Document jm1bga23GqdEaG4we40NRLKxp

ALBERT J- BEVERIDGE.m RICHARD M. FAIRBANKS, III HENRY L. DIAMOND GARY H. BAISE KEVIN M. FOLEY A. JAMES BARNES HAROLD HIMMELMAN JONATHAN Z CANNON ANDREW E- MISHKIN CHRISTOPHER h. BUCKLEY, CHARLES A PATRIZIA 5UEDEEN M. GIBBONS * J R. NOT A MEMBER OF 0, C. BAP LAW OFFICES Beveridge, Fairbanks & Diamond One Farragut Souare South Washington, D, C. 2000G TELEPHONE (202) 638-7800 September 15, 1976 CARL EARDLEY OF COUNSEL CABLE AD3RESS "INDLAW" Mr. Jerome Heckman Keller & Heckman 1150 - 17th Street, N.W. Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20036 Dear Jerry: This letter will advise you with respect to one issue which has arisen regarding the research and development requirement in EPA's proposed Vinyl Chloride Standard. Several companies have expressed concern with this regulation. Specifically, the companies are concerned about a'10 part per million requirement on emissions from research reactors over 50 gal. This requirement creates a number of practical operating difficulties. In addition, the cost for some companies greatly exceeds the benefits derived. Upon discovering how the research and development requirement would affect some companies, we held a preliminary meeting in Allentown, Pennsylvania on September 7 to draft a proposal to submit to EPA discussing this issue. On September members of the Polyvinyl Chloride-Vinyl Chloride Monomer Technical Committee met with Don Goodwin and his staff in Research Triangle Park and presented to him a letter stating our views. 9 While no agreement was reached with respect to our con cerns, Mr. Goodwin assured us that some "solid questions" had been raised and that the Agency would review the questions and advise us regarding its decision. He said it was unlikely that the proposed Standard would be withdrawn for review but he indicated he would request that the Preamble to the Vinyl Chloride Standard be rewritten to indicate that new infor mation relating to the research and development requirement had been received and was being reviewed and that a change might be required at a later date. Altho\j^jp|^^yi^gO|aw^n AND CONFIDENTIAL GENC0I6837 Beveridge, Fairbanks & Diamond J. Heckman September 15, 1976 Page Two speaking for his office, I believe his recommendation will be adopted by his superiors in Washington. Therefore, my latest advice still hola^ uidt the Standard as finally written can be expected any day, however, the Preamble to the Standard should acknowledge a problem with the research and development requirement. If you have any questions, please advise. Sincerely, GHB:lp Gary H. Baise GENC016838 PRIVILEGED AMD lONFIDENTIAL  Dy PETERJ. BERNSTEIN SUr-LJ&er 8ure*u 1 ' WASHINGTON -- Chemical manufac- ' lurers will be required to reduce by S3 per cent airborne emission* of vinyl chloride -- a cancer-causing substance widely used in making plastics -- under regulations to be issued soon by the Environmental Protection Agency (ERA i. The regulations arc among the most de- 1 tailed EPA ever has established for an air contaminant. The rules set emission limits for every phase in the vinyl chloride manu facturing process. - Special air pumps will be required to . trap so-called fugitive emissions of vinyl chloride gas that escape through vents and windows of chemical plants. EPA officials said the standard would affect 41 plants which produce the toxic chemical, and would have to be met within 2'/j years Most U S vinyl chloride plants are in New Jersey, Louisiana, Illinois and Texas. **% Potentially dangerous traces of vinyl chloride gas have hcon detected in recent months as a result of federal monitoring near plants in New Jersey and Texas. Similar tests are planned at vmyl chloride plants elsewhere. Approximately 4.6 million people live within a five-mile radius of vinyl chloride plants, according to EPA. New Jersey Department of Environmen tal Protection officials said six major vinyl chloride manufacturers in the state would come under the regulations. They are B.F. Goodrich. Salem County; Hooker Chemical Co.. Burlington; Pantasote Co., Passaic; Tcnneco Chemical Co. Plants in Burlington and Flcmmgton. and Jar.nal Corp.. Franklin Township. The chemical industry has used vinyl chloride for decades in producing such plas tic products as toys, phonograph records. - (Please turn to Page 30) (Continued from Page One) appliances and vinyl jackets. The chemical attracted little notice until Jan 22, 1974, when B F Goodrich, the leading producer of vinyl chloride in the country, disclosed that several of its chemical workers had died from angiosarcoma of the liver, a rare form of cancer. The National Cancer Institute has since confirmed 27 cases of liver angiosarcoma among chemical workers with a history of exposure to vinyl chloride. Studies of occupa tional exposure to vinyl chloride indicate there is a latency period of up to 20 years between initial exposure to the organic chemical and occurrence of the disease. Only a quarter of the vinyl chloride plants are 20 years or older. Most have opened in recent years. The EPA regulations do not apply to some 8.000 plastic fabricating plants, which use polyvinyl chloride, a chemical derived from vinyl chloride. These pianls account for about 10 per cent of the vinyl chloride m the air EPA said monitoring m the vicinity of several plants showed that vinyl chloride concentrations were too small to make the expense of cleaning up worthwhile. Jack Fanner, who wrote the EPA regu lations. said in an interview that the measure is essentially the same as regulations the agency proposed last December. cutrdere :,k ^ i . *i * Fanner, chief of the standards develop ment branch in EPA. said the regulations are designed to provide a reasonable margin of safely to protect public health from vinyl chloride. They requ.n- chemical firms to use the best available iv: trol technology.' The EPA crackdown is the last link In a chain of regulatory actions against vinyl chloride. In 1974. the occupational health and safe ty administration, a branch of the Labor De partment. issued rules limiting the exposure of chemicals workers to vmyl chloride. Plants unable to meet the standard have been required to provide workers with respi rators. THE STAR LEDGER Friday, Sept. 17, 1976 GENC016839 f/n/?G 748 lo ENVIRONMENT REPORTER Motor Vehicles *' ' * 11 EPA ISSUES PROCEDURES FOR TESTING ', -FUEL ECONOMY, EMISSIONS OF 1978 VEHICLES ' Interim final procedures for testing the fuel economy and `exhaust emissions of 1978 model year vehicles (40 CFR 600 and HGl were issued by the Environmental Protection Agen cy September 10 (41 FR 38674). ` At the same time, the agency proposed that the procedures 'also be applied to 1979 and subsequent model year vehicles. *` Several provisions proposed May 21 as part of EPA's fuel economy "labeling program for 1977 model year vehicles (Current Developments, May 28, p. 172) also were promulgated with the testing regulations September 10, `because, the agency said, the provisions include definitions "essential to the calculation of. . . fuel economy averages." nm -1 ' ' 1 < ' ' -m 2- tfjft 'i 1 ' '' Fuel Economy Testing V [ ,r r* J ' The interim final procedures increase the number of cars .tested for emission purposes to produce a test fleet that is representative of the manufacturer's product lines for fuel economy and emission testing purposes, EPA said. The in crease in cars in the test fleet over the number now- tested for emissions certification and fuel economy labeling, .however, is "quite modest," the agency said. The procedures provide a "representative," rather than ."statistical," sampling plan for increasing the test fleet, EPA said. Under the representative plan, EPA will make a preliminary calculation of the manufacturer's average fuel economy a t the beginning of the model year by using original . emission certification test vehicles; vehicles representing early model year design changes required to be tested for emis sion purposes; vehicles required to be tested for fuel .economy labeling ; vehicles representing "high production volume configurations in significant base levels"; .and vehicles submitted voluntarily by the manufacturers. '`u 1 Exhaust Emission Testing Changes made in procedures for measuring the exhaust emissions of automobiles and light duty trucks are designed to improve the accuracy and applicability of tests, EPA said, adding that no changes in the stringency of application emis sion standards should result. The changes are designed to make the test fuel more representative of "commercially available fuel," the agency said. The change in procedures will have "insufficient" impact on testing costs, EPA said. Changes to procedures for testing 1978 model year, vehicles include requirements that: Information on axle ratios, engine and emission control system calibrations, and vehicle car lines be made part of the manufacturer's quarterly production report; ` A measurement of the "actual distance traveled" by a vehicle during a test be made for use in the calculation of emissions and fuel economy; An increase from two to six be made in the number of hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide gases used for calibration; No. 1 diesel fuel be deleted from the diesel fuel / specification because it is not "commonly available" for light duty automobile use; ; Separate procedures be used for testing cold and hot/ start failures; and Allowances be made for the use of overdrive units accor ding to manufacturers' recommendations. . , i.. ,,.;i , ' ,t1 'iapt 'iii J^ Proposed Emission Test Changes Proposed changes to the exhaust emission testing procedures for 1979 and later model year vehicles include: Use of more accurate road load simulation through the application of a revised method for setting the "dynamometer power absorber"; Reduction in inertia weight test intervals by half; Revisions to emission certification procedures to in clude definitions of options and models, and revision of op tional equipment usage; and Revision of the fuel octane requirement to allow use of a lower octane fuel. : Comment Period Comments on both the interim final and proposed procedures should be submitted by December 9 to the EPA Office of Mobile Source Air pollution Control, 401 M St., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20460. . , . ,, --%, ' ' .".if . . I:. ' r. ; -G--e--n--e--r-a--l--P---o--li-c--y- ' ' ` , ( ; t;; BATTELLE SCIENTISTS CALL FOR STUDIES OF HEALTH EFFECTS AT PVC LANDFILL SITES ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- (By an Environment Reporter staff cor respondent) -- The persistence of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) concentrations in air samples taken at former landfill sites has prompted Battelle Columbus Laboratory scientists to call for health effects studies of pei sons living near the sites. Richard Markle, a Battelle Columbus (Ohio) scientist, told a conference on land disposal of residuals held September 13-15 that he and other Battelle scientists have found background concentrations of vinyl chloride monomers (VCM) at a land disposal site "several years" after the site was closed down. Concentrations ranged from .1 part per million (ppm) to .3 ppm at the site, he said. The study of vinyl chloride monomers in air and sludge samples at former and existing landfill sites was conducted by Battelle under an Environmental Protection Agency con tract. Markle said "grab" air and sludge samples were taken at former and current landfill disposal sites used by a PVC manufacturer. At one site where three air quality samples were taken, he said, vinyl chloride monomer concentrations ranged from .07 ppm to . 11 ppm. At a second site, ambient concentrations were .1 ppm to .5 ppm, and at a third site.. 1 ppm to 1 ppm. PVC concentrations in on-site dry sludge samples ranged from 20 ppm to 1,260 ppm. he said. Data indicate, Markle said, that "ins: ,'itaneous VCM air concentrations on the order of 1 ppm can occur at normal healthy heights (approximately 1.5 meiers) above ground level at these landfills as long as 24 hours after PVC sludge deposits are covered." EPA should conduct "time-weighted average sampling" for 15 minutes, 8 hours, and 24 hours at these sites, he said, to determine whether ambient air PVC concentrations "pose a health hazard either at the landfill or in the adjacent residential or public access areas." "*' Safely Sludge Application Thomas Hinesly, an agronomist at the University of Illinois, Urbana, told the conference that municipal sludge has been applied to cornfields without any excessive buildup of chemicals in runoff or drainage waters Hinesly said that sludge from the Chicago metropolitan sanitary district was applied to cornfields at a Joliet, 111., test site regularly during the growing season. The sludge contained concentrations of iron, manganese, zinc, copper, and cadmium, he said. Hinesly told Environment Reporter that most of the chemicals contained in the sludge are being concentrated in Environment Reporter GENCO16840 CRUSADERS Nibbling at the Nader Myth Consumer Advocate Ralph Nader ha Inna been RMiiltod by conservative jKillUshAns and officers of corporations that have been gored by his crusading zeal. At the Republican National Convention in Kansas City, Vice Picsidcnt Nelson Rockefeller made him the tar get of one of history's most labored puns (he claimed that Candidate Jimmy Car ter's appearance at a Nader gathering meant that Carter was trying "to pass himself ofT as one of the Nader-day saints"). Now the lean, intense folk hero is coming under fire from a few of his for mer admirers--liberals who applaud his service to a noble cause but deplore the way the myth is altering the man. Nader's revisionist crit ics claim that his emotion al commitment occasionally overwhelms his acute powers of reasoning. In an unusually vivid public display of bad manners, Nader a month ago fortified that claim. Appar ently frustrated by resistance to his pet auto safety device, the inflatable air bag, Nader laced into Secretary of Trans portation William T. Cole man Jr. during hearings on the subject. The issue "is whether William T. Coleman has the guts to stand up to General Motors and the Ford Motor Company as he had the guts to stand up on civil rights years ago," Nader said bitingly. Coleman, a black who is regarded as a topnotch Cab inet member and no push over for the transportation industry, sensed a racial slur in Nader's remarks. Angrily, he termed them "bigoted." He later apologized. Nader did not, and even the Washington Post, a longtime fan, headlined its editorial WINDBAGS AND AI It DAGS. The burden of the attacks on Na der is that he is something of a tyrant to work for, a lousy administrator, over ly secretive and paranoid about his en emies. Some critics suggest, without con clusive evidence, that he lives less ascctically than he claims and that his organizations are wealthier than is in dicated by their pitches for funds. Oc casionally Nader is also poitraycd as a wild-eyed Savonarola intent on forcing his own puritanical concept of the pub lic good on a subservient nation. Ruth Darmstadtcr, a former Nader staffer writing in the Washingtonian. charges that "the popular image of a band of 60 to 70 dedicated idealists working in happy concert with Nader is, quite simply, a fiction. When you cou ple Nader's incompetence as an admin istrator with the importance of employ ees remaining in his favor, you have the formula for a poisoned atmosphere." One dramatic expression of that atmo sphere was the mysterious, nighttime re moval of a personal diary from the of fice of Ted Jacobs, a high-level Nadet associate, who says he was then fired by Nader for "misconduct." A compleat anti-Nader catalogue has been assembled by David Sanford, former managing editor of the liberal New Republic who once collaborated with Nader on a book (Hot War on the Consumer). In a slim 135-page critique, Me & Ralph, Sanford seems obsessively concerned about his personal problems in editing the prickly Nader's syndicated newspaper column and about Nader's deteriorating relations with the New Re public. Sanford and Nader fell out o\cr these not uncommon editor-author fric tions in 1973. Sanford thereupon com pleted an anti-Nader article for Esquire, but was dissuaded from publishing it by then New Republic Owner Gilbert Har rison, a Nader man. Nader has not talked to Sanford since. He is not likely to do so soon, especially given some of the less than cosmic questions raised by his quondam collaborator: Does Nader really live in the house on Washington's Bancroft Place that his brother bought in 1971 for SSO,000 rather than in the spartan S85-amonlh room he claims as his residence7 Sanford found a local resident who sa>s he sees Nader in the neighborhood "at odd hours nearly every day." That is hardly conclusive evidence. THE NATION Did Nader once ride in former New Republic Writer Andrew Kopkind's convertible without fastening his seat belt? Apparently so. Did Nader jump into Washington Lawyer Simon Lazarus' Corsair after a parly, then warn the attorney not to mention that La/arus had been storied by a cop for exceeding the kjxied limit because Nader feared the headline: ItAI I'll NADER CAUGHT SPEEDING IN COKVA1R? Undoubtedly he did. Sanfotd's point is that Nader needicasij cither denies or tries to conceal such trivialities out of his obsession with protecting the myth of an unblemished David in mortal combat with a corrupt Goliath. More substantively, Sanford con tends that Nader is as secretive about the finances of his consumer groups as are the corporations he repeatedly at tacks Nader does, for exam ple, refuse to divulge the names of all contributors to his causes, contending he does not want them harassed. Sanford further claims, con vincingly, that despite Na der's poor-mouthing, his major lobbying organization, Public Citizen Inc., had a net worth of SI.3 million as of 1974, the date of its most re cent public report. Although it is often catty and petty, Sanford's book nevertheless does seem to have a point about one of Na der's fund-raising tactics: the Public Interest Research Groups raise money on many college campuses through an automatic fee that all stu dents must pay, applying for a refund if they do not wish to be assessed. Yet Nader has sharply assailed the practice of book clubs that send vol umes monthly to members unless they ask the clubs in writing not to do so. Sanford does concede that Nader has made an invaluable contribution to U.S. society. But, he quickly adds, "he's become arrogant and self-important. You cannot be the sixth, or whatever, most admired man in the world, receiv ing the mail that he docs and the press attention he gets, without being changed by it." Nader dismisses the Sanford book as "a consumer fraud." Connecti cut's Democratic Senator Abe RibicofT, whose subcommittee hearings on auto safety first thrust Nader into promi nence, offers a more eloquent rebuttal. "1 read that people are kicking Ralph Nader around," Ribicoff told Time. "I le's still a man of great influence. He's got integrity. He takes on causes that very few people want to take on. They are all controversial. He's right some of the time. He's wrong some. But he's will ing to take them on." GENCO16841 TIME. SEPTEMBER 6, I9Z4