Content about United States Environmental Protection Agency

WASHINGTON — When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) posted the final health assessment for tetrachloroethylene—also known as perchloroethylene, or perc—to its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database in February, it deemed the chemical to be a “likely human carcinogen.”

The assessment replaces the 1988 IRIS assessment for perc and for the first time includes a hazard characterization for cancer effects. The assessment underwent several levels of rigorous, independent peer review including: agency review, interagency review, public comment, and external peer review by the National Research Council, according to the EPA, and all major review comments were addressed.

The Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance says 70% of U.S. commercial dry cleaners use perc; EPA estimates the total number to be 27,000. So what does this development mean for the future of the industry’s preferred solvent?

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday officially characterized tetrachloroethylene—also known as perchloroethylene (perc)—as a “likely human carcinogen,” but the agency does not believe that wearing clothing dry-cleaned with perc poses a health risk.

EPA issued its final health assessment to its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database, which describes health effects that may result from exposure to various substances. The assessment provides estimates for both cancer and non-cancer effects associated with exposure to perc over a lifetime.

The agency has already taken several significant actions to reduce exposure to perc. It has clean air standards for dry cleaners that use perc, including requirements that will phase-out the chemical’s use in residential buildings by Dec. 21, 2020.

EPA also set limits for the amount of perc allowed in drinking water, and levels for cleaning up perc at Superfund sites throughout the country, which will be updated in light of the IRIS assessment.

NEW YORK — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a plan to clean up ground water at the Peninsula Boulevard Ground Water Plume Superfund site in Hempstead, N.Y.

The ground water is contaminated with tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene, dry-cleaning chemicals that can seriously impact people’s health, EPA says.

The cleanup plan entails extracting ground water from the site using pumping wells and treating the water to remove the contaminants before it is disposed of at a public wastewater treatment facility or sent back into surface or ground water.

Residents in the area get their drinking water from the Long Island American Water Co., which operates a drinking water well field approximately 1,000 feet north of the Peninsula Boulevard site. EPA did not detect any contaminants above acceptable levels in ground water from the company during its investigation.

A series of New York State Department of Environmental Conservation investigations in the 1990s revealed an extensive ground water contaminant plume at the site of the former Grove Cleaners, EPA says.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance (HSIA) filed a petition last week with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to list n-Propyl Bromide (nPB), a brominated hydrocarbon, as a hazardous air pollutant under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act. Such a listing would result in regulation of significant sources of nPB emissions.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) outlined a new strategy to protect the public from chemical contaminants in drinking water yesterday, as well as plans to revise its drinking-water standard for four chemical contaminants, including perchloroethylene.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed tougher clean-air regulations yesterday in an effort to limit smog nationwide. The move would cost heavy industry up to $90 billion, but save a comparable amount on healthcare, the agency says.

When it comes to environmental issues, logic doesn’t always prevail. And cleaning up the environment is something we all want to do — if what it takes fits into our idea of reasonable sacrifices for everyday life.

Unfortunately, the government doesn’t see the logic in drycleaners’ convenience or business success. Small businesses represent the core of the economy. Though we don’t generate the earnings some businesses do, we are an important piece of the economic puzzle.

WASHINGTON, D.C. —  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving to clarify its regulations covering airborne percholorethylene emissions from drycleaning plants. The changes will relax some of the responsibilities mandated by EPA in its NESHAP revisions of 2006.

BILLINGS, Mont. — The Environmental Protection Agency recently released a plan to clean up a 140-acre plume of perc-contaminated groundwater that lies under homes and businesses in Billings, Mont. The plan will launch a cleanup as early as spring 2008 to prevent the contamination from spreading.

EPA says the effort will cost about $7 million and take up to five years. Superfund money will pay for the initial cleanup costs, and EPA may seek reimbursement from the party or parties responsible for the release.

MODESTO, Calif. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is suing the former landlords of a Modesto drycleaning operation to recover $9 million in expenses it says was pent cleaning up perchloroethylene contamination in the city’s groundwater, according to a recent story in the Modesto Bee.