&EPA
OFFICE OF POLLUTION PREVENTION AND TOXICS
SUMMER 1995 EPA-745-N-95-001
Chemicals in Progress
highlights
6 Enhanced CD-ROM
Version of TRI Coming
This Summer
17 Cisneros and Browner
Accept Lead Paint Task
Force Report
23 Special Feature on the
Internet: Learning the
Basics, Getting on the
Superhighway, and How
to Reach EPA Services
by Randall Brtnkhuis
FINAL NOTICE!
To save costs, we are
paring back the matting list
for Chemicals in Progress
Bulletin. If you would like
to continue to receive your
free copy of the Bulletin./?//
out and mail in the form at
the back of this issue, by
August 31,1995. If you have
already notified us, you do
not need to do so again.
Reinventing and Streamlining OPPT
by Joe Carra
Reinventing Government has been and remains a prominent goal of the
Clinton Administration. Vice President Gore is heading the highly visible
efforts to encourage federal agencies and departments to change the way
they do business. All over America, _llBMM_BII___i^^^^_^^^^
necessity, ever the mother of
invention, has pushed industry into
reinventing and streamlining activi-
ties. Dissatisfied customers of states
and local governments, calling for
taxpayers' relief, have forced cuts in
state and local budgets. The mes-
sages are clear at the federal, state,
and local level, as well as in indus-
try: streamline operations, improve
delivery systems, and focus on
customer needs.
In talking to federal workers
around the country, Vice Presi-
dent Gore has said over and
over: "You want to be proud of
Reinventing continued on page 3
"As we move toward the 21 st century, it is
important for us to remember that we must
have healthy, vital organizations as well as
programs. For this to be a reality, we must
have healthy, vital people. It is time for us
to put our people first. We must continue to
support and cultivate a culture where we
clearly value the contributions of each
employee — empowering staff to do the
job they need to do, encouraging creativity
and innovation, providing the necessary
tools and training to make people the best
they can be, and creating an atmosphere
that will allow us to have a stronger
customer focus —these are the goals of a
Reinvented OPPT."
— Dr. William H. Sanders, June 1995
Director, OPPT
William Sanders
Named to Head OPPT
Assistant Administrator Lynn R. Goldman has announced the selection
of Dr. William H. Sanders III as the new Director of the Office of
Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT). Sanders was the Director of
Environmental Sciences Division in EPA Region 5, where he was
responsible for toxics and pesticides programs. He assumed his new
duties on May 1.
Sanders continued on page 2
VOL. 16/NO. 1 SUMMER 1995
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I
Table of Contents
Contents
General Information
1 William Sanders Named to
Head OPPT
1 Reinventing and Streamlining
OPPT by Joe Carra
TRI
6 EPA Releases New Version of
TRI Automated Form R
Software, by Delores Evarts
6 Enhanced TRI CD-ROM Product
Set for Summer Release
7 TRI Industry Expansion
Proceeds by Brian Symmes and
Tim Crawford
Existing Chemicals Program
6 EPA Releases 8(e) Triage
Database Product, Version 2.0
9 Amending the TSCA Inventory
Update Rule
9 36th ITC Report Transmitted
New Chemicals
10 EPA Revises NCELs to Match
OSHA Requirements
Community Initiatives
12 Informational Report on New
River To Be Issued Soon
12 Promoting Community-Based
Environmental Protection
Design for the Environment
13 EPA's Environmental
Accounting Project, by Holly
Elivood
Pollution Prevention Activities
15 EPA's 33/50 Program:
Acknowledging
Accomplishments and
Considering a Next Generation,
by Mike Burns
Lead, Asbestos, PCBs
17 Lead Paint Task Force Issues
Comprehensive Report on
Private Housing
19 Lead Update
Resources
20 Developing Tools for
Environmental Education
by Kathy Hogan
Special Feature on the Internet
by Randall Brtnkhuis:
21 Learning the Basics
23 Merge Area Ahead: Getting on
the Information Superhighway
24 How to Reach EPA Internet
Services
24 Subject Information on the
Internet
For correspondence and
subscriptions:
Chemicals in
Progress Bulletin
U.S. EPA (7407)
401 M Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460
Mike McDoneH, Co-Editor
Wanda Woodburn, Co-Editor
Gilah Langner
Free Hand Press, Layout
William Sanders
From page 1
For the past year, Sanders has
served as the Senior Executive
for Resources Management
Training in the Office of Adminis-
tration and Resources Manage-
ment. He holds a Ph.D. in Public
Health, with a major in Environ-
mental and Occupational Health
Sciences, from the School of
Public Health at the University
of Illinois at Chicago; an M.S. in
Management of Public Service
from DePaul University; and a
B.S. in Civil Engineering from
the University of Illinois at
Chicago.
In announcing the appointment,
Goldman noted, "Bill brings a
wealth of experience and talent
to OPPT. He is recognized
within and outside the Agency
for his abilities in strategic
planning, use of computer
technology, advancing environ-
mental justice, assessing popula-
tion exposure to environmental
sources of toxic pollutants, and
human resources development.
His leadership and expertise will
be great assets."
Goldman thanked Acting Director
Joe Carra and Acting Deputy
Director Susan Hazen "for doing
an outstanding job" during the
past six months. Carra resumes
his duties as deputy and Hazen
returns to the Environmental
Assistance Division as its director.
CHEMICALS IN PROGRESS
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I
General Information
Reinventing OPPT
From page 1
what you do for this country. ...
Put customers first, cut red tape,
empower federal workers." In a
speech on February 21, 1995
about Reinventing Government's
regulatory reform efforts, the
Vice President singled out EPA's
33/50 Program:
j
"The EPA has put partnership to
work ... in their 33/50 program;
1,400 companies agreed to cut
pollution in half by the end of
this year, and many of them are
ahead of that schedule."
The 33/50 Program is only one of
many OPPT programs that em-
phasize better ways to do busi-
ness, streamlining, and putting
customers first. OPPT has been
reinventing itself for over a year,
following the guidelines of EPA's
Administrator.
To begin Reinvention at EPA,
Administrator Carol Browner
called for program offices to
develop Reinvention Plans by
March 31, 1995. Her guidance
included instructions to streamline
and "flatten" organizations, to
improve customer focus and core
processes, and to increase the
number of employees per federal
manager. These changes would
require a great many changes in
offices across the Agency.
For example, OPPT is an organiza-
tion of about 500 people with 90
supervisors. The new employee/
manager ratio would mean cutting
the number of supervisors by
more than half. With an annual
budget of over $100 million, the
Office accomplishes a complex
mission that is one of the most
diverse in the Agency. The com-
plexity and scope of OPPT's
mission requires a wide variety of
academic disciplines, skills, and
technical specialities. Keeping this
highly skilled and experienced
cadre of experts is important to the
program and to the Agency. While
cutting 45 supervisory positions is
an important step in flattening the
organization, it does present some
new management challenges.
OPPT Then and Now
OPPT, formerly the Office of
Toxic Substances (OTS), originally
was formed to implement the
Toxic Substances Control Act
(TSCA) of 1976. Since then, the
office's responsibilities have
grown almost yearly. They now
include all or major portions of:
the Emergency Planning and
Community Right-to-Know Act
(EPCRA); the Asbestos Hazard
Emergency Response Act; the
Asbestos School Hazard Abate-
ment Act; the Pollution Prevention
Act; and the Residential Lead
Based Paint Hazard Reduction
Act, Title X. The addition of
multimedia and information-based
programs to OPPT's core regula-
tory programs complemented the
Agency's evolution from its
traditional, single statute, regula-
tion-based approach to a more
complex mix of voluntary, regula-
tory, and compliance approaches
to environmental protection, with
pollution prevention as the
method of first choice.
When OPPT started its reinven-
tion efforts in early 1994, the
Office had recently experienced
two significant reorganizations.
First, incorporating the Pollution
Prevention Division — while not
a major reorganization in terms of
numbers of people affected —
was nevertheless a profound
"The EPA has put
partnership to work"
Vice President Al Gore
change for our vision, mission,
and strategy. This change recog-
nized the multimedia focus of the
TSCA and EPCRA programs and
provided OPPT with Agency-wide
responsibilities for promoting
pollution prevention.
The larger structural change,
implemented in October 1992,
realigned functions to better focus
the matrix organization on its new
mission and approaches. It fol-
lowed a comprehensive evalua-
tion of functions, responsibilities,
and working arrangements,
affected a large number of staff at
all levels, and exemplified new
levels of staff involvement in
decisionmaking.
The 1992 reorganization included
many efforts to improve program
processes, internal communica-
tion, and staff training. Neverthe-
less, a number of areas were still
in need of improvement, as
indicated by management and
staff assessments, including a
Reinventing continued on next page
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VOL. 16 / NO. 1 SUMMER 1995
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I
General Information
Reinventing OPPT
From page 3
1994 survey measuring staff
opinion of the areas still in need
of attention. Involving lower
levels of staff in decisionmaking
and moving toward a participa-
tory management style are major
changes in the traditional top-
down culture of the office.
Revisiting our Vision
As we began to develop our
reinvention plan, we looked first
at our vision. Were we still on
target? Did we think changes
were necessary? After reviewing
it, we decided to keep it as it was;
OPPT's vision clearly sets the
parameters for the goals we wish
to achieve.
OPPT Vision:
Our purpose is to protect and
improve public health and
environmental resources that
are important to long-term
sustainability and quality of
life. We serve this purpose by
using both regulatory and
nonregulatory approaches to:
• Promote pollution prevention
as a principle of first choice to
achieve environmental steward-
ship throughout society.
• Promote the design, develop-
ment, and application of safer
chemicals, processes, and
technologies in the industrial
sector of the economy.
• Promote risk reduction and
responsible risk management
Regions Streamlining Too
While EPA headquarters is pro-
posing, discussing, and preparing
to implement streamlining plans,
the EPA Regional Offices are
going through the same process.
As with headquarters, the regions
are charged with ensuring an
11:1 employee/supervisor ratio,
reducing the number of adminis-
trative layers, improving the
efficiency and delivery of ser-
vices to customers, and creating
recognizable enforcement units
within each Regional Office.
In some instances, the stream-
lining effort is quite far-reaching
in its implications. For example,
both Regions 1 and 8 propose to
move completely away from the
traditional media-based organiza-
tional structure. That is, instead
of having water, air, and waste
units, these Regions propose to
design their organization around
permitting programs, ecosystem
protection, and other functional
areas. Other regions are creating
new Enforcement Divisions by
taking enforcement staff from all
existing units, and still others are
creating smaller enforcement
units within the existing division
structure. Reorganization pack-
ages were due to be submitted
to the Administrator by June 30.
practices throughout the life cycle
of major chemicals of concern.
• Promote public understanding
of the risks of chemicals and
public involvement in environ-
mental decision-making through
dissemination of right-to-know
information on toxic chemicals.
Reassessing the
Organization
Having decided that our vision was
current, we looked at the Admini-
strator's request to flatten the
organization, reduce the supervi-
sor-to-employee ratio, and make
core processes more effective,
efficient, and customer-focused.
"Flattening" is defined as achiev-
ing an organization where:
• Getting actions completed re-
quires minimal levels of review;
• Employees have more direct
access to the decision-maker
on any given project; and
• Managers have more staff to
manage.
Streamlining and increasing
customer focus required that we
address any problems inherent in
the current structure; be consis-
tent with and supportive of our
vision, mission, values, and goals;
and meet our customer needs.
From a wide variety of internal
and external comments and
feedback, we identified the follow-
ing as areas needing improvement:
1. Increasing productivity in the
Existing Chemicals Program.
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CHEMICALS IN PROGRESS
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I
General Information
2. Communication and role-related
issues associated with the
internal organization of the
Chemical Management Division.
3. Increasing productivity in
developing public information
products.
4. Achieving real pollution pre-
vention results in Agency
rulemakings.
5. Matrix management issues and
their negative impacts on
productivity in many of our
core program areas.
6. Inefficiencies in the interface
between the Chemical Screen-
ing and Risk Assessment
Division (CSRAD) and the
Health and Environmental
Review Division (HERD).
The New Structure
In reaching our new organiza-
tional design, we analyzed vari-
ous approaches, received
comments from OPPT staff and
our Assistant Administrator, and
selected as our preferred option
the one that offers the most
benefits for the least amount of
disruption. In addition to reaching
the goal of a reduced supervisory-
to-employee ratio and a flatter
organizational structure, the new
design will: (1) create a greater
customer focus and programmatic
focus in the divisions responsible
for hazard evaluation, risk assess-
ment, and risk characterization;
(2) limit the pressures of compet-
ing priorities on the Existing
Chemicals Program; and (3) help
make the Existing Chemicals
Program more productive and
focused so as to meet the needs of
internal and external customers.
The reorganized structure calls for
merging our two science divisions
(HERD/CSRAD) to form a new
division, the Risk Assessment
Division (RAD). In this division we
will establish a High Production
Volume (HPV) Team. A second
team, the Chemical Testing Team,
will be established in the Chemical
Control Division.
The move toward a team structure
is an experiment which we will
be evaluating as we establish and
work with the teams. The High
Production Volume Team and the
Chemical Testing Team will be
standing teams which will draw
together the skills needed to
create multi-disciplinary program
teams for key aspects of the
Existing Chemicals Program. It is
expected that these teams will
help improve the Existing Chemi-
cals Program. Current functions of
other divisions, branches, and
sections are being realigned, with
approximately 30 management units
to be established below the division
level across OPPT. The responsibili-
ties of division directors, deputies,
branch chiefs, and section chiefs will
change and some deputy division
directors will no longer have super-
visory responsibilities. Currently,
OPPT has 90 supervisors; the new
structure will have about 45.
While the streamlining takes place
over the next year, OPPT will
continue its progress toward
improving its core processes. With
respect to putting customers first,
OPPT is conducting customer
surveys to gather ideas and sug-
gestions on how to improve
effectiveness in a number of areas.
Delegation of signatory authority to
lower levels in the organization has
been underway this year, as have
efforts to empower employees,
providing them with the knowl-
In the long run, we expect
to improve the way we do
business and to follow
Vice President Gore's
advice. We believe we can
"put customers first, cut
red tape, and empower
federal workers."
edge, skills, authority, and account-
ability to achieve quality results.
Improved external and internal
communications and teamwork
were targeted for serious work,
and efforts in these two areas
have been noteworthy. The
evaluation of supervisors' work
through a feedback system has
been piloted and an outstanding
mentoring program put in place. A
concentrated focus on training has
shown us ways to achieve more
without increasing our training
dollars. A report on OPPT diversity
was completed and implementa-
tion of its recommendations is in
Reinventing continued on page 14
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VOL. 16 / NO. 1 SUMMER 1995
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I
TRI
EPA Releases New Version of
TRI Automated Form R Software
by Delores Evans
AFR94 — a new, enhanced
version of the Automatic Form R
software — has been provided to
companies for submitting Report-
ing Year 1994 TRI data to EPA.
Reports are due on July 1, 1995
from both companies and federal
facilities.
Since the inception of TRI, EPA
has encouraged facilities to
electronically submit their Form R
reports instead of using paper
forms. Electronic data are then
loaded directly into EPA's com-
puter systems. "Going electronic"
enhances the quality and effi-
ciency of data reporting for both
EPA and industry. For Reporting
Year 1993, over half the Form R
reports received were electronic
submissions. OPPT expects a
much higher percentage of
electronic submissions this sum-
mer with AFR94.
AFR94 incorporates several new
features and "user requested"
enhancements such as:
• Choice of operating environ-
ments: MS-DOS, IBM PC-DOS,
Windows or Local Area Net-
works.
• Quick and easy installation:
"user-friendly" menu-driven
installation instructions; auto-
matically updates PC configura-
tion files, if necessary.
• Easy data entry and editing:
validates fields during data
entry to reduce errors; field
specific help keys; menu-driven
screens with special hot keys;
pick lists containing valid codes
and entries.
• Improved printing options:
supports 11 industry-standard
printer models; option to print
selected submissions to dis-
kette; prints draft or graphic
Form R copies (depending on
PC environment).
• Assists with mailing options:
generates transmittal letter for
Form R's; presents option to
mail diskette or paper copies to
state agencies.
AFR94 also has a new look with
exciting graphics. Additional
information on AFR94 can be
obtained by calling Delores Evans
at (202) 260-1625, or the User
Support Help at (703) 816-4433-
Delores Evans is a member of the
TRI Information Management
Branch, in the Information
Management Division of OPPT.
Enhanced TRI CD-ROM Product Set for Summer Release
An updated and enhanced version
of the TRI CD-ROM will be re-
leased early this summer. The
comprehensive, two-disc set will
contain complete TRI records for
reporting years 1987-1993, as well
as Chemical Substance Fact Sheets
describing potential health and
ecological effects of TRI chemicals.
Retrieval software provided on
the discs will enable users to
search and display TRI records by
a single field or a combination of
fields (such as releases in an area
over a certain amount); export
records in dBase, Lotus, ASCII
and other formats; print standard
and customized reports; and
compute basic statistics, such as
total and average chemical re-
leases for records in a designated
search set. Enhancements this
year include a reduction in the
amount of memory required to
use the discs; restructuring the
databases by year for ease in
searching; streamlined installation
procedures; implementation of
password control to limit users'
access to DOS; and a user's
manual distributed with the discs.
System requirements for using the
discs are a 386 computer equipped
with a CD-ROM drive and DOS
3-3. or higher. For further informa-
tion, please call TRI User Support
at (202) 260-1531.
e
CHEMICALS IN PROGRESS
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I
TRI
TRI Industry Expansion Proceeds
by Brian Symmes
and Tim Crawford
EPA's efforts to expand TRI
reporting requirements to addi-
tional facilities outside of tradi-
tional manufacturing operations
are moving forward towards
publication of a proposal in the
early part of 1996. OPPT is now
stepping up its outreach activities
associated with this proposed
rulemaking, in an effort to im-
prove its dialogue with industry,
environmental organizations, and
state and local governments.
This emphasis on outreach — as
well as emerging issues that require
in-depth attention — accounts for
the shift in the target date for a
proposal. TRI Industry Expansion is
a major undertaking and will have
long-reaching implications for the
entire TRI program.
The fundamental purpose of the
expansion remains the enhance-
ment of community right-to-
know. Adding facilities to TRI will
allow communities across
America to know more about the
toxic chemicals released in their
environments. It will also give a
boost to pollution prevention
efforts as additional industries
focus on their releases and the
potential for reductions.
Candidates for TRI expansion
continue to be industries with
facilities that have significant
releases of TRI chemicals, and
that are engaged in activities
directly related to the support of
manufacturing activities currently
covered in TRI. These industries
include: coal mining, metal and
non-metal mining, oil & gas
exploration & production, elec-
tric utilities, commercial waste
treatment & disposal, publicly-
owned treatment works
(POTWs), municipal incinerators
& landfills, materials recovery &
recycling, freight terminals, bulk
petroleum terminals, warehouses,
and airports.
OPPT staff are currently review-
ing the data used in the initial
screening and ranking activities.
Staff are also beginning a new
round of focus group meetings
with industry and environmental
organizations, in order to engage
these groups in discussions
regarding EPA's rulemaking and
analyses. These meetings provide
a forum for the exchange of
information on processes specific
to these industry sectors and
their use of TRI chemicals. EPA
also held a public meeting on
May 25, 1995, in which the issues
involved in expansion were
Among the issues
EPA is addressing
are the TRI reporting
definitions.
presented and feedback was
received from the public.
Among the issues EPA is address-
ing are the TRI reporting defini-
tions, which may be subject to
interpretation as they apply to
certain releases at certain facilities.
Exemptions, such as the de
minimis exemption, may also limit
reporting from some industries. In
addition, EPA must consider
"unfunded mandates" that may be
imposed upon the facilities under
consideration.
Brian Symmes is a member of the
Program Development Section,
and Tim Crawford is a member of
the Technical and Policy Section,
ofOPPT's Toxic Release Inventory
Branch. For more information
contact Brian Symmes at (202)
260-9121 or Tim Crawford at
(202)260-1715.
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VOL. 167 NO. 1 SUMMER 1995
TRI Phase 3 continued on next page
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Existing Chemicals Program
EPA Releases 8(e) Triage Database Product, Version 2.0
EPA has recently released an
updated version of the "Triage
Database," a computerized collec-
tion of scientific studies on the
health and environmental effects
of chemicals.
EPA has the authority and respon-
sibility under TSCA to gather
certain kinds of basic information
on chemical risks from those who
manufacture and process chemi-
cals. The law also enables EPA to
require companies to test selected
chemicals for toxic effects, and
requires the Agency to review
most new chemicals before they
are manufactured.
EPA recognizes the importance of
providing the public with access
to the information collected under
TSCA and other environmental
statutes. One important informa-
tion gathering tool under TSCA is
found in Section 8(e). Under
Section 8(e), manufacturers,
importers, and distributors of
chemical substances and mixtures
are required to inform EPA of
studies that reasonably support
the conclusion that the chemicals
present a "substantial risk of
injury" to human health or the
environment. One intended use
of this information is to make it
accessible to the general public
and organizations whose efforts
are associated with protection of
health and safety.
In 1991 OPPT initiated the volun-
tary Compliance Audit Program
(CAP) to encourage companies to
audit their files for information
required by §8(e). EPA reduced the
monetary penalties on companies
submitting studies that were past
the statutory submittal deadline.
Under the program, EPA received
about 10,000 submissions in
addition to the approximately 400
non-CAP §8(e) submissions the
Agency receives each year.
EPA has developed a user-
friendly database to serve as a
vehicle for sharing this §8(e)
submission information. The
Triage Database includes the
majority of the CAP and non-CAP
submissions received after 1991.
Version 1.0 of the Database,
released in October 1993, con-
sisted of approximately 6,000
studies which had been reviewed
to date. The recent version of the
Triage Database, released in
February 1995, also includes the
remaining 4,000 studies that have
recently been reviewed. The
revised version is easier to install,
and also includes Chemical Fact
Sheets (developed for another
EPA recognizes the
importance of providing
the public with access to
the information collected
under TSCA and other
environmental statutes.
program) which provide addi-
tional information about some of
the chemicals.
To use Triage on your computer
you must have the following:
• IBM PC or compatible (286
processor or better).
• DOS Version 3.1 or higher.
• 45 megabytes of free space on
the hard drive.
EPA is considering making the
third version of the §8(e) Triage
Program available on CD-ROM
due to the increased memory that
will be needed to run future
versions.
For a copy of the most recent
version (2.0) of the §8(e) Triage
Program, please call the TSCA
Hotline at (202) 554-1404.
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Existing Chemicals Program
Amending the TSCA Inventory Update Rule
One component of OPPT's
Chemical Use Inventory (GUI)
project is an amendment of the
TSCA Inventory Update Rule
(IUR) to collect data from manu-
facturers on chemical exposures
that can be used to screen the
risks of chemicals in commerce.
Currently, IUR requires facilities
that manufacture or import a
chemical to report the facility's
location, whether the chemical is
fully consumed on-site, and the
volume of chemical production or
imports. Data have been collected
for the 1985, 1989, and 1993
reporting years.
OPPT is considering collecting
additional chemical-specific,
exposure-related data, including:
functions during industrial use,
industry sectors that process or
use the chemical, conditions of
use, and consumer uses. OPPT is
also considering adding to IUR
reporting the number of process-
ing and other use sites down-
stream of the manufacturer and
the total number of potentially
exposed workers at those sites.
OPPT expects to use these new
data to broadly gauge the expo-
sures of about 8,000 chemicals
that are now in commerce.
On April 13, OPPT sponsored a
workshop on the IUR amend-
ments project. At the meeting
OPPT presented a paper describ-
ing specific amendments for IUR,
the benefits to risk screening of
new data, and a draft reporting
form for IUR which incorporates
the potential new data elements.
The workshop was attended by
representatives of trade associa-
tions, environmental groups, and
labor unions. Technical issues
associated with the IUR amend-
ments were discussed and several
ideas for improvements sug-
gested. OPPT will be working
with interested stakeholders to
refine its ideas on amending the
IUR over the coming weeks.
Rulemaking will be needed to
formally implement any IUR
reporting changes.
For more information on this
project, call Ward Penberthy at
(202) 260-1730.
36th ITC Report Transmitted
The 36th Report of the TSCA Interagency Testing Committee
(ITC) was transmitted to the Administrator of the U.S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency (EPA) in May 1995. In this Report, the
ITC revised its TSCA Section 4(e) Priority Testing List by solicit-
ing use and exposure data for 12 High Production Volume
Chemicals (HPVC), removing a previously-designated chemical,
cyclohexanone, and removing 34 previously-recommended
chemicals, including butyraldehyde, 9 chloroalkyl phosphates,
sulfonyl bis(4-chlorobenzene), m-dinitrobenzene, 4 cyanoacry-
lates, 2 methyl ethylene glycol ethers and esters, 11 propylene
glycol ethers and esters, and 5 HPVC.
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VOL 16 / NO. 1 SUMMER 1995
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New Chemicals
EPA Revises NCELs to Match OSHA Requirements
In May 1995, EPA's New Chemi-
cals Program distributed revised
New Chemical Exposure Limits
(NCELs) provisions for TSCA §5(e)
Orders (see box on next page).
Because the revised provisions
are generally less burdensome
than before and more consistent
with existing Occupational Safety
and Health Administration
(OSHA) requirements, EPA ex-
pects greater utilization of NCELs
by chemical companies subject to
§5(e) Orders. EPA will now
include NCELs provisions in most
§5(e) Orders involving potential
inhalation risks to workers. The
generic NCELs provisions can,
however, be modified in indi-
vidual, chemical-specific §5(e)
Orders if warranted by the facts.
NCELs originated in response to
industry's request to move away
from respirator requirements and
instead model new chemical
regulations after OSHA's Permis-
sible Exposure Limits (PELs). To
prevent unacceptable inhalation
risks to workers, EPA traditionally
required the use of specified
respirators. The NCELs provisions
reflect a more comprehensive
approach to good industrial
hygiene. NCELs set a workplace
airborne "interim" exposure limit
for a new chemical substance, and
allow a company subject to the
§5(e) Order to use source reduc-
tion, process changes, engineering
controls, and work practices to
achieve the specified exposure
limit. If the exposure limit is ex-
ceeded, respirators must be worn.
EPA's NCELs expressly state a
preference for prevention and
engineering controls over respira-
tors. But because many new
chemicals are manufactured in
small batches with few workers,
EPA's NCELs provisions allow
companies to use specified
respirators to control inhalation,
without first determining the
feasibility of attaining the NCEL
via engineering controls and work
practices. This allows companies
handling new chemicals to select
the most appropriate control
measures for their particular
operations. By contrast, OSHA
imposes a mandatory "Hierarchy
of Controls" whereby respirator
usage is allowed only after attain-
ment of the PEL via engineering
controls and work practices is
determined to be unfeasible.
Analytical Methods
and Monitoring
Like OSHA PELs, the NCELs provi-
sions require monitoring to measure
the new chemical concentration in
the workplace air, as well as associ-
ated record-keeping. The monitor-
ing data represent an improvement
over the less direct exposure infor-
mation EPA has used in determining
respirator requirements.
EPA has revised the NCELs analyti-
cal method and monitoring re-
quirements to make them less
burdensome and more like OSHA
requirements. EPA has adopted
OSHA's performance-based
requirement of ± 25% accuracy
with 95% confidence for concentra-
tions from half the NCEL to twice
the NCEL. Since over 300 industrial
hygiene laboratories are accredited
by the American Industrial Hygiene
Association (AIHA), EPA will accept
use of laboratories accredited by
AIHA (or another comparable
program if approved in advance by
EPA), as an alternative to compli-
ance with TSCA Good Laboratory
Practice Standards (GLPS). EPA
added an exemption from monitor-
ing requirements based on docu-
mented and reliable objective data
when exposures are obviously so
low that monitoring is unnecessary.
However, unlike existing commer-
cial chemicals regulated by OSHA,
new chemicals subject to TSCA §5
generally do not have analytical
methods with which to determine
workplace concentrations and
compliance with an applicable
exposure limit. Therefore, EPA
requires the new chemical manu-
facturer to develop a valid analyti-
cal method. The NCELs revisions,
instead of requiring EPA approval
of the company's analytical
method, now require independent
laboratory verification of the
method's validity.
Do EPA NCELs and
OSHA PELs Overlap?
Generally, EPA and OSHA will not
simultaneously regulate the same
substance, because EPA's NCELs
apply to uncommercialized new
chemicals with little or no data.
TSCA does not require manufac-
ffl
CHEMICALS IN PROGRESS
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I
New Chemicals
EPA Revises NCELs
From previous page
turers of new chemicals to de-
velop any toxicity test data for
submission with the PMN. There-
fore, to assess the risk from a new
chemical or support a finding that
the new chemical may present an
unreasonable risk, EPA's New
Chemicals Program often must
rely on toxicity data on existing
chemicals with molecular struc-
tures similar to the new chemical.
EPA can use this same analogue
data to set NCELs concentrations
when there is a defined health
endpoint and EPA believes the
new chemical is not significantly
more toxic than its analogue. In
setting NCELs for potential carcino-
gens, EPA accepts a maximum
cancer risk of lO*4. However, EPA
will consider setting NCELs con-
centrations based on OSHA PELs
for analogous existing chemicals
(or exposure limits recommended
by other organizations). EPA will
also consider technological and
economic feasibility, especially in
cases where there is evidence that
the new chemical may replace
existing substances that pose a
higher risk. If additional data on
the new chemical are subsequently
developed, companies may peti-
tion EPA to modify the NCEL
accordingly.
EPA has added a sunset provision
stating that the NCEL is automati-
cally nullified if OSHA promul-
gates a PEL for the same
substance. Most likely, OSHA will
not regulate a PMN substance
unless and until (1) the new
chemical becomes more widely
commercialized with increased
human exposures, and (2) toxic-
ity data on the chemical are
developed showing adverse
health effects. In such a case,
OSHA could consider the new
data in deciding whether to
adopt EPA's NCEL or set a differ-
ent exposure limit.
EPA, OSHA, and the National
Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health (NIOSH) meet peri-
odically to coordinate on issues of
mutual interest, such as exposure
limits. Whenever OSHA revises
relevant requirements, EPA will
consider adopting those revisions
in the NCELs provisions.
Comments Received
Since receiving comments on
draft NCELs provisions from
diverse interest groups in 1991,
EPA has continued to make
revisions and receive input from
external organizations. The
comprehensively revised TSCA
§5(e) Order NCELs provisions
distributed in May, accompanied
by a Response-to-Comments
Document and a Non-Binding
Guidance Document on Develop-
ment of Analytical Methods for
New Chemicals, represent a
culmination of EPA's efforts to
improve its NCELs provisions
based on external comments.
For Additional Information
For additional information, call
Roy Seidenstein, Attorney, at
(202) 260-2252, or Cathy
Fehrenbacher, Industrial Hygien-
ist, at (202) 260-0696. To receive a
copy of the new NCELs package,
contact the TSCA Hotline at (202)
554-1404.
Section 5(e) Consent Orders
Section 5 of TSCA was designed
to regulate risks from new
chemicals before they enter
commerce. TSCA defines a "new"
chemical as one not listed on the
TSCA §8(b) Inventory. The
Inventory was initially compiled
in 1978 by having chemical
manufacturers report substances
made during the preceding three
years. Additional substances may
be added to the Inventory
through the pre-manufacture
notice (PMN) process.
TSCA §5 requires manufacturers
of new chemicals to submit a
PMN to EPA at least 90-days
before commencing manufac-
ture for commercial purposes. If
EPA finds that available informa-
tion regarding possible adverse
effects is insufficient and that
the chemical substance may
present an unreasonable risk of
injury to human health or the
environment, EPA can "prohibit
or limit" activities associated
with the substance. In such
cases, EPA and the manufacturer
typically negotiate a §5(e)
Consent Order to mitigate
exposures and risk, pending
development of data needed for
a more thorough evaluation.
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VOL. 16 / NO. 1 SUMMER 1995
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I
Community Initiatives
Informational Report on New River To Be Issued Soon
As discussed in the last issue of
Chemicals in Progress Bulletin,
EPA launched an information
gathering effort on September 21,
1994, by issuing administrative
subpoenas under TSCA §11 to 95
U.S. parent companies with
facilities in the vicinity of the New
River in the Mexicali area. Citizens
living in the vicinity of the New
River had submitted several
citizens' petitions to EPA express-
ing concern about the river's
pollution and its threats to health
and the environment. EPA is
currently compiling and aggregat-
ing the data into a report which
will be available to the public in
August or September 1995. The
report will be available in English
and Spanish.
The purpose of gathering the
information was to help design a
monitoring program for the New
River to ensure that citizens in the
New River vicinity are protected
from any imminent hazard or
unreasonable risk, and to give
citizens information about chemi-
cals released into the New River.
The information will also be used
in determining the contribution of
U.S. industries to New River's
pollution and to inform the health
consultation on the New River
currently being conducted by the
Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry (ATSDR).
EPA has provided a community
empowerment grant to the Envi-
ronmental Health Coalition (EHC)
to assist the communities most
affected by pollution in the New
River; Calexico, California, USA
and Mexicali, Baja California,
Mexico. The grant will be used to
help create an appropriate com-
munity organization to identify
research and information needs,
and develop and implement a
community involvement and
education strategy.
For more information on obtain-
ing the report or on the commu-
nity empowerment grant, please
contact Michelle Price at (202)
260-3372.
Promoting Community-Based Environmental Protection
In February 1995, EPA Deputy
Administrator Fred Hansen asked
the Agency's Regional Administra-
tors and Assistant Administrators
to develop strategies for how their
respective organizations will
promote community-based envi-
ronmental protection to achieve
the following goals:
• To protect and sustain healthy
human and ecological commu-
nities.
• To develop goals and solutions
in a collaborative manner,
based on sound science.
• To empower, inform and equip
those who make, participate in,
and live with environmental
management decisions.
• To create an iterative, dynamic
process for ongoing partner-
ships, monitoring and adjust-
ments.
In May, Lynn R. Goldman,
M.D., Assistant Administrator for
the Office of Prevention, Pesti-
cides and Toxic Substances
(OPPTS), submitted her office's
strategy to Deputy Administrator
Hansen. In summary, the OPPTS
strategy offers to support commu-
nity-based environmental protec-
tion by identifying, developing,
and providing informational,
technical and regulatory tools to
the Regions, States, and local
communities to help them carry
out specific community-based
initiatives. It also lays out a
general action plan for carrying
out this strategy.
If you would like to get a copy
of the OPPTS strategy, please
contact the TSCA Hotline at (202)
554-1404. If you have questions
about the strategy, please contact
Jim Willis, Deputy Director of the
Environmental Assistance Divi-
sion, at (202) 260-1024.
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CHEMICALS IN PROGRESS
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I
Design for the Environment
EPA's Environmental Accounting Project
by Hotly Elwood
The Environmental Accounting
Project, part of OPPT's Design for
the Environment Program, has as
its goal "encouraging and motivat-
ing businesses to understand the
full spectrum of their environmen-
tal costs and integrate these costs
into decision making." Under-
standing costs — we believe — is
the first step to increased invest-
ment in pollution prevention
practices, and to changing the
way businesses do business.
EPA began the Environmental
Accounting Project three years
ago, with the realization that
traditional accounting practices
used by the majority of U.S.
companies prevent companies
from seeing the benefits of invest-
ing in pollution prevention.
How do accounting systems
create this "blind spot?" Tradi-
tional accounting systems sepa-
rate environmental costs from the
products and processes that
generate them and place them in
an overhead account, effectively
hiding them from decision-
makers. The result is that environ-
mental costs get left out of many
vital business decisions, including
capital budgeting decisions.
Pollution prevention investments
that could save the company
money by reducing these hidden
environmental costs are not
analyzed or chosen in the capital
budgeting process.
Having identified this problem,
project staff convened a focus
group of experts to advise us on
this issue. The experts told us
three things:
1) They strongly encouraged EPA
to establish a project that
would address this issue.
2) They offered a goal statement
for the potential project.
3) They encouraged EPA to
convene a larger group of
stakeholders in a workshop to
formulate a set of actions that
each stakeholder group could
undertake to help meet the
goal of the project.
We have heeded the focus groups
suggestions, adopting the goal
statement, and organizing a
stakeholder workshop in Dallas in
December 1993. The Stakeholder's
Action Agenda OEPA 742-R-94-
003), published in the Spring of
1994, is the product of the Dallas
workshop. The document lists
action steps that can be taken by
every stakeholder group, includ-
ing financial, design engineering,
operations, accounting, and other
business department employees,
as well as local, state, and re-
gional government officials.
Since the development of this
Action Agenda, the Accounting
Project has focused on the steps
our stakeholders wanted the
federal government to take to
Environmental Accounting continued on next page
Traditional accounting
practices used by the
majority of U.S. companies
prevent companies from
seeing the benefits of
investing in pollution
prevention.
VOL. 16 / NO. 1 SUMMER 1995
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I
Design for the Environment
Environmental
Accounting
from previous page
incorporate environmental costs
into business decision-making. In
response to their suggestions, we
have been working as a catalyst
for change, conducting education,
outreach, guidance, and research.
Some examples completed or
underway include:
• Publishing a Network Directory
of over 650 stakeholders who
are actively participating or
interested in environmental
accounting.
• Publishing an Introduction to
Environmental Accounting: Key
Concepts and Terms, due out at
the end of summer, which will
orient readers to the underlying
key concepts of environmental
accounting and clarify com-
monly used terms.
I Working with Region 10 staff to
develop their own Environmen-
tal Accounting Project.
I Publishing case studies on
activities underway at AT&T
and Ontario Hydro to imple-
ment environmental account-
ing.
I Developing a software tool for
government technical assis-
tance use that helps businesses
incorporate environmental
costs into capital budgeting
practices.
Funding an academic research
conference on environmental
accounting in June 1995.
Publishing a resource guide on
tools being used to account for
environmental costs.
Publishing results of a survey
of corporate capital budgeting
practices.
Future efforts include upgrading
the capital budgeting software
tool and making it available to
small businesses, funding an
interactive roundtable for busi-
nesses on environmental account-
ing, and conducting
environmental accounting indus-
try pilots with the chemical
industry.
Holly Elwood is the coordinator of
EPA's Environmental Accounting
Project.
For more information
For more information on the
Environmental Accounting
Project, or for copies of any of
our resources, please call the
Pollution Prevention Informa-
tion Clearinghouse at (202)
260-1023, or Holly Elwood at
(202) 260-4362.
Reinventing OPPT
Frontpages
process. We are still working on a
system for rotational assignments
but are making progress.
In summary, the streamlining
efforts in many of our core pro-
grams over the past year will
continue as we also begin our
reorganization. Since the major
changes will occur in the science
divisions, which are internally-
focused for the most part, and in
the establishment of a team in the
Chemical Control Division, we
expect little impact on our external
customers while we are making
the changes. In the long run, we
expect to improve the way we do
business and to follow Vice
President Gore's advice. We
believe we can "put customers
first, cut red tape, and empower
federal workers." We want to be
proud of what we do for this
country. And we think what we do
contributes to our country's health
and environmental protection.
Joe Carra is the Deputy Director of
OPPT. He is a member of the
Senior Executive Service and has
been with EPA since 1979.
Note: For a copy of the OPPT
Reinvention Implementation Plan,
write to Mike McDonell, Co-Editor
of Chemicals in Progress Bulletin,
EPA (7408), 401M Street SW,
Washington, DC 20460. Or call
the TSCA Hotline, 202-554-1404.
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CHEMICALS IN PROGRESS
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I
Pollution Prevention
EPA's 33/50 Program: Acknowledging
Accomplishments and Considering a Next Generation
by Mike Burns
One of EPA's earliest environmental
partnership experiments, the 33/50
Program was initiated in 1991 to
challenge American industry to
show how much leaner and
cleaner companies can be when
they have the authority to find their
own solutions to reducing pollu-
tion. Industry has responded with
enthusiasm, with nearly 1,300
companies participating to date.
The Program's key conceptual
.underpinnings have been:
• Flexibility: Companies set their
own goals, focussing on envi-
ronmental priorities that make
sense within the context of their
own manufacturing operations.
• Simplicity. Participation is simple
- companies need only write to
EPA to announce their desire to
contribute to the national goals,
and specify their own reduction
targets. No additional reporting is
required beyond submission of
already mandated TRI reports.
• Partnership: The relationship
between industry and govern-
ment is transformed from con-
frontational to collaborative.
Time and resources previously
spent on rule writing and litiga-
tion are instead directed toward
company pollution reduction
projects and government assis-
tance and recognition efforts.
Companies are well on their way
to achieving the 33/50 Program's
national reduction goals. The
Program's 1992 interim 33%
reduction goal was exceeded by
more than 100 million pounds.
1993 TRI data show 33/50 Program
emissions down by 685 million
pounds (46%) from 1988, and
facilities are projecting achieve-
ment of the Program's ultimate
50% reduction goal in 1994, a full
year ahead of schedule.
Even though participating compa-
nies operate just a third of the
18,000 facilities reporting 33/50
Program chemicals, they account
for increasingly large proportions
of the reported reductions in the
17 targeted chemicals, including
98% of the 100 million pounds
reduced in 1993. Participating
companies have achieved a nearly
60% reduction in environmental
releases and transfers of 33/50
Program chemicals since 1988.
While it is not possible to deter-
mine how much of this pollution
decline is due to source reduc-
tion, facilities report significantly
higher rates of source reduction
activities for 33/50 Program
chemicals than for other chemi-
cals reported to TRI.
Many people think that the 33/50
Program will be completed at the
end of 1995, since its ultimate
national 50% reduction goal is
targeted for 1995. However, public
release of 1995 TRI data, used to
monitor the Program's progress,
will not occur until the spring of
17 Priority Chemicals Targeted
by the 33/50 Program
BENZENE
CADMIUM & COMPOUNDS
CARBON TETRACHLORIDE
CHLOROFORM
CHROMIUM & COMPOUNDS
CYANIDES
LEAD & COMPOUNDS
MERCURY & COMPOUNDS
METHYL ETHYL KETONE
METHYL ISOBUTYL KETONE
METHYLENE CHLORIDE
NICKEL & COMPOUNDS
TETRACHLOROETHYLENE
TOLUENE
TRICHLOROETHANE
TRICHLOROETHYLENE
XYLENES
1997. Accordingly, EPA's adminis-
tration of the 33/50 Program will
continue well beyond 1995.
As the Program nears its ultimate
goal, the Agency is assessing
options for commending compa-
nies for their achievements. EPA is
also working with a panel of
representatives from industry,
states, and environmental groups
to determine whether 33/50
Program Awards should be issued
to a select set of companies
whose pollution reduction
achievements could be considered
truly remarkable. Another idea
being considered by this panel is
Continued on next page
B
VOL. 16/NO. 1 SUMMER 1995
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I
Pollution Prevention
EPA 33/50 Program
from previous page
to encourage companies to submit
33/50 Program "success stories"
detailing the ways in which they
achieved significant emissions
reductions. EPA has already pro-
duced a series of 33/50 Program
Company Profiles, describing
companies' pollution reduction
projects, and more are underway.
33/50 The Next Generation
EPA initiated deliberations about a
Next Generation of the 33/50
Program early this year. A Call-
for-Comments was issued to
states, industry, and environmen-
tal groups asking for input on
whether there should be a 33/50
follow-up and how such a pro-
gram should be designed. Stake-
holders voiced considerable
support for continuing a voluntary
partnership to reduce pollution,
although significant concerns
were raised from all sectors
regarding the goals and structure
of a Next Generation program.
EPA will be circulating specific Next
Generation proposals for comment
this summer. Anyone interested in
additional information about the
33/50 Program or in providing
ideas about a follow-up voluntary
pollution reduction program is
encouraged to call or write to us.
Mike Burns is a program analyst
with the 33/50 Program. He has
been with the program since its
inception in 1991 and is heading
up the development of the next
generation of the 33/50 Program.
To Offer Comments:
Mail: Mail Code 7408,
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics,
U.S. EPA, 401 M Street SW, Washington, DC 20460
Tel: 202-554-1404 Fax: 202-554-5603
Internet: burns.mike@epamail.epa.gov
EPA Regional Offices: Contact the 33/50 Program
Coordinators at the following addresses:
US EPA - Region I
(MS: ATR)
1 Congress Street
Boston, MA 02203
Tel: (617) 565-4502
Fax: (617) 565-4939
US EPA - Region n
(MS: 105)
2890 Woodbridge Ave, Bldg. 10
Edison, NJ 08837
Tel: (908) 906-6815
Fax: (908) 321-6788
US EPA • Region m
(MS: 3AT01)
841 Chestnut Bldg
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Tel: (215) 597-9302
Fax: (215) 580-2011
US EPA - Region IV
345 Courtland Street, NE
Atlanta, GA 30365
Tel: (404) 347-1033
Fax: (404) 347-1681
Fax: (415) 744-1073
US EPA - Region V
(MS: SP-14J)
77 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604
Tel: (312) 886-6219
Fax: (312) 353-4342
US EPA -Region VI
(MS: 6T-PT)
1445 Ross Avenue
Dallas, TX 75202
Tel: (214) 665-7582
Fax: (214) 665-2164
US EPA - Region VH
(MS: ARTX)
726 Minnesota Avenue
Kansas City, KS 66101
Tel: (913) 551-7315
Fax: (913) 551-7065
US EPA - Region Vm
(MS: 8ART-AP)
999 - 18th St., Suite 600
Denver, CO 80202-2405
Tel: (303) 294-7684
Fax: (303) 293-1229
US EPA - Region IX
(MS: A-4-3)
75 Hawthorne Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
Tel: (415) 744-1061
US EPA - Region X
(MS: AT-083)
1200 - 6th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101
Tel: (206) 553-4762
Fax: (206) 553-8338
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CHEMICALS IN PROGRESS
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I
Lead, Asbestos, PCBs
Lead Paint Task Force Issues
Comprehensive Report on Private Housing
On July 11, 1995, EPA Administra-
tor Browner and HUD Secretary
Cisneros accepted the final report
of the Federal Advisory Task
Force on Lead-Based Paint Hazard
Reduction and Financing at a joint
press conference.
Section 1015 of the Residential
Lead Based Paint Hazard Reduc-
tion Act of 1992 (Title X) required
the Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD), in
consultation with EPA, to create
, this Task Force to address issues
related to lead-based paint (LBP)
hazard control in private housing.
Title X includes a range of hazard
evaluation and control mandates
for public housing. For private
housing, however, the statutory
requirements are limited to hazard
disclosure during residential sales
and lease transactions, training
and certification requirements for
workers and contractors involved
in LBP activities (inspection, risk
assessments, and abatement), and
standards for LBP activities. Title
X does not require owners of
private housing to evaluate or
control LBP hazards on their
properties. The mandate of the
Section 1015 Task Force is to
identify appropriate hazard
evaluation and control procedures
for property owners and to
examine and develop recommen-
dations on financial, insurance,
and liability issues.
Working closely with EPA, HUD
chartered the Task Force in July
1993 and named Gushing
Dolbeare, a noted affordable
housing expert, as chairperson.
The group represents a broad
range of interests, from housing
providers to tenants and lead
poisoning prevention advocates.
Four of the 41 Task Force mem-
bers are federal officials, including
EPA's representative, John Melone,
Director of OPPT's Chemical
Management Division. Working in
committees and in smaller ad hoc
groups, the Task Force has forged
a consensus on a set of 59 specific
recomendations.
The Task Force report focuses
primarily on rental housing and
creates a comprehensive, preven-
tion-oriented framework for
controlling LBP hazards. In
developing this framework, the
Task Force had to find a mix of
approaches that are protective but
flexible and that will not result in
wholesale disinvestment in, and
abandonment of, affordable rental
housing. The Task Force will
recommend a set of response
actions coupled with market
incentives and controls, public
subsidies for economically dis-
tressed units, flexibility for state
and local officials to tailor the
recommendations to fit special
needs, and several other reinforc-
ing strategies.
At the core of the Task Force
The Task Force report
focuses primarily on rental
housing and creates a
comprehensive,
prevention-oriented
framework for controlling
LBP hazards.
framework is a set of benchmark
standards of hazard control which
the Task Force anticipates will be
incorporated into state and local
regulations and housing codes.
These standards provide a proto-
col of maintenance and manage-
ment procedures designed to
prevent LBP hazards from being
created. Additional recommenda-
tions (e.g, specialized cleaning)
apply to higher priority housing
(defined in the report as housing
constructed before 1950).
To promote implementation of
the benchmark standards, the
Task Force has adopted a number
of recommendations related to
liability, insurance, and finance.
The Task Force decided to pro-
vide liability relief as an incentive
to reward owners that have taken
action to control hazards. The
Continued on next page
B
VOL. 167 NO. 1 SUMMER 1995
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I
Lead, Asbestos, PCBs
Lead Paint Task Force
from previous page
greater the level of control, the
more liability relief an owner
receives. Limiting liability, how-
ever, also limits the ability of
poisoned children to be compen-
sated for damages that do occur
despite implementation of hazard
control standards. The Task Force,
therefore, couples liability relief
with the creation of a no-fault
compensation system available to
property owners who comply
with applicable standards.
The Task Force believes that
financial institutions also have a
role to play and has recom-
mended that primary and second-
ary mortgage lenders incorporate
the standards into underwriting
requirements. The report also
contains recommendations to
mitigate against disinvestment in
higher risk properties by limiting
lender and new owner liability.
Where owners of economically
viable properties do not take
action voluntarily, enforcement
action by local authorities will be
necessary. Recognizing that
owners of economically distressed
properties will not respond to
market forces and may operate
outside the conventional finance
system, the Task Force finds that
public subsidies are needed and
that a federal abatement trust
fund should be established.
Additional Reinforcing
Strategies
The report also recommends
implementation of several other
reinforcing strategies to promote
control of LBP hazards in private
housing. First, Tenant-Based
Assistance programs operated by
HUD, but not covered by Title X,
provide an opportunity to imple-
ment the benchmark standards for
housing that is primarily occupied
by families with children.
Second, the Task Force believes that
communities and property owners
should try to match households with
young children or pregnant women
with units that are safe from lead
hazards. Matching allows for protec-
tion of children long before hazards
have been controlled in the entire
housing stock, and provides owners
of multifamily properties with
flexibility when undertaking hazard
control work.
Third, the Task Force, through
public comment and participation,
has learned that many of the
people who should be involved
in this issue — including housing
providers, tenants, lenders, local
governments — are not aware of
the problem or do not have
sufficient or correct information to
address it. The Task Force, there-
fore, believes that education
efforts must be increased to raise
awareness, create a competent
workforce, and provide tenants
with information on ways to
protect their children before a
property owner has implemented
controls. Finally, the Task Force
recommends that research efforts
Many of the people who
should be involved in this
issue —including housing
providers, tenants, lenders,
local governments — are
not aware of the problem.
be intensified to answer critical
questions (e.g., the rate of lead
dust reaccumulation following
hazard control), validate more
cost-effective methods to evaluate
and control LBP hazards, and set
performance standards for hazard
evaluation and control products.
Copies of the Task Force Report
and Executive Summary are
available from the National Lead
Information Center's Clearing-
house (800 424-LEAD and
HUDSER (800-245-2691).
1
CHEMICALS IN PROGRESS
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I
Lead, Asbestos, PCBs
Lead Update
EPA's Lead-Based Paint Program is
moving at a rapid pace. Since
enactment of the Residential Lead
Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act
(Title X) in late 1992, OPPT Lead
staff have been extremely busy
fulfilling its many mandates. The
primary focus has been on devel-
oping implementing regulations
to control lead hazards and to
prevent future lead-based paint
poisoning to the nation's young
children. Here is a status, update
on the program's activities:
Training, Accreditation, and
Certification for Lead-based
Paint Activities (§402/$404):
EPA proposed a regulation in
September 1994 to establish
requirements for training program
accreditation and certification of
contractors involved in lead-based
paint inspections, risk assess-
ments, and abatement. One
element of the proposal was a
Model State Plan for states to
adopt to implement their own
lead programs. Comments re-
ceived in response to the pro-
posal are currently being
reviewed and final promulgation
is anticipated for Fall 1995.
Lead Hazard Brochure
($406(a)): This mandate required
EPA to publish a lead hazard
brochure. EPA proposed the draft
brochure last year for public
comment, and held a series of
focus group reviews. The final
brochure will be available in late
summer, with a Spanish version
out sometime soon afterwards.
Renovation Information Rule
($406(b)): EPA has proposed a
regulation to require renovators,
prior to beginning work, to
provide their customers with an
EPA-developed brochure de-
scribing lead hazards and how
they can be minimized. The
regulation was proposed in
March 1994 and is expected to
be final by Fall 1995.
Disclosure of Lead Hazards
During Real Estate Transac-
tions ($1018): EPA and HUD are
required to jointly promulgate
regulations requiring that land-
lords and sellers of target housing
disclose the presence of lead and
lead hazards to prospective
renters and purchasers, and
provide them with an EPA-
developed brochure. This regula-
tion was proposed in November
1994 and final promulgation is
anticipated for early Fall 1995.
Lead Worker Training Grants:
In FY 1994, EPA awarded $2.8
million in grants to non-profit
training providers to support lead
training of workers. In FY 1995,
the Agency will award $1.5
million.
State Grants: In FY 1994 EPA
awarded $11.2 million in grants to
46 states to develop and carry out
authorized state programs for
lead-based paint. On February 27,
1995, the Agency published the
availability of $12.5 million to be
awarded in FY 1995.
Environmental Justice Grants:
EPA, in cooperation with HUD,
the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS), and the
Department of Labor, have been
promoting environmental justice
and fostering community inter-
ventions through lead-based paint
abatement and public education
in low-income minority neighbor-
hoods. A key component of the
initiative is to develop innovative,
community-based programs in
urban centers that will create and
sustain an ongoing jobs program
and help make the community
self-sufficient. The first grant has
been awarded to Philadelphia. In
FY 1995, EPA and HHS will jointly
fund three additional projects for
$1 million each.
D
VOL. 167 NO. 1 SUMMER 1995
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I
Resources
Developing Tools for
Environmental Education
by Kathy Hogan
OPPT's Information Management
Division has launched a new
initiative to transform EPA infor-
mation products into tools for
environmental education. Enhanc-
ing environmental education is
critical to increasing public par-
ticipation in managing chemical
risks. The first phase of the
Environmental Education Initiative
will target educators and students
in grades 7-12.
OPPT has established an Environ-
mental Education Workgroup to
pursue the objective of providing
public education tools. As a first
step, the Workgroup has created a
Draft Environmental Education
Strategy paper to establish short
and long term goals. Initially, the
Workgroup will identify, collect,
and inventory EPA-funded infor-
mation products with OPPT-
related content. Materials collected
will be screened to identify their
suitability for adaptation. The
Workgroup has already identified
the TRI CD-ROM and OPPT's
Chemical Fact Sheets as likely
candidates for the first two Envi-
ronmental Education tools.
The Environmental Education
Workgroup has received the
welcome support of both the
Office of Research and Develop-
ment and the Office of Environ-
mental Justice. OPPT has also
formed a partnership with the
Environmental Education Division
in the Office of Communication,
Education and Public Affairs to
coordinate efforts in targeting
OPPT-related materials elsewhere
in the Agency.
The Workgroup's next steps
include selecting a product
evaluation methodology, using
focus groups to test the products
developed, and determining a
distribution plan and user support
mechanism that will offer a
meaningful opportunity for the
public to learn about environmen-
tal issues.
Kathy Hogan is chair of OPPT's
Environmental Education Project.
She can be reached at 202-260-
9349.
Enhancing environmental
education is critical to
increasing public
participation in managing
chemical risks.
CHEMICALS IN PROGRESS
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I
Resources
Special Feature on the Internet:
Learning the Basics
by Randall Brtnkbuis
EPA has long known the power of
information as a basis for sound
environmental decisionmaking.
This principle has been captured
in President Clinton's Reinventing
Environmental Regulation Initia-
tive. Providing for public elec-
tronic access is one of the 25
The Internet is a gigantic
'network of networks'
linking computers around
the world.
High Priority Actions contained in
the Initiative and we here at
OPPT are looking to do our part.
This article will provide a brief
introduction to OPPT information
available on the Internet and will
also describe some of the Internet
services that people can use to
retrieve other EPA information.
The Internet is a gigantic "net-
work of networks" linking com-
puters around the world. A
number of services have been
developed to allow users to
navigate this huge network. The
services that will be discussed in
this article (ranging from basic to
the most sophisticated) are e-mail
(especially as enhanced by
llstservers), telnet, gopher, and
World Wide Web. You can use
any of these services to retrieve
EPA information. (See the sidebar
on How to Reach EPA Internet
Services for information on the
EPA Internet sites mentioned in
this article.) Be warned that while
some information is available
through all these services, much is
not. This is true not only for EPA,
but many other organizations that
allow Internet access.
E-mail & Listservers
One of the most basic Internet
services is e-mail. The exchange of
electronic mail from person to
person or from one person to
multiple recipients on a distribution
list has been taken a step further on
the Internet through the creation of
so-called listservers. These are
computers that are programmed to
automatically maintain a number of
distribution lists and redistribute e-
mail to everyone who has sub-
scribed to that list.
Listserver lists are usually orga-
nized around a particular topic or
relationship. For instance, one list
may be devoted to chemistry
while another is intended for
government documents librarians.
Most lists allow subscribers to
send and respond to messages to
a large group of people in this
fashion without having to send
each message individually.
EPA has a listserver which allows
the agency to send information to
several lists. Most of these lists,
Listserver lists are usually
organized around a
particular topic or
relationship.
however, are one-directional
(allowing the EPA staff who
manage the list to send e-mail
messages to the distribution list).
These lists include selected Federal
Register notices from EPA program
offices, and two lists devoted to
notices from OPPT — one con-
cerning TRI and the other dealing
with all other OPPT programs.
Another list which readers might
find of interest is the OPPT
Library's daily electronic current
awareness service, OPPT-
NEWSBREAK, which provides
summaries of newspaper articles
on environmental and other issues
of interest to OPPT staff.
Telnet
Telnet is an Internet tool that
allows a computer user to con-
nect, or "log in," to another
computer system. Thus, for
Internet continued on next page
0
VOL 16 / NO. 1 SUMMER 1995
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I
Resources
Internet
Continued from previous page
example, Internet users can telnet
to EPA's Online Library System
(OLS). This system contains a
number of databases, including
the EPA Library Network's online
catalog and Access EPA. The
online catalog contains not only
the holdings of EPA libraries, but
also records for EPA reports that
are available through the National
Technical Information Service.
Access EPA is a database listing
EPA information resources such as
dockets, clearinghouses, hotlines,
libraries, environmental databases,
and scientific models. It provides a
description of each resource, as
well as information on the spon-
soring office, the name and phone
number of a contact, and, in the
case of online systems, instructions
on how to access them.
Gopher
Another Internet tool, the Gopher,
provides access to Internet infor-
mation through a series of menus.
The Gopher provides
access to Internet
information through a
series of menus.
A gopher site can be set up to
provide access to files, telnet sites,
and even other gopher sites,
reflecting the needs and interests
of its creator. Information avail-
able through the EPA gopher
includes EPA rules and regula-
tions, consumer information,
press releases, speeches, and
database records. The EPA gopher
also provides access to environ-
mental information from other
sources and information from
other government agencies. Files
can either be read online or e-
mailed to an Internet address of
your choosing. The gopher can
also provide access to telnet sites.
For instance, OLS can be accessed
from the EPA gopher.
In the Fall 1994 Chemicals in
Progress Bulletin, the article
"OPPT Explores (and Exploits)
the Internet" described some of
the information available from
OPPT through the EPA Gopher.
Files from the 1993 TRI Public
Data Release have been uploaded
since that time. Those files can be
found under the heading: 1993
Toxics Release Inventory.
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web — or
simply the Web, as it is increas-
ingly known — pulls together
many different types of informa-
tion using "hypertext links." These
. links allow the computer user to
leap from one document or site to
another with the press of a key or
the click of a mouse. Information
stored on the Web includes text,
pictures, and sounds. You need
special software, called a
"browser," to navigate the Web.
The browsers that best take
advantage of the Web's features
are Windows-based, although
there are a few text-based brows-
ers as well.
Organizations, and even individu-
als, have set up their own Web
"home pages" through which they
set up links to other sites. You
connect to the World Wide Web
through a specially formatted
Internet address called a URL
(Uniform Resource Locator). You
will need a high-speed modem or
The Web pulls together
many different types of
information using
"hypertext links."
Internet connection, along with a
Web browser such as Mosaic, to
access the Web. By searching on
key words basic to OPPT's pro-
grams, such as lead or toxics, you
can find information relevant to
OPPT's programs on other parts
of the WWW.
These sources are only the begin-
ning. OPPT is actively looking for
ways to make more of its informa-
tion resources publicly available and
enhance the utility of the informa-
tion resources already available. We
welcome your ideas as well.
Randall Brtnkbuis works in the
Information Access Branch of
OPPT's Information Management
Division.
CHEMICALS IN PROGRESS
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I
Resources
Special Feature on the Internet
Merge Area Ahead: Getting
on the Information Superhighway
The fact that EPA is providing this
information through the Internet
is all well and good, but it's not
helpful if you don't have Internet
access. The obvious question is:
what do you need to do to gain
access? There are a variety of
ways to accomplish this. Many
national on-line services now
provide Internet access for a fee.
Ads (and sometimes even dis-
kettes containing software) for
these services can be found in
almost any computer magazine.
You can also gain access through
local Internet service providers,
some electronic bulletin board
systems, and what are called
"freenets." Freenets are commu-
nity-based networks that provide
access to the public free or for a
very low fee. Most Internet books
will contain a section listing
Internet providers, both alphabeti-
cally and by area code.
Many books on the Internet also
include what is advertised as "free"
software to allow readers to access
the Internet. You should know,
however, that this software will not
by itself provide access, nor is it
the only way to access the Inter-
net. You will need to establish a
connection with an Internet
service provider, no matter what
software you use. Depending
upon the services you want to use,
you may even be able to access
the Internet using your current
communications software.
Criteria for evaluating a particular
Internet service provider include:
• the services offered (whether
you want just e-mail, e-mail
and telnet, World Wide Web
access, etc.);
• the cost for the different levels
of service;
• the availability of either an 800
number or a local access
number for connecting to the
Internet;
• how much time you are al-
lowed on-line and the charges
for exceeding that limit;
• the hours during which you
can access the Internet;
• whether a service provider
requires special software (and
if they do, how much that
costs); and
• whether your PC and modem
are powerful enough to handle
Internet access (the software
may require large amounts of
hard disk space and memory,
while your modem must be able
to maintain certain baud rates).
In addition to EPA's offerings,
many other federal agencies and
organizations have their own
gophers and Web sites. There are
The best source of
information about the
internet is the Internet
itself.
now dozens of books available,
ranging from the beginner level to
the advanced, that go into great
detail about the Internet and its
resources. Check with your local
bookstore or public library.
While we recommend starting
with a book to familiarize yourself
with the resources available on
the Internet, the best source of
information about the Internet is
the Internet itself. Among the
resources you will find there is
the Clearinghouse for Subject-
Oriented Internet Resource
Guides which contains a wide
variety of topical guides (see box
for information on accessing the
clearinghouse). Files describing
the Internet and its resources can
also be found under "Internet
Resources" on the EPA gopher.
Happy surfing on the Internet!
—Randall Brinkhuis
VOL. 16 /NO. 1 SUMMER 1995
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I
Resources
Special Feature on the Internet:
How to Reach EPA Internet Services
• EPA Listserver
The two lists which deal specifi-
cally with OPPT topics are EPA-
TRI (concerned with the Toxics
Release Inventory exclusively)
and EPA-TOXICS (which handles
all other OPPT matters).
To subscribe to a list, send the
command: SUBSCRIBE LISTNAME
FIRSTNAME LASTNAME to the
EPA listserver. In this command,
LISTNAME is the name of the list
to which you want to subscribe,
and FIRSTNAME and LASTNAME
are your first name and last name,
respectively.
The Internet address of the EPA
listserver is listserverOunix
maiLrtpnc.epa.gov. To get more
information on the listserver and
its commands, send the message
HELP in the body of your e-mail
text to that address. To receive a
list of the lists available through
the listserver, send the command
LISTS.
• Telnet
To reach EPA's Online Library
System (OLS), telnet to
epaibm.rtpnc.epa.gov. Select
option 4 ("Public Information"),
then option 1 ("OLS"). For more
information on OLS, contact EPA's
Public Information Center at (202)
260-2080.
• EPA Gopher
The Internet address of the EPA
Gopher is gopher.epa.gov. The
1993 TRI Public Data Release files
can be found under: EPA Offices
and Regions/Office of Prevention,
Pesticides and Toxic Substances/
Toxic Substances/1993 Toxic
Release Inventory (as the gopher
menu is presently arranged). In
the event that these files are
moved in the future, the gopher
menu also includes an option for
searching for keywords within the
menu structure.
• EPA World Wide Web
The Internet address of the EPA
World Wide Web is http://
www.epa.gov.
• For Help:
Users can e-mail their questions
about the content of EPA's public
access servers to: internet.
support ©unixmaiLrtpnc.
epa.gov. Bear in mind that
general questions about the
Internet cannot be answered.
Subject Information on the Internet
Here's a handy tip to find out
where the Internet keeps all
its information. To locate
Internet sites concerning any
specific topic, consult the
Clearinghouse for Subject-
Oriented Internet Resource
Guides. The Clearinghouse
includes guides to Internet
resources on chemistry, chemi-
cal engineering, the environ-
ment, and over 160 other
topics. The Uniform Resource
Locator for accessing the
Clearinghouse using the Web
is: http://http2.sils.umich.
edu/~lou/chhome.html. Or
gopher to una.hh.lib.umlch.
edu/11/inetdirs.)
CHEMICALS IN PROGRESS
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list for Chemicals in Progress Bulletin If you
would like to continue to receive your free copy
of the Bulletin, fill out and mail in this form by
August 31,1995. If you have already notified us,
you do not need to do so again.
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