Document wg84ODQn3eMX7qYLGbq4r7x0B

. ...... -3: V.anulnctur#!* Association(lofmarty ManufacturingChamist* A*$ociatlon)topromot* daananrironmant April 1981 Congress reviews environmental acts page 2 Chemical industry works for safety page 4 CMA completes benzene study page 7 Industry supports air act goals page 8 EPA issues air pollution rules page 7 3M 106079 -PA Proposes `Bubble' Rules t ;.i w.a to nations! air ; that will help . ; -jiDiory Durden on in- proposed by the En: ^oMction Agency. ...agr. dealing with how ERA : pollution `source,' will th.) rod t^pe binding new * !.- :!oprr,ont while continu- ' Public health against air 'v h Acting Administrator *t c?id. h mpa concerns EPA's .;/ 'lOj.j.sdnt of new sources of -3 ti.At do not meet I .;..`:os;3hjrio air quality stan- Air A ;t forbids any new . .:'.vi of a "major source" in c do not have an EPA ;n rmede'j to meet Federal . :r.d forbids any "modificai . '.jor source that would in, i ior.s "significantly." -; do have a piar. to meet ir-Js, out have not yet met troction or modification ,, oroviciad that the in: jitu a construction per; - murrain other pollution it The burdens imposed by these re quirements depend largely on how EPA defines a "source". If the entire plant is taken as the "source," its owners could increase pollution from one part of the plant, as long as they decreased emissions in another part of the plant. Since on balance pollu tion from the plant as a whole would not have increased there would have been no modification under the statute and formal preconstruction review would not be required. This "bubble" approach, which considers total emissions from a plant, not in dividual pollution sources emissions, is supported by CMA. However, if EPA views each in dividual facility within that plant as a "source," then the owners must meet the regulatory requirements for each facility whenever its emissions in crease beyond a certain amount, even if total plant-wide emissions do not in crease as a whole and significantly delay or curtail any industrial expan sion. At present EPA applies the second definition in areas that are not meeting air quality standards. Today's proposal would adopt the first approach in- Pleases Benzene Research report submitted to '".jerdss showed that ivj cffec! c* reproductive it"i irfOoiotofy animals. .-sirch, administered by CMA ~rrican Petroleum institute, . ructed by an independent -/, 3ic/dynamics, Inc., of East , N.J., and covered inhalation to 30 times the present work 1 inward. j male and female rats were o-xS io benezene at one to 300 : er million for six hours a day, .ys a week during a ten-week :i r.:ior to mating with untreated .is. *-emale rats continued to be .-j during the mating and gesta' .:d,3 and from days five to 21 of .,i. Mo statistically significant adverse effects on reproduction or on the offspring were observed in any of the tests. Testicular changes were observed : in two out of 20 male rats at the highest dose level, but this did not ap pear to affect reproductive perfor mance. It is not clear if these changes were related to benzene exposure. The reports were submitted to the Consumer Product Safety Commis sion, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Ad ministration, the National Cancer In stitute,, the. National Institute, for Occupational Safety and Health, the Occupational Safety And Health Administration and the National In stitute of Environmental Health Science. stead. Under it, only the plant as a whole is considered a "source." EPA also is proposing to drop its re quirement that any existing plant that is being substantially rebuilt in an area that does not meet air quality stan dards must get a permit even if its total pollution does not increase significantly. The proposal was published March 12 in the Federal Register. EPA Develops Air Monitors The fresh air we breathe may not always be as pure as we like to think it is. To learn more about individual ex posures to potentially harmful toxic organic pollutants in the ambient air, the Environmental .Protection Agency is funding development of badge-type personal monitors. f ~ r - *> "M,,We hope to make these badges sensitive enough to measure partsper-billion concentrations of toxic pollutants," EPA project officer James Milik explained. The badge-type monitors, the same size as radiation detector badges, will contain sorbent materials to collect toxic compounds from air. Substances that can be detected by the badges are vinyl chloride, trichloroethylene, tetrachlorethyiene, dichlorobenzene, 1, 2-dichloroethane and trichloro- ethane. Tfc. - *- s This prototype persoppi monitoring badge is being developed 'totcrAby the 4 Monsanto Researcfi^cffiSbta'von. 'O> C00D po 9 -J 3H 106080