March 20, 2007
Toxics Use Reduction Institute Science Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
March 20, 2007
Members Present: Larry Boise, Chris Swartz, Hilary Eustace, Dave Williams, Igor Linkov
Others present: Heather Tenney (TURI), Mike Ellenbecker (TURI), John Raschko (OTA), Lucy Servidio (Capaccio Engineering), Glenn Keith (DEP), Carol Rowan West (DEP), Paul Richard (OTA), Bill McGowan (OTA), Liz Harriman (TURI)
Welcome and Introductions
Minutes: January minutes approved as written.
Program updates
- Travel reimbursements - Heather will send W-9 forms to the members to complete; receipts will be required for reimbursements.
- Mike Ellenbecker (TURI), John Raschko (OTA) and Carol Rowan West (DEP) have been formally designated as TURA agency liaisons to the Board. They will participate in Board discussions, but will not initiate or vote on motions.
- The new TURA Executive Director in EOEA has not yet been appointed.
More Hazardous Chemicals
The Board continued their discussion on the More Hazardous chemicals. It was decided to replace Sodium Cyanide with Cyanide Compounds on the list of 15 potential More Hazardous chemicals since it is reportable under the Cyanide Compounds category, and not as a specific chemical. Hydrogen Cyanide will remain as one of the 15 potential More Hazardous chemicals since it is reportable as the specific chemical. The members reviewed the TURA data provided by TURI for the 15 candidate chemicals in order to determine the 10 chemicals to be submitted to TURI for policy review. The following 4 chemicals were dropped from this round, and will likely be part of the list of chemicals to be designated More Hazardous next year - Phosgene, Carbon Tetrachloride, Hexavalent Chromium Compounds, and DBCP. Hexavalent Chromium Compounds were included on this list since currently all chromium compounds are reportable under the chromium compounds category without any distinction as to valence state. In order for Hexavalent Chromium Compounds to be designated as More Hazardous, a regulatory change is needed to make them separately reportable. The Board recommended that this change be pursued so that Hexavalent Chromium Compounds can be designated as More Hazardous next year. There was some discussion concerning whether Cr+6 is converted to Cr+3 in the environment; Chris Swartz will provide Heather with some information on this to send to the Board.
There was a motion to recommend that the following 11 chemicals be forwarded to TURI for Policy Analysis - Arsenic Compounds, Benzene, Cadmium Compounds, Chlorine, Cyanide Compounds, Ethylene Oxide, Formaldehyde, Hydrogen Cyanide, Nickel Compounds, Perchloroethylene, and TCE. Five members voted in favor. The Board will use the results of the policy analysis to finalize their recommendation of the 10 chemicals to be designated More Hazardous this year. With regard to the 3 metal compound categories on the list, TURI will include a review of reporting requirements (parent metal vs. category) as part of their policy analysis.
Less Hazardous Chemicals
The discussion proceeded to starting to identify the first group of 10 chemicals to be designated as Less Hazardous. It was decided to first review the CERCLA-only chemicals in the pool of candidate chemicals to decide which ones should remain on the TURA list, and it was determined that zinc borate and zinc sulfate were incorrectly identified as CERCLA-only chemicals. The review of the CERCLA-only chemicals was not completed, but a motion was made on the chemicals that were discussed to recommend that acetic acid, acetone and isobutyl alcohol remain on the TURA list; 5 members voted in favor.
The following CERCLA-only chemicals that were discussed will drop from the TURA list - ammonium bicarbonate, ethyl acetate, sodium phosphate dibasic (3 CAS nos.), and sodium phosphate tribasic (6 CAS nos.). Decisions on 5 iron compounds (ferric chloride, ferric sulfate, ferrous chloride, ferrous sulfate, and ferrous ammonium sulfate) will be made after reviewing additional background on the low exposure limits for these chemicals and whether worker exposure is an issue. Hilary Eustace will provide this information to Heather to send to the Board.
After the discussion on the CERCLA-only chemicals, the Board started reviewing the following candidate chemicals as to whether they should be designated as Less Hazardous - ethylene glycol, methanol, MEK, acetic acid, acetone, and the butyl alcohols. Hilary will check on the status of EPA's decision on a petition to delist MEK under the TRI program; such a delisting would make MEK a CERCLA-only chemical.