Document ZB7Zj2R4jjzV5MxJZe0vveYR7

Distribution: . * f\ ! t*" </-r e/TPScrSOVcif OK"7 Gvfd-rlU 0. X. Favc-^>to T. Lntop/^ 'T. r h Mlliatuii C. Duacker X. "I. /Inin*, D. Vhit'ock/Reed, vV N Smith/ 'fliXiu & McClsy \ f . A. hrown/rcr nm Art Controlling Hazardous. Pollutants 1. Tl.c Act Is designed to control the disch.i-pe of hazardous pollutants to the atmosphere to protect the public. Vcrcury, bcrylliua., **nd asbestos are specified as hazardous pollutants. Ucbst-'r's Dictionary uefinicion of asbestos is the basis for . the Mineral filers const-"red to be asbestos. 2. The veTT.iculitc deposits -t Libby have tremoiite interspersed vith the other gangua mate.sal and tome of tiu.s tremoiite at times Is intermingle*! with the verrlculito. The tremoiite is found in two forms - ns her* ore and crys'elline fibers. Tremoiite is one of the six mineral fibers defined as asbestos. Considerable information has been collected and a {rear deal is V.novr. about the health hazards of chrysotile and crocidolite fibers, the tvo principal mineral floors in cocmarcial use. Tremoiite is not used cocmerclally and little study or Vnowledge is available concerning the health hazards of this mineral. The vetmiculite deposits in South Carolina era quite different from those at Libby. Tne deposits occur In relatively small pods videly scattered. Msny of the deposits contain no tremoiite fibers vith the other ce.ngu* material t.soeiated vith the vcrmiculite. Those deposits which do have some tremoiite will generally con'iia the rar.teria? in such minute quantities that it is not r-.siiy recognized as being present. Even then it is usually found only In the bottom layers of the specific deposit. 3. Tremoiite fibers are removed along, with other gangu* materiel "during the bcefieiation process ae both South Carolina and Libby; At South Carolina th baneficiation process Is more efficient than at Libbv. The vendcullte concentrate purity averages^*tween 4-Sr.L;' Libby 87-SIX. ; ~ Thu South Carolina process is an all vet process; Libby is part dry and part vet. The uut process is far superior :> swans of separating tremoiite fiber books and fibers from the vetmiculite As a final step in the beneliclatlon process the veralcullte cor.tvntraie is rrsded into different sizes by tloving the materiel dry ever '.*lbrbi.u cTeenx. Tuts is referred ro as the dry screening step and the equipment ir In a separate buildir.p. called a dry mill. Air stepline ti-rts for tremoiite fiber;- in the South Caroline dry mill . show time weighted averages below the 1975 standards. Thir is indicative of the minute quantities of tremoiite fibers asociated with t*1'- vcrmiculite concct; rate after Che bcneficlaiion proceed ir .onj-Uiu at South Carolina. Because ol the greater amount of trcmoli _found in the Libhy vcrmteulite deposit* and the poor offici'-cy *' tht *,enrficiation Act Controlling Hazardous Pollutants process, & nev nil! has been constructed at Libby at a cent of $b,000,C>00. lx tensive research work w*. aim carried out to develop a new ben?filiation proc* ss, inducing development of new equipment which would mak a cl toner and .harper separation betucr. the vcrmiculitc and Che gangue material. This process is very specific ns it relates to she separation of tremolice and. verniculite. This new mill is currently going through s mechanical ehi-ck-out in preparation fur start-up. Trial runs with solid material will le made by the end of v'ay. Operational shake-down and training of operating `personnel should take place in Ju"c- and the new facility I: expected to be in operation in July. Wf car.not be certain of che final average level of trace amounts of trcmolice th... will be present in the vermiculite concentrate until the nev mill is in production and operating at design capability, but ve are expecting to approach the South Carolina levels. An all wet process is being used. There are no grinding circuits that break uo trenolitc books into *ine fibers. Separat-on circuits are designed t;; separate trenoiite*books from verwiculttc. Other circuits using the principles of surface chemistry and specie'27r*e*d* *equipment are ..ry specific in separating tromolite fibe.s and vcmaiculibe. 4. To control etaissio.t of hazardous pollutants i** the atmosphere that could endanger the general public, the Ace can be divided into general categories: A. Emissions to the atmosphere from fixed or stationary sources which ere enclosed, and -- E. Emissions to the atmosphere which are not fixed and not enclosed., A. To establish standard*, end.controls covering Che first category the Act (1) Selects 9 tyres of manufacturing Industries considered tl most likely to be polluting. All others are excluded. fVe'N are one of the 9. (2) An emission is only considered to bu a hazard from one of the* 9 types of manufacturers if th' emission is visibly detectable- without the aid of instruments ar.u contains asb. r.tor- particulates. Visible -mi' ri''u. from other tunu> facturers that contain asbestos particulates are permitted. Hovcv- r, 1 am told that even s: ;. of our pl-nts v.-.d no visible emissions an El'A inspector who believed vi- had ...jt: tos with our verr.iru'ite ha the rij,V. to enter our `:? mt, conduct air s^mplir. -, ter :n the plant from the stack, and take sample: ore t testing. If as a re-ult of i...y these test'' a trcmoli" fiber wa.*. found we would be found in viol.i.jp, i.-f the ..ct i:r processing hazardous po'TM'!i Act Control li;g Marcrrfous Pollutants -3- (3) A visible emission vhich contains asbestos particulates must have a pollution control device of a type specified or of equivalent efficiency. Any asbestos portic-le:es which pass through this device arc acceptable. No standard is established because no one knows how to measure such air streams in u manner that vould nke it possible, to set a standard. Furthermore, the fibers parsing through vould differ depending on the level of fibers occurring on the intake side. A manufacturer with a dust collection system on a ptc.vss using 20~ asbestos vould ''mit to the atmosphere cn entirely different level than a manufacturer such as ourselves using a ouch Carolina ore vhich contains no reliably measurable quantities of tremolite. (4) Since no standard is set for the asbestos particulates that can be discharged, either in visible or invisible emissions, there is no reasonable basis for deciding whether r ntrol devices ere needed. If ve sampled the air stream emissions from an expanding furnace and found 1 fiber of treeolitc in an hour ve are required to have ar. approved pollution device. This level is possible with present South Carolina ore. On the ocher hand, a manufacturer u- ing commercial asbestos as a part of his process could be emitting sigrificantly -cater amounts and noc be in violation. *~" (5) Since any fibrrr of tremolite in the air stream no matter how smali from a designated manufacturer place the firm under the control provisions of the Act, curtain reports must be submitted even for tho: t lac. tions that have approved control devices. Additional Tcports arc required ter locations without control devices along with waiver request** to obtain time to install >uc;> devices. (t) The ac* of filling out such fcrus is an admission that you are process!-e hazardous . :terii. (7) The forms al*"* request information of a type vhich is aopro- 'j riacc if you were using asbestos t-.rt of cne manufacturing process. For example: 'V-aour.r of Pol.utanr - Indicate average weight of the hararceus matcri: 1 named in Item 2 which enters the procesr in pound p-r mr-th (based upon the previous twelve montiis of r-.rrar ion)." Wc haven't the vaguest idea of the aootss o' tremolite that may be per: of th. ore and only rvttntly'i.tvc wc dev*** -pec a test uictl. od that .Ighi :';:c_.',h extensive, mm:*ling .utablish tlwit it *: under .2 a, the ot tor limit of riy ::frur;- r e . ->! 1 ,-.h? < \ I Act Controlling, ilntardpur. Pollutants O' -4- reproduciMc quantitative to?*, method. We r-rc still developing the test method and have not Seen able to carry out a sample test plan which would be representative o the trc-MOliiw levt 1 in either South Carolina or Li'. l>y ore. We ere quite sure, ho ever, that South Carolina ore will be far below any quantitative detectable Hals .and expect the Libby material from the new mill tu be bciow-7 (8) 1 believe our position should be that: a. V.. arc not processing hazardous pollutants when using South Carolina ore end once the inventories of ore produced in the old mill ae Libby are cleaned out of c:.* system that vr do not expect the Libby materiel to be a hazardous pollutant. We will set up a sampling plan to check out the Libby material from, the r.'v mil' after it is on-stream. By that tint- we should hive the test method development work far enough along to determine reliable quantitative 'evels. b. Ir. the meantime, we will advise ETA that we have approved pollution control devices on 25 expanding furnaces, acceptable control devices on 5 expandin'* furnaces, compliance schedules with state* and/or " definite interval plans ot ir.rtallotion on 13 addi tional fum*"'.s, will establish schedules for vquining tV- remaining 10 furnaces. The last furnace would be completed by April 15-75. e. The Act permits the administrator to approve waivers for compliance up to two years. Kc t>ay impose additional conditions durinp the waiver period to assure protection of the health of persons daring this period.. Since no standard is set for allowable asbestos particulate emissions other than the use of a control device, there is no basis for the<jjdadni~sTnr&o=-or ourselves to determine whether the emissions "arc. unduly hazardous during the waiver periods. Cor-.i-equently 1 don'*, sec how he can Impose other enndicions, what such conditions might be, or sake a judrmcnl 16 require less except *r, an arbitrary basis Act. Controlling Harcrdous 1 ..? lutnnt s O' l 5- E. To establish standards und controls covering the 2nd category -emissions to the atmosphere that are not fixed end r.ot cnelo-ed. (1) The Act states - "EPA considered the possibility of banning production, processing, and use of asbestos or banning all emi-sions o' asbestos into the atmosphere, but rejected these-approaches." ----- "For example, demolition of any building eor.raininr asb--*tos fireproofing or insulating materials would have to be pro hibited as would the use of materials containing even trace amounts of asbestos which cousV ..excape^into t;.e amasphe-e." Vv --- "Taking both these considerations into account, the Administrator ha d---to reined tha-, in order to provide an ample margin of safety to protect the public health from asbestor, it i; nccessorv tn control t-.-iiscionr from Tta^or nan-made sources of asbestos erv.ssior* into the atmosphere. but :h;r it not necessary to tsVM; *11 (.-.issicr-.s.'' (2) The neons of control utilised is one of prohibitions of certain materials and certain operations because -- '"fxicse means of control are required because of the "-- impo-sibility at this tine of prescribing and enforcing allowable numerical concentrations or ntss -*ni.sier. limitations known to provide an ample margin of safety." .__ 2) Five cpcr.-.rions vert selected as major sources. Two of these arc uc-.olition and s;:ayinr. (4) To control emissions during building demolition, the Act specifies certain work practices which mut be followed c.nd covers all industrial and cosrsnc-rf cal . nd houses having more than 4 dwell*r.e units, if the structure was fireproofed with asbestos-containing mate^iul or contains friable asbestos material. Ko standard however is established or definition given for an asbestos-containing material or a friable asbestos material. The material could contain 5'.'* asbestos, IQ* asbestos, or 1 fiber ant rho material would be clar?if:ed cs a hasaraous source TCT.uiri.ig spof'.nl precaur:ons during demolition. Tne Administrator r.utl be notified 2V days in acv._r.ee before demolition of such a structure. (5) Ti contre*! spray emissionsJmater.-_s c ontrining more than 17. i.sl >:o: may be sprayed to ttrulaic or fiiepi.-of cc j inner, t or machinery but emissions the jiside air are prohibited. In dr:|u i words, spray opera: ton i..a . be enclosed. Spx>--on materials containing lest man l'i .sb**.tos used for insulation Controlling liazrrduus Pollutants -6- end fireproofinf. may be used without enclosure. Sprey-un materials containing either ever 1a or under 11 asbestos but are not materials used for insulation or fireprooxing may be sprayed even thour.h there are emissions to the out side atmosphere. All other materials are considered to not represent major sources and are excluded. (6) Any operator vho intends to pray asbestos materials to insulate or fireproof builcinps or equipment,uh.-thar over 1'. and enclosed or under 1% and not enclosed, mutt report such intention 20 days before commencement ox spraying operation. As with building demolition no standard or definition is established for an asbestos material. The required could be imposed for a tnar'-rial containing '0a a'bestos, 0.9*4, or a few fibers that rep-c" need a 0.00114 if such could be quantitatively determined. (?) Ar tt result, there Is an inconsistency present throughout the entire Act of the grossest magnitude: no control over numerous uses, ..unnrous materials, numerous manufacturers and ext'erne control of 2 uses (insulation and fireproofing), 1 use method (sprayi..g), and the materials so used if the most minute amount of -sbestos is found in the material. (S) 'iV.c reporting provision is most onerous as a safe prccscv-? to bo certain of compliance. The dangers and hazards o: atb^stos have b on so v'dely publicised nc in many cases so ovcr-cxa.vorated that the suggestion of even very small amounts of asbestos could bring on all types of. ursn^ewictublc results. The psvxapcr must be labeled to state -'ittriai u...y contain asbestos. This could lead to requiring the same statement on ail packages containing vcraiculit*. Workmen could rcius. to use th rater: 1. .-.oplicaf?on contractors cr general contractor1;, or architect*, cr building owner-, or any combination thereof, could dcoide not to use *hc material. Kew York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Milwaukee and other cities currently have a ban on the use of spray-on materials containing asbestos. 'TA -.nd >215 are* now being usec in these exties because neither contain cormercial* asbestos additives. Accepting: thtn principle or litere* reading of the Act that tcjtll_ "mount of centat-inan*. constitute* ar. ar.in."* :: * containing si*vriaT'cuuIA result i*. banr/".g its u*c in those cities. (9) "he public would be seriously injured by removing from the . ..rkcl a me* vrial proven to be the bts ; 'ire-proofir.g material f<*r developed. t'or.n. t: tor r.ip'. d tenute ihir. but efforts rc being made- to dur-lica.v : t. T. at.- a.'se architects. Act Co;.t roll inf. Hnzardour. Pollutant* ,rJL cr -7- (10) contractors, and insurance underwriters who a! * support the yri-s'er reliability of the product Loth lrom u control during application as veil u: performance in a real lire. The opportunity for a choice would be removed from Che nrketplacc aj essentially only one ocher type material would be available; mineral wool. The dry spraying of chese materials .causes gross fall-cue and air Pollution. How- certain is E?A chat this may not -ipnscnt some type of health o- property hazard. Furthermore, it is highly unlikely chat the other product is available in sufficient quantity to meet t: market demand in the near future. Air filter "ests on job sices using >213 which contained 12Z commercial asbestos showed thnt this wet slurry or cemcntious prayed material produced fiber counts within pruseu. standards in the work rta. Kov could a material of this type even containing 1.0S asbestos represent a hazard to ch- general .public. (11) Tne Act points out that it did not completely prohibit the spraying of any material containing asbestos becavse they 'id not wish to -- "(1) Prohibit the use of materials containing only the trace amounts of asbesto. which occur in numerous natural substances, "(2) p--hilit the use of materials to which very ss^ " 1 quantities of asbestos are added in order to enhance their effectiveness, an:* "(3) prohibit the ucc of materials in which the 'bestos is strongly bound and which would not generate particulate asbestos emissions." It further states -- "The promulgated standard applies to those user of spray-on asbestos materials which could generate ~ajor emissions of particulate asbestos material." It seems to me that these stated intentions rule our the necessity to consider or define our ma-r-ri.l a. being an asbestos-containing material in violation of *he Act. 1 sav this for three reasons: At. twSV t( i - b.f It contains trace ^mounts/;as does occur with numerous other natural.substan-es; }- jr>V b. The asbestos/it buund to other r-serials with the slurry spray method; and. c. The standard dot nor app'" to jar v t r.rrny-on material hccnv.c r.ajor ci..i r.r iont op.\ cu?:.*.c nr.bctros. r.. tcrial <..<nnot be "one*at.-J. .... *Cl Controlling lle-anJout. u 1' u t a n* ':<7; cg i 1 veuld also arei>c that the reporting rcquireaentr if applied to a matt-rial of this type veuld have the effect of prohibiting ' the use because of the reasons stoted above. In effect ar, interpretation of the reporting requirement which vould require us to have applizatorn report is inconsistent vith the basic ir.tcnt and stated purpose of the Act. (12) The Act also refers to an electron microscopy cert method which has been developed by independent laboratories. It states this test is accurate within -+50k and costs 300 to p.rform. The purpose for selecting a test method was to haw. a control tool which would make it possible to determine v' -thcr a material being sprayed contained asbestos, it is not clear from the Act how this cool will be used. It -.ould be used to determint whether a material contains over 1.0k * asbestos in orccr to insure that violations of this type co not ii occur. 1. could also be used to identify percentages below i 1.0k in order co enforce the control reporting provisions a* opposed *o the prohibition provisions. Some points need to be made retarding this test me*hod. Our Dr. DuecV.tr has reviewed carefully the electron micr~ *orv test methods used by Johns-'lanvil lb. (They are one of th; "r'.ve . independent laboratories selected by ?A to do testing fur thenQ lie has personally had discussions with Dr. Leincwebbcr or Johns- .-itvillt who is probably the top-most expert in the use or this' tusr method for analysing asbestos fibre content. Dr. 5.. -cvebbcr has rtatso that the degree of accuracy possible i? not + jtk but rather one of an order of magnitude error. Thar is if the test resulted in a calculation showing 0.1k as.bestos, th-.- accuracy would be cither 1.0k or 0.01k. As a result, a., answer -from the test of 0.2k could mean there was.as much .s 2.0k which means the- test is rot even suicabl. co determine reliably whether the*' material contains over 1.0 .. ">- -vci^:ome this problem Dr. Leinevcbbor uses xray spectrophotometry CO determine the upper limit. He checks another *'mple of the same material with this rest which he claims has an accuracy ~>i 0.3k. As result, taking the example of the electron c.icro:.kopy tes: sevirr the material contains 0.3k, after checking or, -he xray equi/menr and determining th. uppi r limit wa - C'.3k, he would utc r.umbt-r. howtvir, if the xrav ten showed r:o dittcial.lt- lev*!, he would th-n conclude that thv materia! contained lees than 0.3k but ac linic at 0.03'... a. "hc^c are further profit--' connected v'th electroti r.-icvos-copy test.'. V.\- ashed Dr. heinevt'her to run 4 samples for us and the cost of do;r. f The cost is fo75 per sample rather than (300. " \ Act Contro.ling Hazardous Vollutanir >u, y t ` -s- b. Temple preparation is lengthy am: extremely critical. r. t ' c. i.'ic sample is very small, asking it extremely difficult to be satisfied/it ir e truly represen tative sample of the material. d. Operator technicue is very difficult to standardise, both from a sampling preparation point of viev and also in operating the e'uctron microscopy. "Tie marniiicstion is 30,OT? tines. The operator must scan the grid to det.srrai.nt: the par's that have a suitable- field for analysis. He is then supposed to randomly select six grids where fibers are soTte* out and cou-.-cd. Considerable r-erator err-;r can occur based on `.he relection of th:-. suitable field for rndom selection. Since the operator is supposed to be loo!:;nr for fibers, he could settle oa those grids that have fibers, by so coir.c, he ..,,j completely destroy'd the random selection so necessary. It is unlikely that for materials vith small amounts of asbestos f'ber -c' -nte ind'-oeni^nt Ivborar:. i*s -- could pet -imilar results. e. Because of the very high cost cf such testing, the ability to run two or thr*-e samples frer single bag of material in order to have a represen.alive avertgi: virtually prohilici.t. (13) The xray epectrophotcat.-.r test method which we have developed whet employed vi .h the machine that hns an electron:., counter can be accur.tta at me 0.2V. -vel. This test in our case would pick up both Cremolite platelets and creavlit* fibers. To establish which, the sample must then be checked under an electron microscope to determine whethrr it is fibrous or not. Tais te*-t is r.uch less costly -- approximately ?30 per a..trie. ~z uses a larger sample and scans c greater pofti^t of it which inp*oves the reliability. Sample preparation is 2w`is complicated; there is less chance for operator ir.torpr. tatior.; i: is nueh more likely to be Tcliavlc and reproduces It by ir.cct c:.dcnt laboi ,,toriesIt will not, however, identity thr fibers b Tow the 0.21 limit. . This method requires the calibration for each of the various asjestos libers. The accu/acy is dependent upon the strength of signal obt-lined for e&Ji fiber., i.t., chrysotile, crocidolite, tr^iaolite, etc. To.* lowo- accuracy ..it I not.d above apnli-s to a particular trenolice fiber calibration developed at \. 0. 1 Little. This Accuracy limit tovld ngo with "her fiber* -.id even with the same rib-r l.t 'rc.-i a -lficrc-nt source. K.-c teve* lopcient worV. is with the >-ay spectrophotometer test method but it oflcrr tb* ability to 'etui: in jin accurate, reliable, reprc>'*xiciM . t method. Act Controlling .zardovs ?ol!r'-.ni -s -10- (14) For the reasons previously outlined Irrespective of the limitations and inadequacies of the electron r-.xcroscoay test method, 1 believe ; \euld take the nosltion that jjt KK`. and KK5 does not contain asbestos vlchin the Intent or. terms of the Act and that vc v-uld not expect to x/por' its use as so containing. However, without taking this position I would further argue chet the electron microscopy taut method is not a suitable method to be utilised tr an enforcement tool to require reporting of m..rerials containing lass men 1- asbestos. ic ir /cp.r Hi