Environmental News

Volume 9, Issue 7

February 12, 2008

Coming Soon! Search for Your Training by City & State or Topic!

Lion.com's improved course catalog allows you to search for courses based where you are in the country plus the training topic you need! Thanks to Lion member input, pinpointing your training location has never been easier!

Question of the Week

TSCA Reporting of New Chemical Mixtures
Q. We have a new scrubbing solution that we have formulated from several chemical substances for use in our processes. Do we need to file a Pre-Manufacture Notice under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)?

A. It depends... Based on the information you've provided it appears that your scrubbing solution is a mixture of two or more substances. Mixtures are largely excluded from the Pre-Manufacture Notice rules found in 40 CFR Part 720 (required by TSCA §5).

In TSCA §8(b), Congress required the Environmental Protection Agency to “compile, keep current, and publish a list of each chemical substance which is manufactured or processed in the United States.” The Pre-Manufacture Notice (PMN) requirements at 40 CFR Part 720 are EPA's way of adding new chemical substances to that list. Congress defined “chemical substances” in TSCA §3(2) as “any organic or inorganic substance of a particular molecular identity,” and went on to exclude mixtures from that definition at TSCA §3(2)(b)(i).

TSCA §3(8) defines the term mixture as “any combination of two or more chemical substances if the combination does not occur in nature and is not, in whole or in part, the result of a chemical reaction, except that such term does include any combination which occurs, in whole or in part, as a result of a chemical reaction if none of the chemical substances comprising the combination is a new chemical substance and if the combination could have been manufactured for commercial purposes without a chemical reaction at the time the chemical substances comprising the combination were combined.” The EPA realized how confusing this statutory definition was, and, in the Preamble to the 1977 initial TSCA Inventory Reporting Requirements rule, the agency explained that “in general, a combination of two or more chemical substances is a “mixture” if they have been combined by actually mixing them together.” [42 FR 64572, December 23, 1977.]

If your solution meets this definition of ”mixture,” then you are not required to submit a PMN for the solution. However, if you are manufacturing or importing the chemical substances that make up your mixture, you will need check to make sure that each individual constituent chemical substance in the solution is already on the TSCA Inventory, per 40 CFR Part 720. If any of the constituent chemical substances are not, you will be required to submit a PMN for that substance. The rules require this notification at least 90 days prior to commencing the manufacturing or importing of that substance.

Also, the individual constituent chemical substances will still need to be reported on Form U in the next reporting year (2011), if your site either manufactures or imports one or more of the chemical substances above the reporting triggers for any of those chemical substances [see 40 CFR Part 710].

Join the conversation! Visit the environ-mgmt Discussion Group to post comments, ask questions, and get answers!

Getting More Answers
Lion Members gain access to our extensive online databases of helpful compliance advice, regulatory documents, and resources. E-mail your question to our regulatory experts or open your own hotline account. Membership services are free to workshop attendees for one year. Or, purchase or renew your membership online.

Back–to–top

EPA News

02/06/2008—Oil Spill Preparedness Project Eases Clean Water Act Penalty Paid by Derby, Vermont Company

Fred's Plumbing & Heating, Inc., a petroleum storage and distribution facility in Derby, Vermont, will pay $21,250 in penalties and provide $14,000 for local oil spill equipment and response training following Clean Water Act Violations discovered by both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Vermont Dept. of Environmental Conservation (VTDEC).

01/31/2008—U.S. EPA Takes Further Action Against Greka

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today orders Greka Oil and Gas, Inc. to immediately comply with the Federal Water Pollution Control Act at their Bell Tank Facility, or face fines of up to $32,500 per day, for each violation. This is the second order issued to Greka by the EPA this week.

01/28/2008—EPA Seeks Data About Nanoscale Materials

What are the human health and environmental risks and benefits of nanoscale chemical products? That's what EPA wants to find out with its just-announced Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program (NMSP). Engineered nanoscale materials range in size from 1-100 nanometers (nm), and may have very different properties than the same materials at a larger scale.

01/17/2008—Massey Energy to Pay Largest Civil Penalty Ever for Water Permit Violations

Massey Energy Company Inc. has agreed to pay a $20 million civil penalty in a corporate-wide settlement to resolve Clean Water Act violations at coal mines in West Virginia and Kentucky, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced. This is the largest civil penalty in EPA's history levied against a company for wastewater discharge permit violations.

View more EPA news

Back–to–top

Recent EPA Rules, Standards, and Interpretations

01/31/2008—Emission Standards for Stationary Diesel Engines
With this advance notice of proposed rulemaking, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is soliciting comment on several issues concerning options the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can pursue through Federal rulemaking under the Clean Air Act to regulate emissions of pollutants from existing stationary diesel engines, generally, and specifically from larger, older stationary diesel engines.

01/29/2008—Health and Safety Data Reporting; Addition of Certain Chemicals
This final rule, issued pursuant to section 8(d) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and its regulations, requires manufacturers (including importers) of consumer products intended for use by children who also manufacture (including import) lead or lead compounds to report certain unpublished health and safety data to EPA.

01/24/2008—Revisions to the Continuous Emissions Monitoring Rule for the Acid Rain Program, NOX Budget Trading Program, Clean Air Interstate Rule, and the Clean Air Mercury Rule
EPA is finalizing rule revisions that modify existing requirements for sources affected by the federally administered emission trading programs including the NOX Budget Trading Program, the Acid Rain Program, the Clean Air Interstate Rule, and the Clean Air Mercury Rule.

01/16/2008—Proposed Clarification for Chemical Identification Describing Activated Phosphors for TSCA Inventory Purposes
This document proposes a clarification under which activated phosphors that are not on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) section 8(b) Chemical Substance Inventory (TSCA Inventory) would be considered to be new chemical substances under TSCA section 5, thus would be subject to the notification requirements under TSCA section 5(a) new chemical notification requirements.

01/09/2008—Interpretation of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for PM2.5--Correcting and Simplifying Amendment
The EPA recently finalized changes to the data handling conventions and computations necessary for determining when the annual and 24-hour national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for fine particles (generally referring to particles less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers in diameter, PM2.5) are met.

View more EPA Actions

Back–to–top