FACT SHEET Alternative Work Practice for the Air Toxics Standards for Asbestos NESHAP ACTION • On May 30, 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final notice on an alternative work practice (AWP) request for the Asbestos National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP). • The Asbestos NESHAP, an organized collection of work practices, prevents the release of asbestos through prescribed handling and processing of asbestos-containing materials. The Asbestos NESHAP was originally promulgated in 1973 and was last amended in 1990. • The Asbestos NESHAP allows requests for approval of new technology and work practices to remove and replace asbestos cement (A/C) pipe. • EPA received a request to approve an alternative work practice called "close tolerance pipe slurrification" (CTPS) to remove A/C pipes. • In CTPS, wet A/C pipe is ground into a slurry and removed with a vacuum. A new pipe is inserted and a skim coat of nonfriable cementitious asbestos-containing material is left on the outside rim of the new pipeline. • After evaluating the request and soliciting comments on the proposed notice, EPA determined that CTPS is at least equivalent to the Asbestos NESHAP process for A/C pipe removal. • This final notice allows CTPS to be used as an AWP to comply with the Asbestos NESHAP. BACKGROUND • Asbestos is a known human carcinogen and the primary route of exposure is through inhalation of asbestos fibers. More information on the health effects of asbestos may be found at https://www.epa.gOv/asbestos/learn-about-asbestos#effects. • As the infrastructure of municipalities age, utilities need to replace deteriorated water pipes made of asbestos cement, which can be problematic and costly because pipes run beneath and beside major roadways, buildings and overlap other utilities (e.g., gas, electricity). • Conventional work practices to replace A/C pipe include open-cut trench and replace and abandoning A/C pipe in place. FOR MORE INFORMATION • Interested parties can download the final action from the EPA's website at: https://www.epa.gov/stationarv-sources-air-pollution/asbestos-national-emission- standards-hazardous-air-pollutants. • Today's notice and other background information are also available either electronically at http://www.regulations.gov. the EPA's electronic public docket and comment system, or in hardcopy at the EPA Docket Center's Public Reading Room. The Docket ID number for this final action is EPA-HQ-OAR-2017-0427. o The Public Reading Room is located in the EPA Headquarters Library, Room Number 3334 in the EPA WJC West Building, located at 1301 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, 1 ------- DC. Hours of operation are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. eastern standard time, Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidays, o Visitors are required to show photographic identification, pass through a metal detector and sign the EPA visitor log. All visitor materials will be processed through an X-ray machine as well. Visitors will be provided a badge that must be visible at all times. • For further information about the final action, contact Korbin Smith of EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, Sector Policies and Programs Division, Minerals and Manufacturing Group at (919)-541-2416 or by email at smith.korbin@epa.gov. 2 ------- |