EPA eyes changes in perc air rules
Seeking further reduction in perc
emissions from drycleaning plants, the Environmental Protection
Agency last month proposed amendments to its national emission standard that was originally adopted in 1993.
For most drycleaners, the changes would
only require more monitoring and testing for perc leaks. Two
groups of cleaners — a handful of very large plants and
about 1,300 that are located in residential buildings —
would face additional requirements.
Most of the rest of the 28,000 cleaning
plants would be able to satisfy EPA’s proposed new rules
by purchasing a $250 halogenated carbon leak detector for
conducting monthly leak detection in addition to the already
required weekly inspection for leaks that can be spotted
without measuring instruments.
EPA is also proposing a final phase-out
of the estimated 200 transfer drycleaning machines still in
operation. They would have to be replaced with
fourth-generation machines, i.e., no-vent equipment with
refrigerated condensers and secondary carbon adsorbers.
Cleaners with second and third generation equipment could
continue using those machines, but when they are replaced, they
would have to buy fourth-generation machines.
Requirements would be a bit tougher for
the 15 cleaners classified as “major source” by
EPA. Those plants, which purchase more than 2,100 gallons of
perc a year, would be required to install fourth-generation
equipment and use a photoionization detector or other gas
analyzer for leak detection. Those leak detection units cost
about $3,000.
For another category of cleaners, EPA is
still considering the regulatory options.
“Risks from most drycleaners across
the country generally are low, and our proposed requirements
would make them even lower,” said Bill Wehrum, acting
assistant administrator for air and radiation. “But based
on what we now know about the risks from perc drycleaners, a
small group of drycleaners located in apartment buildings
requires closer examination. We are asking the public for
additional information that could help us develop strategies to
reduce these risks more quickly.”
One of the options would prohibit new
perc drycleaning machines in co-residential facilities. This
would lead to an eventual phase-out of perc in these facilities
as existing equipment meets the end of its useful lifespan. To
acclerate the phase-out, EPA may consider a
“sunset” provision for currently installed perc
equipment.
Another option would entail
technology-based requirements similar to those already in place
in New York where cleaners in co-residential facilities are
required to have fourth-generation equipped and vapor barrier
rooms that ventilate outside the building.
EPA believes that of the 1,300
co-residential drycleaners nationwide, about 900 are in New
York and should already be in compliance with the New York
standards. EPA said another 200 of the co-residential cleaners
are located in California.
Perc ban rejected
One option considered but rejected by EPA
was a total ban on perc for major sources. While this would
completely eliminate any risk from perc, the cost would be high
and the alternatives might not be sufficient, EPA said.
“There are some fabrics that cannot
be cleaned in the alternative solvents. There are also some
uncertainties about whether the waste from alternative solvent
systems would be classified as hazardous,” EPA said.
“Alternative solvents have a role in the industry, and
are being used for certain cleaning applications. However,
there is not enough experience to determine that these
technologies are sufficiently demonstrated for all applications
such that PCE should be eliminated from the
marketplace.”
EPA’s proposals will be open for
public comment but the agency is under a court-ordered deadline
of April 28 to issue the new rules. EPA was supposed to have
reviewed and updated the rules several years ago. Under the
Clean Air Act, the agency is required to review its emission
standards eight years after promulgation of the original rule,
which in the case of the drycleaning standard, was 1993. Thus
the agency is at least four years behind schedule with the
review. A lawsuit by the Sierra Club forced its hand and also
resulted in the April deadline.
Since the perc standard for drycleaning
was issued in 1993, the industry has undergone many changes,
some of it prompted by the need to comply with new
environmental rules and some due to technological advancements.
In 1993, perc consumption by the industry
was about 175 million pounds. It has since dropped to under 40
million pounds. However, 1993 marks only a midpoint on a much
longer trend for decline in perc consumption that began in the
1980s.
Perc drycleaning machines have changed,
too, over that time. EPA estimates that 98 percent of the
28,000 drycleaners are using dry-to-dry cleaning machines with
refrigerated condensers. In addition, there has been a growth
in non-perc drycleaning technologies. In 1993, petroleum
solvent was thought to be a thing of the past, liquid carbon
dioxide drycleaning was unheard of, and new wetcleaning
equipment and techniques were just beginning to appear.
EPA said the combination of increased use
of alternative drycleaning solvents, the replacement of older
drycleaning machines, and state and industry programs to
improve machine efficiencies and to reduce perchloroethylene
use has resulted in a decline of perc emissions by about 15,000
tons a year.
The public comment on the proposal period
will commence after the its publication in the Federal
Register, which was expected to come in late December.
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