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Dioxin / Furans

Stakeholders Minutes - May 14, 2003
Draft Workgroup Meeting Minutes

Workgroup Leaders:
Anita Wong (EC) and Erin Newman (EPA)

Facilitator: John Menkedick

Introductory Remarks

John Menkedick welcomed everyone and reviewed the Agenda.

Anita Wong led a review of action items from the last meeting's minutes (December 3, 2002):

Anita announced that Environment Canada (EC) has drafted Canada-wide standards for electric-arc furnaces and for steel manufacturing. These standards are now in the implementation stage.
The 2001 Canadian National Inventory of dioxin/furans will hopefully be released this year.
Erin Newman said that EPA hopes to have medical waste emissions data from MACT compliance testing in December.
Dwain Winters said that EPA is expecting the public review draft of the 2000 Inventory around September or October. The draft will include facility-specific monitoring data for many key sectors, as identified through the MACT standards.
There is a U.S. project looking at ball clay production and dioxin exposure at processing plants. Also, the project is looking at dioxin exposure related to clay modeling during the pre-firing processes.
USEPA will be looking at soil concentrations at 30 National Dioxin Air Monitoring Network (NDAMN) sites.
A project is underway at 10 locations across the U.S. looking at sources of dioxin contamination in animal feed.

Anita provided a brief history of the Dioxin Workgroup, including the decision tree development and the Workgroup's successes with top priority sectors. In order to help frame discussions for the day, she and Erin noted that they believe the Workgroup is in a state of transition. The Workgroup leaders are now interested in guidance on future efforts for the next two years, in determining what the role of the Workgroup should be, and what it should be focused on in terms of uncharacterized sources and targeted approaches to emissions reduction. Anita stated that the Workgroup leaders would like to develop a work-plan for the next two years.

Burn Barrel Subgroup Update

Bruce Gillies (EC) provided an update on the Burn Barrel Subgroup. He noted that since December, the subgroup has met two times by teleconference. The Subgroup=s minutes are available at www.openburning.org . Bruce summarized the recent issues addressed by the subgroup, recent education activities related to open burning, new studies on household garbage burning, and the Subgroup's plans for the summer/fall of 2003.

Workgroup discussion on open burning topics followed Bruce's summary:

There was a request that the May 2003 Air and Waste Management Association (A&WMA) paper be referenced on the Burn Barrel web site.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is still coming out with their department guide on open burning.
Tex McLeod, of the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association (HPBA), mentioned that they may be able to weave a garbage burning message into their "Smart Choices" education program. Also the HPBA Board is looking into a program to work with retailers and ECO-Superior to develop messages and a campaign directed at retailers.
Bruce mentioned that they would like to work on a national basis to get the message, "don't burn garbage", to retailers.
A question was raised about the level of interest from the Federal Chiefs in Canada. Bruce described work that is currently going on with First Nations. They are doing a "Chiefs of Ontario" Survey and Bruce shared a brochure by one community as an example of the interest/actions in First Nations. Dwain recommended posting a copy of this brochure on the Subgroup's website.
A question was raised as to why the Subgroup felt that the burn barrel issue should be handled at the local level rather than at the National/Provincial level. Discussion ensued on the benefits of a Province-level or National-level approach, as well as the difficulties due to local responsibility for waste collection infrastructure.
Erin discussed the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Wisconsin Environmental Health Association kit for elementary school children. The kit includes a video, games and learning guides to address fire safety and burn barrel issues. For more information, see the website www.airdefenders.org .
A question was raised as to how EPA Region 5 has dealt with Tribes and whether education efforts are too centered around Region 5. A participant noted, for example, that education on back-yard burning and local trash dump burning is not happening at all in Alaska and Region 10 is promoting local burning because of landfill space problems.

Ash Management Presentation by Compass Environmental

Steve Sawell (Compass Environmental Incorporated) gave a presentation on the chemistry behind the formation of dioxin in a typical incineration system and the environmental considerations related to that formation. He discussed the range of temperatures between which dioxin/furans are formed, and his findings that dioxin/furans do not tend to be found in bottom ash, and that well-operated incinerators are not a source of dioxin in the environment.

Steve mentioned that mercury from air pollution control (APC) residues (or flyash) can be deposited in landfills and mercury from fly ash can revolatilize, especially in the presence of moisture. Steve covered a number of specific examples, including dioxin formation information from power generation plants, municipal solid waste incinerators, hazardous waste incinerators, and sewage sludge incinerators.

Environmental considerations related to dioxin/furans from incineration include:

Disposal of flyash in a sanitary landfill - allowed after treatment (removal of lead).
The issue of leaching PCDD/PCDF - not expected to be significant since D/F is non-polar.
The issue of flyash or APC residues - usually disposed of at a secured landfill.
D/F in bottom ash is very low.
The re-volatilization of mercury in ash - may be an issue that needs to be addressed.
Fugitive emissions of APC residue if dry.

Steve will send copies of the slides used in his presentation to Anita and Anita will pass the mercury information shared in the presentation on to the Mercury Workgroup.

Boiler Presentation by the Delta Institute

Abby Jarka (Delta Institute) gave a presentation on the Delta Boiler Sector Project. She explained that the purpose of the project was to use energy efficiency improvements to reduce emissions. She explained that there are 20,000 boilers in the Great Lake States alone and they are large energy users. These boilers are sources of PBT emissions but are not usually large enough sources individually to be regulated under the MACT program.

Abby noted that it has been estimated that most dioxin/furans releases are from Acoal or Aother (e.g. wood) fuel sources, however only 2,000 of the boilers in the Great Lake States use coal or wood. The Delta Boiler Sector Project looked at primary sectors associated with coal and wood boilers in the Great Lakes States.

Anita mentioned that the Workgroup is in need of an estimate for dioxin/furans emissions from boilers. Erin committed the Workgroup to providing input on the dioxin/furans emissions factors being used by the Delta Institute.

Update on Priority Sectors

Updates included:

Anita informed the group that Ontario has announced their intent to phase out Medical Waste Incinerators and centralize the handling of waste.
Dwain gave a brief update on the PCP-treated utility poles efforts on the U.S. side at the national level. Shawn gave an update on similar efforts on the Canadian side.
Anita distributed new stack test information on Electric-Arc Furnaces (EAF) from the Steel Manufacturing sector. Stack test information from the Base Metal Smelting sector was also distributed, which showed a low level of releases.
Anita stated that there are no Secondary Copper facilities in Ontario and therefore this sector should be changed to a low priority in the Priority Sectors table.
Anita informed the group that EC is doing a survey on landfill fires at First Nations lands.
Erin stated that Region 5 is working on diesel retrofits, mainly for school buses but also some heavy-duty trucks. She also mentioned that the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is now using ultra-low-sulfur diesel and Region 5 is working with the City of Chicago to retrofit locomotives that operate exclusively in rail yards.

Future Workgroup Activities

Anita stated that after a review of the Priority Sectors identified in the Decision Tree analysis, it appears that those sectors are being managed. She asked for input from the group on how they see the Workgroup moving ahead over the next 2-3 years. She asked the group if they felt that the Workgroup should remain substance-specific or possibly take a more sector-focused approach in coordination with other Workgroups.

Possible areas for Workgroup focus, raised by Workgroup members, included:

The issue of widespread disposal of ash in mixed-waste landfills
The fact that water releases are not well characterized (only pulp and paper have been investigated)
Surface erosion as a known source of dioxin/furans
PCP-treated poles storage sites
Contaminated sites
Uncontrolled combustion (e.g. agricultural burning and structure fires)
Reservoir sources
Landfills (possibly sample for particles upwind and downwind)
Coplanar PCBs
Wood furnaces.
Sources from agricultural activities (e.g. animal carcass incinerators, outdoor boilers, open burning).

Outreach was also raised as an issue requiring Workgroup attention in the future. Specifically, outreach to the agricultural community, the food industry, animal carcass incinerators, and boilers. A suggestion was made to raise awareness on dioxin/furans issues in the context of people's willingness to take or support action.

Further discussion ensued on source characterization and how much might be done by this group alone or in coordination with other Workgroups. Anita stated that EC recently did an assessment on mobile sources in Canada and found that mobile sources could be a significant source of dioxin/furans. A suggestion was made to determine priority sources by focusing on those sources specifically in the Great Lakes basin.

Action Items

Steve Sawell and Abigail Jarka will send copies of the slides used in their presentations to the Workgroup leaders.
Anita will pass the mercury information from Steve Sawell's presentation on to the Mercury Workgroup.
The Workgroup will provide input on the dioxin/furans emissions factors being used by the Delta Institute.
The Workgroup leaders will develop a plan for shaping the direction of the group and will present it for comment in the coming months.

Participants Roster

Todd Abel, Chlorine Chemistry Council
Jim Cantrill, Lake Superior Binational Program
Jose Castro, INE (Mexico)
Jim Collins, Environment Canada
John Crouch, Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association
Bruce Gillies, Environmental Canada
Abigail Jarka, Delta Institute
John Jackson, Great Lakes United
Shawna Larson, ACAT & IEN
Tex McLeod, Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association
John Menkedick, Battelle
Shawn Michajluk, Environment Canada
Erin Newman, USEPA
Steven Sawell, Compass Environmental
Evelyn Strader, Council of Great Lakes Industry
Dwain Winters, USEPA
Anita Wong, Environmental Canada
Cindy Yang, Environmental Canada