Higher and Lower Hazard Substances
Under the 2006 Amendments to the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Act, the TURA Administrative Council has the authority to designate up to 10 higher hazard substances and up to 10 lower hazard substances per year. The goal of this provision is to help Massachusetts companies and communities focus their toxics use reduction efforts on those chemicals that pose the most serious threats to health and the environment.
- The higher hazard designation lowers the threshold for reporting, planning, and paying TURA fees to 1,000 pounds per year.
- The lower hazard designation eliminates the per chemical fee. Reporting and planning requirements for these chemicals are unchanged.
To date, perchloroethylene (PCE), trichloroethylene (TCE), cadmium, and cadmium compounds have been designated as higher hazard substances. Persistent, bio-accumulative, and toxic (PBT) substances, which already have lower reporting thresholds, are also now designated as higher hazard substances.
The TURA program's Administrative Council has also voted to designate three lower hazard substances:
- Isobutyl alcohol
- Sec-butyl alcohol
- n-butyl alcohol
This page updated Wednesday January 06 2010