July 16, 2007
Toxics Use Reduction Institute Science Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
July 16, 2007
Members Present: Larry Boise, Chris Swartz, Anne Marie Desmarais, Hilary Eustace, Igor Linkov
Others present: Heather Tenney (TURI), John Raschko (OTA), John Fischer (MassDEP), Rich Bizzozero (OTA), Lucy Servidio (Capaccio Engineering)
Welcome and Introductions
Program updates
Heather and Rich Bizzozero of OTA told the Board that the initial meeting of the TURA Administrative Council is scheduled for July 31, 2007 from 1:30 to 3:30 in conference room D on the second floor of 100 Cambridge Street. The purpose of this meeting will be to provide the Council with an overview of the TURA program, including a brief program history and description of the 2006 TURA amendments. The Council will also be given the Board's recommendations on the first groups of Higher Hazard and Lower Hazard chemicals, which will be discussed at the Council's next meeting in October.
Rich Bizzozero told the Board that he anticipates that the Board appointment package will be submitted to the Governor's office in the next few weeks.
Rich Bizzozero also indicated that appointments to the TURA Advisory Committee will be made in early August by the Secretary of EOEEA, and that the Committee's first meeting will be in September.
Propanenitrile (Ethyl Cyanide)
The Board recommended at the last meeting on June 25, 2007 that propanenitrile, which is also known as ethyl cyanide, be retained on the TURA list since it is a cyanide compound (cyanide compounds are an EPCRA category). Following the meeting, the question was raised as to whether ethyl cyanide meets the TRI definition of a reportable cyanide compound, i.e., the CN group is bound to another group where a formal dissociation can be made. Heather and John decided that the Board needed to address this issue before the minutes of the June 25 meeting could be approved. They described to the Board how their efforts to resolve this issue by consulting the TRI Q & A document and the EPCRA hotline were not successful, and how these inquiries indicated that the cyanide compound category includes all cyanide compounds that would be expected to dissociate upon release to the environment. Heather also mentioned that she had emailed Dwight Peavey of EPA for clarification, but had not yet received a response. The Board determined that no change in its recommendation was needed, and that the minutes of the June 25 meeting remain as written. Hilary volunteered to contact EPA's interpretive guidance group to determine whether they can provide additional clarification.
Minutes
Following the above discussion, the minutes of the June 25 meeting were approved as written. Anne Marie requested that any minutes posted on TURI's website prior to Board approval be identified as preliminary. Heather noted that all the minutes posted to-date have been approved by the Board.
Review of CERCLA-only Chemicals
The Board continued their review of the CERCLA-only chemicals in order to recommend which ones should remain on the TURA list. Heather distributed to the Board a spreadsheet summarizing the Board's recommendations for the CERCLA-only chemicals they have reviewed to-date.
MEK, Ethyl Acetate and Isobutyl Alcohol
It was determined after the June 25, 2007 meeting that the Board needed to clarify whether their recommendations to retain these three chemicals on the TURA list as less hazardous chemicals meant that they were to be included in the first group of chemicals designated as Lower Hazard. The Board confirmed that this was the case, resulting in a total of 11 Lower Hazard chemicals for which TURI will conduct their policy analysis. The Board will use the results of the policy analysis to finalize their recommendation of the 10 chemicals to be designated as Lower Hazard this year.
Ammonium Fluoride, Ammonium Bifluoride and Sodium Fluoride
Hilary provided the Board with information on fluorine and fluorides, and Anne Marie summarized the information on the three chemicals that she had sent out before the meeting. For sodium fluoride, she noted that two 2-year studies showed it was negative for carcinogenicity but also showed reproductive effects. It has been approved for use in toothpaste, and is regulated by EPA as a pesticide and insecticide. About 30 to 40 drinking water systems in the state use it for fluoridating water. A motion was made to take no action at this time to retain the chemical on the TURA list, and it passed unanimously.
Both ammonium fluoride and ammonium bifluoride are regulated for import and export as precursor chemicals for nerve agents. Ammonium bifluoride is a component of wheel cleaners used in car washes, and has been removed from Clorox Armor-All. It was pointed out that it is used as a replacement for HF in etching processes, but may be less safe since it dissociates into ammonium ion and HF in water. Anne Marie indicated that both of these fluorides dissociate to HF in solution. A motion was made to retain both ammonium fluoride and ammonium bifluoride on the TURA list, and it passed unanimously.
Sodium Hypochlorite
The Board continued their discussion on whether to retain sodium hypochlorite on the TURA list. Sodium hypochlorite was the subject of a previous delisting petition, and the Board had recommended against delisting it. A motion was made to retain sodium hypochlorite on the TURA list based on the Board's past recommendation to not delist it and the fact that there is no new information to support changing this recommendation. The motion passed unanimously.
Remainder of the CERCLA-only Chemicals
The Board moved on to addressing the rest of the CERCLA-only chemicals, specifically the chemicals that have ever been reported that they haven't yet discussed, and all the chemicals that have never been reported. The members acknowledged that they would not be able to review all of these chemicals individually by the statutory deadline of August 1, 2007 for recommending which CERCLA-only chemicals to retain on the TURA list. There was considerable discussion on developing the final recommendation that is required to meet the August 1 deadline. Several members expressed reluctance to retain all the chemicals that have never been reported since they felt it is unlikely they will be used in reportable quantities. It was also pointed out that a significant number of the chemicals that have never been reported will still be reportable under various EPCRA categories. Lucy Servidio noted that it was her impression that the stakeholders involved in developing the 2006 TURA amendments may have the expectation that most of the CERCLA-only chemicals would not be retained.
Following the discussion, a motion was made on a recommendation that was designed to combine all previous recommendations concerning CERCLA-only chemicals to retain, as well as make a recommendation addressing the CERCLA-only chemicals the Board has not reviewed. This motion was to retain on the TURA list all the CERCLA-only chemicals that have ever been reported except the following 17 compounds: ammonium bicarbonate (CAS 1066-33-7); ferric chloride (CAS 7705-08-0); ferric sulfate (CAS 10028-22-5); ferrous ammonium sulfate (CAS 10045-89-3); ferrous chloride (CAS 7758-94-3); ferrous sulfate (CAS 7720-78-7 and 7782-63-0); sodium fluoride (CAS 7681-49-4); sodium phosphate, dibasic (CAS 7558-79-4, 10039-32-4, and 10140-65-5); and sodium phosphate, tribasic (CAS 7601-54-9, 758-29-4, 7785-84-4, 10101-89-0, 10124-56-8, and 10361-89-4). As for the CERCLA-only chemicals that have never been reported, the Board decided to take no action at this point in time, but to provide additional recommendations to TURI during the coming year. The motion passed unanimously.
The Board indicated that they will continue to serve as a technical resource to TURI as TURI performs the policy analysis on this recommendation and develops the final recommendation to be voted on by the Administrative Council.
Next Meeting
September 18, 2007
Adjourn