National Clothesline

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is moving ahead with an accelerated phase-out of perc drycleaning in the nine California counties under its jurisdiction.

Currently, cleaners in the Bay Area are under the statewide perc phase-out date plan adopted by the California Air Resources Board in 2007. The state mandate requires the removal of any perc drycleaning unit that is 15 years old or older as of July 1 this year. Each July 1 thereafter, any machine that became 15 years old in the previous year must be removed. Under this scheme, there will be no more perc drycleaning equipment in California by 2023.

The BAAQMD proposes to retain the July 1 deadline for 15-year-old machines this year, but beginning July 1, 2011 and each subsequent year machines would have to be removed if they are 12 years old or older. Under this timetable, perc use in drycleaning would be eliminated in the district by 2020, three years earlier than the state plan.

BAAQMD believes that 273 of the estimated 490 perc drycleaning machines in the district will be subject to the July 1, 2010 phase-out. Under the 15-year plan, seven more machines would be retired in July of next year.

Under the district’s accelerated phase-out, an total of 90 more machines would meet the 12-year threshold and have to shut down by July 1, 2011. Thus, 363 of the 490 perc machines in the district will have to cease operation by July of next year.

The air district also considered phasing out machines when they reach eight and ten years of age. The eight-year phase-out would have resulted in shutting down all but 26 perc machines as of this July 1. The ten-year plan would have shut down 396 machines this year.

Perc is currently used at about 56 percent of the cleaners in the district, BAAQMD said. District officials said they expect most perc plants will adopt alternative solvent technology, such as hydrocarbon, while others would become drop stores and some would simply shut down.

One concern expressed by the district is the likelihood of increased volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions, which contribute to the formation of photochemical smog, or ozone, if the quicker phase-out is adopted. While perc has been exempted by EPA has a VOC, some non-perc dry alternatives, such as petroleum-based solvent, emit VOCs.

The district said that in a “worst case scenario” in which all affected facilities replace perc machines with petroleum-based machines up to three years earlier than under the existing phase-out schedule, the district would see a temporary increase in VOC emissions of more than 86 pounds per day or 15 tons per year compared to emissions under the longer phase-out schedule. Because the accelerated phase-out would have an impact on air quality, the district will prepare an Environmental Impact Report.

BAAQMD jurisdiction covers San Francisco and the surrounding Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties, and the southern portions of Solano and Sonoma counties.

Cleaning and stain removal and a California Air Resources Board recertification class will be offered Saturday, March 13 at 5th Avenue Cleaners, 2200 5th Ave., in San Diego.

Kenney Slatten Training Co. and A.L. Wilson Chemical Co. will conduct the sessions. The cost is $40 per person.

To register or for more information contact Jeff Schwarz of A.L Wilson, (201) 240-9446, or Kenney Slatten, (800) 429-3990