What happens when EPA designates a new hazardous substance, which is used or stored at almost every industrial site?
To help assist companies in understanding what ramifications will occur from EPA rule-making, IKON Industrial has summarized the proposed actions and what this means for industry. Designating perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as Superfund, will have vast effects including changes to storage, reporting, permitting, transporting, spilling and environmental cleanup practices.
PFOA and PFOS are part of a chemical group known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS have been labeled "forever chemicals" which, in short, means they are long-lasting chemicals that take decades to break down and resist decay. These chemicals are found and used in many products, but much of their production went into fire-fighting foam, cookware and water repellents. Firefighting foam is commonly used and stored across most industrial, manufacturing, construction and adjacent industries.
EPA has entered rule-making to designate these chemicals as hazardous substances. This designation does not mean that these chemicals will not be permitted for use. It does mean that under CERCLA, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Emergency Planning Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and many other ancillary laws that rely on the CERCLA list of chemicals, there will be mandated reporting of releases of PFOA and PFOS into the environment when they exceed certain thresholds, special storage requirements, reporting requirements and DOT considerations.
Because the CERCLA list is specifically referenced to define hazardous substances and is identified in many other laws, due diligence firms and ongoing remediation sites will be required under the ASTM standard, to evaluate and potentially remediate sites to meet new standards. There is also the possibility that concentrations of soil and groundwater that were once not investigated, may be removed as a hazardous waste. These laws also govern hazardous waste practices and management, and users of these chemicals will need to comply with the change in regulatory status for products containing these substances.
With the hazardous substance listing for PFOA and PFOS, new actions will be required for facilities that may have products containing PFOA and PFOS. Some of these changes include how waste containing these products is stored, the method of storage and in some cases how long it can be stored. It will also require evaluation for Tier II chemical storage and the Toxic Release Inventory, required yearly under EPCRA. Depending on the amount of waste or substances stored, there may be additional reporting required. When using/spilling these substances, it would also be required to consider reportable quantities, as established under CERCLA, which would lead to spill reporting to the National Response Center. Soil or groundwater containing these substances could then be regulated as a hazardous waste, increasing remediation costs and limiting disposal options.
Removing these substances from a company's inventory will become much more costly due to the limited outlets for hazardous materials disposal. Organizations will need to, under OSHA, properly communicate, outfit with PPE, train and educate workers on associated hazards. Storage of these chemicals will become more burdensome with additional requirements/reporting.
To limit a company's exposure to additional requirements and costs associated with the CERCLA listing, seek out alternative products without PFOA and PFOS. If there is existing stock of unused materials that contain PFOA or PFOS, remove and dispose of that inventory before the final rule-making goes into effect.
For more information, visit ikonenviro.com or call (281) 766-IKON [4566].
