circuit ree article

8/17/2019 Circuit Ree Article

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EPA’s New Waste Water Treatment Standards Development Document Is Hard to Swallow

By Fern Abrams

On January 3, 2001, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) roo!e" ne# #a!te #ater treatment !tan"ar"!, $no#n a! e%%luent gui"eline!, %or 1& in"u!trial metal ro"uct! an"machinery ('P') !ector!, inclu"ing the manu%acture an" reair o% rinte" #iring oar"!(P*+!). he roo!e" ne# gui"eline! (!ee ale 1) are -uite !tringent an" are li$ely to re-uireeten!ive an" co!tly roce!! mo"i%ication! in many P*+ !ho!.

EPA, #hich ha! a ten"ency to un"ere!timate the co!t o% comliance, ha! e!timate" the totalannuali/e" co!t (in 1& "ollar!) o% comliance %or the P*+ in"u!try to e 1.1 million or, onaverage, aroimately a -uarter million "ollar! er4%acility. 5n a""ition, EPA calculate! that theco!t! o% comlying #ith the roo!e" rule #ill %orce !even P*+ %acilitie! out o% u!ine!!, #hile

an e!timate" 301, almo!t 60 ercent o% all P*+ %acilitie!, #ill have "i%%iculty %inancingcomliance or ongoing u!ine!! inve!tment! a! a re!ult o% the rule.

*hile the economic imact! o% the rule are %rightening, "eeer #ithin the "ocumentation arei!!ue! o% greater concern. *or$ing #ith the 5P78! Environmental 9ealth an" Sa%ety (E9S)!teering committee on revie# o% thi! rule, 5 !ometime! %eel li$e 58m rea"ing a oorly #ritten"etective novel.

EPA8! ne# rule i! un"er4re!earche", a!e" on inaccurate !cience an" inclu"e! -ue!tionale roce!!e! u!e" to !et the ne# level!. +ut, in the tyical #ay o% the government, they haveattemte" to hi"e their oor #or$ un"er a mora!! o% aer. 5n thi! ca!e, %ormula a%ter %ormula

an" tale a%ter tale i! "e!igne" to conceal the truth.

he mora!! o% aer i! huge. he rule uli!he" in the %e"eral regi!ter i! more than one hun"re" age! long. Un%ortunately, the!e one hun"re" age! "on8t !ay much. 5t8! not until you rea" thetechnical "eveloment "ocument : more than %ive hun"re" age! : that you egin to !ee aglimmer o% ho# EPA ha! mi!rere!ente" the truth. +ut to really uncover the truth, you have to#a"e into the "oc$et, a lirary4!i/e" room, %ull o% oo$!helve! %ull o% reort!, memo! an" other aer! that con!titute the o%%icial recor" %or thi! rulema$ing. he in"e to the "oc$et it!el% i!more than 1,000 age!.

hi! i! #hat #e have uncovere" !o %ar aout the #ay EPA !et! e%%luent gui"eline!;

Accor"ing to the 7lean *ater Act, the la# un"er #hich the!e regulation! are eing romulgate",EPA i! re-uire" to a!e e%%luent gui"eline! on


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an" elanation! %or ho# they !et limit!, #hen you $ee "igging, you %in" out that i% you !tart#ith a" "ata, no matter #hat you "o to it the re!ult! are !till o% -ue!tionale -uality.+ut %ir!t let me tell you ho# EPA !et! limit!>

?ir!t, EPA !elect! %acilitie! it elieve! rere!ent the


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o e totally %air, thi! i!!ue i! allu"e" to in the rulema$ing, ut it i! not until 7hater 10 o% the6004age "eveloment "ocument that the actual "etail! o% #hat EPA "i" come! to light.

Cememer 5 !ai" EPA only u!e" "ata %rom t#o P*+ lant! *ell that #a!n8t entirely true.Actually, almo!t all o% the P*+ "ata #a! e"ite" out. So, in the ca!e! %or total or amenale

cyani"e, chromium, coer, lea", /inc, an" total !ul%i"e!, the "ata %e" into the %ormula! to"etermine limit! %or the P*+ in"u!try "i" not even come %rom the P*+ in"u!try. 5n or"er toma$e u the !hort%all in their "ata collection, EPA tran!%erre" "ata %rom other metal earingin"u!trie! !uch a! aircra%t, aero!ace, u! an" truc$, har"#are, hou!ehol" e-uiment, motorvehicle!, o%%ice machine!, etc.

*hat, you may a!$, "o the!e in"u!trie! have in common #ith P*+! that allo#e" EPA to u!etheir "ata to !et e%%luent limit! %or the P*+ in"u!try EPA !ay! that the!e %acilitie! #erea!!e!!e" to have #a!te#ater characteri!tic! an" #a!te#ater treatment oeration! e!!entially the!ame a! the P*+ in"u!try. *anting to evaluate thi! %or my!el%, 5 a!$e" EPA #here 5 #oul" %in"in%ormation regar"ing thi! a!!e!!ment. hey an!#ere" that they are un!ure i% there i! any #ritten

"ocumentation o% thi! a!!e!!ment.

5% you are a! outrage" a! 5 am at EPA! !loly #or$, here8! #hat you can "o. Over 26 5P7memer! an" !ta%% te!ti%ie" la!t month (%or 'arch ulication) at %our regional EPA hearing! on ehal% o% the in"u!try. he rule i! oen %or ulic comment until 'ay 3, 2001. 5n"ivi"ual %acilitie! areencourage" to !umit their o#n #ritten comment! a! a !ulementFrein%orcement o% the in"u!try8! Dointcomment! eing reare" y 5P78! Environmental, 9ealth an" Sa%ety Steering 7ommittee. Plea!e vi!it

5P78! #e!ite at ###.ic.orgFhtmlF%!legilative.htm %or more in%ormation or %eel %ree to contact me. *ecan "e%eat thi! rule, ut #e nee" your hel. Gon8t "een" on other %acilitie! to "o the Do 4 #e nee"the cooeration o% everyone in the in"u!tryH

Fern Abrams is IPC director of environment policy in Washington D.C.

She can be reached at 202!"#!2$%& or email fabrams'ipc.org.

http://www.ipc.org/html/fslegilative.htmhttp://www.ipc.org/html/fslegilative.htm


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Table 1

PWB Effluent Guidelines

(in mg/l)

e!ulated

Parameter

"urrent

Standard

s #nder

$%%

Pretreatment

standards

&or e'(st(n!

sources

New source

per&ormanc

e standards

)a'

(

m

u

m

Da(l

y

)a'(

mum

)ont

*ly

Avera

!e

)a'(

m

u

m

Da(ly

)a'(m

um

)ont*l

y

Avera!

e

)a'(

mum

Da(ly

)a'(mu

m

)ont*l

y

Avera!e

SS &0 31 &0 31 2I 1I

O 62 2& 62 2& 16 12

O7

(a! in"icator)101 & 101 &

OFOP 2.13 .0 .3 .0 .3

7a"mium 0.11 0.0

7hromium 2. 1.1 0.26 0.1 0.1 0.0

7oer 3.3I 2.0 0.66 0.2I 0.01 0.01

7yani"e ()1 1.2 0.&6 0.21 0.13 0.21 0.13

7yani"e (A)2 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.0

Kea" 0.& 0.3 0.0 0.03 0.0 0.03

'angane!e 1.3 0.& 0.2 0.1I

Lic$el 3.I 2.3I 0.30 0.1 1. 0.6

Silver 0.3 0.2Sul%i"e (a! S) 31 13 31 13

in 0.31 0.1 0.0 0.0

Minc 0.3I 0.22 0.0I 0.0&1otal 7yani"e2Amenale 7yani"e

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