Drycleaners in New Jersey using perc in co-residential locations would be
scrambling to find a replacement solvent by July of next year and all others
using third-generation equipment would be looking to install fourth-generation
equipment in the next 12 months under a proposal unveiled by the New Jersey
Department of Environmental Protection one year ago this month.
Across the Delaware River in Philadelphia, drycleaners using perc would have
less than two years to find a different solvent under a new set of rules
proposed last summer.
Those drycleaners now have some breathing room due to efforts by industry trade
associations to slow down the advance of the proposed regulations. Several of
the people involved in those negotiations brought cleaners up to date during an
Oct. 26 program at the Pennsylvania and Delaware Cleaners Association
Drycleaning and Laundry Expo in Atlantic City, NJ.
“If we as an industry think we’re right, we need to stand up for ourselves and push back,” said Nora Nealis, executive director of the National Cleaners Association.
Nealis has been involved in dialogue with officials in both New Jersey and
Philadelphia on perc phase-out plans.
Since the public hearing on the proposal last January, ongoing discussions with
New Jersey officials, both elected and appointed, have centered on making new
regulations livable, she said.
“Accepting the fact that we’re going to be regulated, I think the best thing we can do is get regulations
you can live with,” Nealis said.
Among provisions to ease the transition could be grants to cleaners faced with a
quick phase-out and a longer time line for equipment upgrades.
How NJDEP will decide the issue remains up in the air, however, and the matter
may be complicated by the fact that the state agency has a new commissioner.
Lisa P. Jackson, who had been serving as commissioner and was, according to
Nealis, helpful in discussions with the industry, has been named Gov. John
Corzine’s chief of staff. A new commissioner, Mark Mauriello, took over the department
Nov. 18.
Meanwhile in Philadelphia, a proposal that would virtually ban perc use in the
city was moving swiftly until a meeting of the city’s Pollution Control Board last month. Under a proposal unveiled last summer,
perc would be banned in two years in all drycleaning plants except those that
are free-standing. The city’s health department estimated that there are only eight such free-standing
facilities that would be exempt from the ban.
Representatives of industry groups, including NCA, PDCA, the Drycleaning and
Laundry Institute, the Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance and the
Philadelphia Korean Cleaners Association, appealed to the board for less
Draconian phase-out measure. A work group was formed to draft a counter
proposal and association leaders thought they would have an opportunity to
further discuss the proposal before it was sent to the board for a vote.
They were surprised, then, on the eve of the Nov. 5 board meeting to receive a
final proposal which, while amended, still contained objectionable provisions.
At the board meeting, association representatives protested the lack of notice
and pointed out inconsistencies and lack of clarity of some new provisions. As
a result, the board voted to table the regulations until its March 5 meeting.
Speaking at the Atlantic City meeting, Jason Kim, president of the Philadelphia
Korean Cleaners Association, warned that while the issue may appear to only
effect a relative handful of cleaners in Philadelphia, rules adopted in the
city could spread to the suburban jurisdictions and then to a wider area.
“I hope their decision is something we can live with,” Kim added.
