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Dioxin / Furans

Stakeholders Minutes - February 1, 2000
Workgroup Teleconference Minutes

Workgroup Leaders:
Sandro Leonardelli, EC
Anita Wong, EC
Nan Gowda, EPA

Facilitator:
John Menkedick, Battelle

Introduction

The objectives for the day were to update the workgroup members on the BNS incineration and pentachlorophenol workshops, continue application of the decision tree process, identify and discuss plans for implementing reduction projects, and discuss the status of outstanding action items. Materials distributed to workgroup members prior to the teleconference included: an updated Action Item list and website links (provided by Andre Auger (St. Lawrence Cement)) on a PCP-treated pole disposal option as fuel in making cement.

General Workgroup Progress, Updates and Announcements

The Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network (IADN)

Background information on IADN was presented by Sandro Leonardelli (EC) and Nan Gowda (EPA):

the IADN monitoring program gathers data on the atmospheric loadings of toxic substances to the Great Lakes system and attempts to define temporal and spacial trends
IADN does not currently monitor the atmospheric deposition of dioxins and furans, primarily due to the high cost of dioxin analysis
IADN accepts public nominations for chemical substances that should be added to the list of chemicals measured

The workgroup leaders discussed the potential for additional benefit to be obtained by adding dioxin to IADN monitoring, within the context of existing U.S. and Canadian monitoring.

In Ontario:

there are currently 7 stations which routinely monitor for dioxins and furans under NAPS (National Air Pollution Surveillance monitoring network) (2 of these sites are IADN sites)

adding dioxin to IADN monitoring would only add one additional monitoring site in Ontario, but it would add precipitation data (NAPs only measures ambient air), and it would increase the sampling frequency from every 24 days to every 12 days.

NAPs sites are a combination of urban and rural locations; IADN sites are rural

In the U.S.:

additional information is needed on the ambient monitoring currently being conducted in the Great Lakes States (i.e., the National Monitoring Network)

In the Great Lakes area overall, IADN has 5 master (one in each great lake) and 14 satellite monitoring stations.

It was suggested that the workgroup might consider making a coordinated effort to nominate dioxin as a candidate substance for addition to IADN monitoring, with the understanding that the potential benefits would need to be well rationalized. Overall, possible benefits of adding dioxins to IADN monitoring might include:

increased monitoring frequency
precipitation data on dioxins
the ability to model trends and correlate dioxin trends with other airborne toxics

Upcoming Pentachlorophenol (PCP) Workshop

Dave Macarus (USEPA), who is the EPA co-lead of the BNS Pesticides workgroup, gave the dioxin workgroup some background and an update on the planning of a BNS PCP Workshop:

the pesticides workgroup recently assessed five level 2 substances, including PCP, on the basis of potential for P2 projects (other chemicals assessed were endrin, heptachlor, lindane, and tributyl tin)
based on the cross-cutting nature of PCP across several of the BNS workgroups, it was proposed that a PCP Workshop take place, with the goal of providing a forum to assess all of the relevant information and discuss whether there are potential P2 activities.
at this point, the workgroup is still in the process of assessing interest in having a workshop on PCPs, gathering background information on issues, and investigating coordination opportunities
the hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and dioxin workgroup leads have expressed possible interest in coordinating on PCP related reduction activities if they are deemed appropriate and worthwhile

It was noted by Herb Estreicher (Covington & Burling) that Canada is currently in the process of completing their comprehensive Strategic Options Process (SOP) for the Wood Preservation Sector facilities. Herb also reported that about 2% of all the PCP produced is used in the Great Lakes Basin, and that about 1% is processed in the Great Lakes area.

Terry Mah (EC) provided the workgroup with an update on the status of the Canadian for Wood Preservation Sector SOP:

background technical reference documents have been completed and can be downloaded from the EC website http://www.ec.gc.ca/toxics/wood-bois/pubs/sorsum_e.htm
to date the SOP document has been finalized for recommended best management practices, but revisions are still in draft for recommended alternatives
a workshop is being hosted by EC in the second week in February to inform and educate the wood treatment sector of the details of the SOP
key points of the SOP include: voluntary early submission of an implementation plan by 2001 (then submission is mandatory), and voluntary compliance with the recommended controls (wood treaters have 5 years to implement changes voluntarily)

Herb Estreicher has more details on the SOP and offered that workgroup members could contact him at hestreicher@cov.com for more information.

Other important contacts in the wood treatment industry that might provide input on a potential PCP Workshop were noted, including the Canadian Institute for Treatment of Wood, the American Wood Preservers Association, and the Canadian Electrical Association.

Medical Waste Management in Ontario

Anita Wong (EC) provided a brief report on her action item to gather information on medical waste incineration in Ontario:

most medical waste incinerators (MWI) in Toronto are no longer in operation; some MWI facilities remain in rural areas
waste management practices are required for MWI in Ontario; provincial permits are required
new MWI facilities that process >10 tons / day are required to get air and waste management system certification and conduct environmental assessment

Residential Wood Combustion (RWC)

Anita Wong also reported on the information she gathered regarding the RWC testing being conducted in Canada:

preliminary testing has been conducted on certified stoves and findings show that dioxins and furans were predominantly in the gaseous phase
the final test results on the certified stoves are currently being analyzed
there is no information yet on dioxin releases for conventional stoves; testing is scheduled to begin this month

In response to several questions/suggestions that were raised during the January conference call, Anita also investigated the potential for expanding the tests:

additional parameters (e.g., burning garbage, wood pallets) are unable to be added to the testing at this stage as it is already underway
wood pallets are not commonly used as fuel in Canada
if a real need for assessment of the burning of other fuel sources (e.g., household garbage) in stoves was identified later, further research may potentially be pursued

Pulp and Paper Wood Combustion

Finally, Anita presented information she gathered on waste combustion from the pulp and paper industry:

in Ontario, the primary wood waste is bark
tests were previously conducted in the 1980's and dioxin/furan levels were found to be very low (avg. ~30 pg TEQ / m3) in this type of waste
there are currently no requirements for management or disposal for wood waste in Canada BNS Incineration Workshop Planning Update

Dan Hopkins (EPA) updated the workgroup on the status of the Incineration Workshop Planning:

the workshop will focus on municipal solid waste management and the use of a waste management life-cycle model; a report on this model and additional information on the workshop planning is available at the BNS website http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/bns/
the next planning call will take place on February 11 at 1:00 CDT
future updates on this workshop will be provided by dioxin workgroup members participating in the planning, but additional questions can be addressed to: Rita Cestaric (312-886-6815), Phil Doyle (312-886-6865), or Dan Hopkins (312-886-5994)

Sector Specific Analysis: Using the Decision Tree Process

The workgroup agreed to postpone sector discussions until the March conference call due to the fact that many of the key players for the remaining sectors were not present.

Action Items

Next, the workgroup reviewed the outstanding action items (see updated action item list 1-4-00). As possible, the group tried to get commitment dates and cluster similar tasks on the same due date.

Review of Commitments

Gathering more information on waste management in hospitals (Dale Phenicie (CGLI))
- Dale reported that he had made a contact and was awaiting information on this - it was suggested that this information would coordinate well with some of the information that was being gathered by Dwain Winters (EPA) on MWI regulations, emissions, etc.
- Sandro Leonardelli (EC) also offered to contact some people in the Ontario Hospital Association on this issue
- Commitments were made to hear reports from Dale and Dwain and revisit medical waste issues in June.
Assessment of alternative incineration technologies (Werner Braun (CGLI))
- Werner was not present at today’s meeting, but Dale Phenicie said that the report is in progress - a comment was made that this report could be very timely / useful for the incineration workshop
- It was decided that at least an update on this report would be useful in April
Information on cement kilns (emissions controls, success, etc.)
- Sandro said that he had spoken to a Canadian contact specializing in cement kiln issues and was ready to report to the group
- It was suggested that this information would coordinate nicely with some of the information being gathered by Dwain Winters
- It was decided that, depending on Dwain’s progress, action items related to cement kilns would be reported on at the March conference call.
Sector specific subgroup initiation
- As discussed on the last call, the formation of a wood stove / residential wood combustion subgroup was put on hold until result of the Canadian study are available
- Sandro Leonardelli reported that he had made some preliminary steps towards initiating a subgroup for open barrel burning
- Open Burning Subgroup:
  - it was decided that all of the action items related to open barrel burning could be rolled together and assigned to “Open Barrel Burning Subgroup Action Items”
  - most of the subgroup’s work is planned to take place outside of the regular dioxin workgroup conference calls, but the subgroup intends to regularly report back on progress with action items, etc. to the whole group
  - Sandro said that he had started making contacts, gathering information on current barrel burning programs, and assessing interest. Progress made included: talking with Joe Stepun (WLSSD) regarding the WLSSD report on a survey to assess the prevalence of open burning, which is expected to be available in early February; and contacting several state agencies regarding ongoing programs in the states and opportunities for partnering (he noted that MDEQ had an informative web page on open burning http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3310_4148-65250--,00.html
Action items pertaining to other sectors
- information gathering efforts on Magnesium plants: Dale agreed to continue to try and make contacts in this sector, and Sandro said that he would report on the materials that were provided by Matthew Bramley (before he left Greenpeace); Sandro would provide these materials to Dale immediately to assist his contact efforts - it was decided that action items related to steel (EAF), iron sintering, and secondary copper smelting would be reported on, as possible, at the March meeting by USEPA, EC, and Dale Phenicie.
- action items related to pentachlorophenol were agreed to be reported on in March
- action items relating to general topics such as the confidence intervals in the US inventory estimates, and compiling all of the final sector information in a consolidated table would be revisited once all of the sector discussions have taken place

Wood stove changeover update

Dan Hopkins (EPA) provided the group with an update on the wood stove changeover in Traverse City, Michigan. He reported that on February 3 there was a press release on the project, and that a sister project was planned to follow in Green Bay, WI. Sponsors, including the Hearth Products Association, are also contemplating expanding the project, pending an assessment of the success in these two areas. The level of participation will be monitored in both of these pilots.

Those turning in old conventional wood stoves receive a 15% rebate on the purchase of a new stove (as based on an agreement between the manufacturers and the dealerships). Other aspects of the project potentially include: partnering with steel industry groups to pick up the old stoves for use as scrap steel, and a certification of destruction requirement from the scrap yard to verify that the old stoves are not being put back into service.

It was noted that about 1/3 of those changing over are switching to liquid fuel or gas units, and the gas utilities, insurance companies, and fire departments may be valuable partners in these changeover efforts in the future.

Discussion on the Utility of the Decision Tree Process

Dan Hopkins raised a general issue to the group regarding the group’s progress in using the decision tree process, and expressed concerns that the workgroup might be losing momentum. He asked the workgroup for feedback:

generally, all members of the workgroup present agreed that the decision tree process had proved useful in the identification of information gaps and providing structure to the discussions
although discussions have been slow, the workgroup generally felt that their discussions were more organized, better informed, and would thus allow them to more effectively prioritize possible reductions activities
it was noted that sometimes the lack of key players on the calls was slowing down progress and preventing closure for particular sectors; the workgroup agreed that for future calls, the organizers should better coordinate participation for a given sector
it was also noted by Dan that some progress is slowed due to the outstanding release of the US

Dioxin Reassessment

Next Steps and New Action Items:

Next Teleconference:

The workgroup will discuss, as possible, based on key player availability: PCP treated wood, cement kilns, steel manufacturing (EAF), iron sintering, and secondary copper smelting

New action Items:

The open burning subgroup will provide the workgroup with updates on their progress on an ongoing basis
Recruitment of key players / experts for sector discussions on future calls would be a high priority The workgroup will continue work on current action items identified in the action item update.

The next conference call is scheduled for March 7, 2000.

Participant Roster

John Barney, USEPA Region 5
Herb Estreicher, Covington & Burling
Nan Gowda, USEPA Region 5
Doug Green, Piper, Marbury, Rodnick and Wolfe LLP
Dan Hopkins, USEPA
Tom Hornshaw, Illinois EPA
Jackie Hunt Christensen, Health Care Without Harm
Sandro Leonardelli, Environment Canada
Jeff Lynn, International Paper
Dave Macarus, USEPA
John Menkedick, Battelle
Dale Phenicie, Council of Great Lakes Industries
Jim Rower, Edison Electric Institute
Joe Stepun, Western Lake Superior Sanitary District
Anita Wong, Environment Canada
Maureen Wooton, Battelle