executive Orders 11821 and 11949 and OMB Circular A-107. Dated: June 13,1978, B arbara B lum, Acting Administrator. In Part 61 of Chapter I, Title 40, of the Code of Federal Regulations, 61.21 and 61.22 are amended as fol lows: Subpart B-- National Emission Standard for Asbestos 1. Section 61.21 is amended by revis ing paragraphs (m), (q), and (r) to read as follows: 61.21 Definitions. * * (m) "Renovation" means the remov ing or stripping of friable asbestos ma terials used on any pipe, duct, boiler, tank, reactor, turbine, furnace, or structural member. Operations in which load-supporting structural members are wrecked or taken out are excluded. * * (q) "Removing" means taking out friable asbestos materials used on any pipe, duct, boiler, tank, reactor, tur bine, furnace, or structural member from any building, structure, facility, or installation. (r) "Stripping" means taking off fri able asbestos materials from any pipe, duct, boiler, tank, reactor, turbine, fur nace, or structural member. * * * * * 2. Section 61.22 is amended by revis ing paragraphs (d), (d)(l)(i), (dXIXii), FEDERAL REGISTER, V O L 43, NO. 118--MONDAY, JUNE 19, 1978 26374 RULES AND REGULATIONS ( ) . . . (d)(4)<1)*<d><4)(ii), (d)(4Xiii), (d)(4)(iv), (e), and (e)(2); and adding which is present. Techniques of esti mation shall be explained. boiler, tank, reactor, turbine, furnace, paragraph (e)(3) to read as follows; ( 2) * * or structural member that has been 61.22 Emission standard. (in) Description of the building removed as a unit or in sections as pro vided in paragraph (d)(4Xiii) of this structure, facility, or installation to be section shall be performed in accord * * demolished or renovated, including the size, age, and prior use of the ance with paragraph (d)(4)(h) of this structure, and the approximate section. Rather than comply with the wetting requirement, a local exhaust (d) Demolition and renovation. The requirements of this paragraph shall amount of friable asbestos materials present. ventilation and collection system may apply to any owner or operator of a be used to prevent emissions to the outside air. Such local exhaust ventila demolition or renovation operation * * * tion systems shall be designed and op who intends to demolish any institu 4 erated to capture the asbestos particu tional, commercial, or industrial build late matter produced by the stripping ing (including apartment buildings (i) Friable asbestos materials, used of friable asbestos materials. There having more than four dwelling units) on any pipe, duct, boiler, tank, reactor, shall be no visible emissions to the structure, facility, installation, or por turbine, furnace, or structural outside air from such local exhaust tion thereof which contains any pipe member, shall be removed from any ventilation and collection systems duct, boiler, tank, reactor, turbine, fur building, structure, facility or installa except as provided in paragraph (f) of nace, or structural member that is cov tion subject to this paragraph. Such this section. ered or coated with friable asbestos removal shall occur before wrecking or materials, except as provided in para- dismantling of any portion of such * * p a p h (d)(1) of this section; or who in building, structure, facility, or installa tends to renovate any institutional, tion that would break up the friable (e) Spraying. There shall be no visi commercial, or industrial building asbestos materials and before wreck ble emissions to the outside air from structure, facility, installation, or por ing or dismantling of any other por the spray-on application of materials tion thereof where more than 80 tion of such building, structure, facili containing more than 1 percent asbes meters (ca. 260 feet) of pipe covered cr ty, or installation, that would preclude tos, on a dry weight basis, used on coated with friable asbestos materials access to such materials for subse equipment 'and machinery, except as are stripped or removed, or more than quent removal. Removal of friable as provided in paragraph (f) of this sec 15 square meters, (ca. 160 square feet) bestos materials used on any pipe, tion. Materials sprayed on buildings, of friable asbestos materials used to duct, or structural member which are structures, structural members, pipes, cover or coat any duct, boiler, tank, re encased in concrete or other similar and conduits shall contain less than 1 actor,' turbine, furnace, or structural structural material is not required percent asbestos on a dry weight basis. member are stripped or removed. prior to demolition, but such materials (1) (i) The owner or operator of a shall be adequately wetted whenever demolition operation is exempted from exposed during demolition. the requirements of this paragraph: (ii) Friable asbestos materials used (2) Any owner or operator who in Provided, (A) The amount of friable on pipes, ducts, boilers, tanks, reac wtehnidcsh ctoontasipnramyoreastbheasnto1s pemrcaetenrtiaalss asbestos materials in the building or portion thereof to be demolished is tors, turbines, furnaces, or structural members shall be adequately wetted bestos on a dry weight basis on equip less than 80 meters (ca. 260 feet) used during stripping, except as provided in paragraphs (d)(4Xiv), (d)(4)(vi) or ment and machinery shall report such intention to the Administrator at least on pipes, and less than 15 square meters (ca. 160 square feet) used on (dXvii) of this section. ' 20 days prior to the commencement of any duct, boiler, tank, reactor, turbine, (iii) Pipes, ducts, boilers, tanks, reac the spraying operation. Such report tors, turbines, furnaces, or structural shall include the following informa furnace, or structural member, and (B) the notification requirements of para members that are covered or coated tion: * * * graph (dxixii) are met. with friable asbestos materials may be (3) The spray-on application of ma taken out of any building, structure, terials in which the asbestos fibers are (ii) Written notification shall be postmarked or delivered to the Admin facility, or installation subject to this encapsulated with a bituminous or re istrator at least 20 days prior to com paragraph as units or in sections pro vided the friable asbestos materials ex sinous binder during spraying and which are not friable after drying is mencement of demolition and shall in clude the information required by posed during cutting or disjoining are exempted from the requirements of paragraph (d)(2) of this section, with adequately wetted during the cutting paragraphs (e) and (e)(2) of this sec tion. . the exception of the information re or disjoining operation. Such units quired by paragraphs (d)(2) (iii), (vi) shall not be dropped or thrown to the ground, but shall be carefully lowered * (vii), (viii), and (ix) of this section, and to ground level. shall state the measured or estimated amount of friable asbestos materials (iv) The stripping of friable asbestos (Secs. 112 and 301(a) of the Clean Air Act as amended (42 U.S.C. 7412, 7601(a).)) materials used on any pipe, duct, IFR Doc. 78-16891 Filed 6-16-78, 8.45 am] FEDERAL REGISTER, VOL. 43, NO. 118--MONDAY, JUNE 19, 1978