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Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy
Stakeholder Forum - 1998
IMPLEMENTING THE BINATIONAL
TOXICS STRATEGY
Draft Options Paper: Virtual Elimination of PCBs
In September 1994, as part of the Virtual
Elimination Project, EPA hosted a meeting for stakeholders where the Agency shared its
initial findings on mercury and PCBs and offered participants an opportunity to make
recommendations on ways to reduce the use and release of each chemical. An options
paper on mercury was drafted first and released for public comment in 1995.
This options paper discusses several reduction opportunities for
PCBs, based on the suggestions of meeting participants. Section II reviews the overall
approach of the Virtual Elimination Project, followed by a brief overview of PCB sources
and regulations, in order to provide some background for new readers, and a discussion of
trends in PCB disposal. Section III discusses specific options to reduce PCB contamination
and accelerate disposal. A separate matrix includes a full menu of these recommendations.
Section IV identifies a proposed framework to help stimulate additional reductions of
PCBs.
As an "options" paper, this document does not recommend a specific path of
action for EPA. Rather, it is designed to catalogue different ways to achieve virtual
elimination goals, recognizing that EPA will still need to evaluate where its involvement
could be most effective, and make strategic investments where appropriate. EPA has
recently modified the PCB rules to help increase the pace of PCB disposal in the United
States. The modifications, issued June 29, 1998, make major changes to the types of
disposal options available and the items that fall under regulatory control.
This Page created November 10, 1998 |
