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The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) addresses the manufacture, import, and processing of new chemical substances in commerce, and significant new uses of existing chemical substances. TSCA also directly controls the manufacture, import, and use of specific chemical substances such as asbestos, formaldehyde, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
Scope
Title II of TSCA is titled Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response, or AHERA. AHERA established asbestos abatement programs in schools, providing for the promulgation of federal regulations requiring periodic asbestos inspections and reinspections and the necessary response actions. It also requires the EPA Administrator to made determinations of the extent of danger to human health posed by asbestos in public and commercial buildings and the means to respond to the dangers. AHERA was later amended by the Asbestos School Hazard Abatement Reauthorization Act (ASHARA) (P.L. 101-637) in 1990. Under this amendment, accreditation requirements were added for persons conducting asbestos inspections and abatement activities in schools, commercial buildings and public buildings.
Closely related, TSCA Title V is titled Health High-Performance, Reducing Risks in Schools Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. This program provides technical assistance to schools to develop and implement school environmental health programs that are run by the state. These programs must set standards for school building design, construction, renovation, and repair, specifically addressing contaminants, hazardous substances, and pollutant emissions such as lead in drinking water, lead from materials and products, asbestos, radon, and mercury.
Title III addresses Indoor Radon Abatement. This title assists states in responding to health threats posed by exposure to radon. EPA was required to publish an updated citizen’s guide on the health risks of radon, and to perform studies of the radon levels in government buildings and schools.
Title VI, the Formaldehyde Emission Standards for Composite Wood Products Act of 2010, established emission standards for formaldehyde from composite wood products and directed EPA to finalize a rule on implementing and enforcing a number of provisions covering composite wood products.
Polychlorinated Biphenyls: TSCA prohibits the manufacture and distribution of PCBs, controls the phase-out of their existing uses, and ensures their safe disposal.
Regulatory citations
- 40 CFR 195 — Radon Proficiency Programs
- 40 CFR 761 — Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) Manufacturing, Processing, Distribution in Commerce, and Use Prohibitions
- 40 CFR 763 — Asbestos
- 40 CFR 770 — Formaldehyde Standards for Composite Wood Products
Key definitions
- Air erosion: The passage of air over friable ACBM which may result in the release of asbestos fibers.
- Annual document log: The detailed information maintained at the facility on the PCB waste handling at the facility.
- Annual report: The written document submitted each year by each disposer and commercial storer of PCB waste to the appropriate EPA Regional Administrator. The annual report is a brief summary of the information included in the annual document log.
- Asbestos: The asbestiform varieties of:
- Chrysotile (serpentine),
- Crocidolite (riebeckite),
- Amosite (cummingtonite, grunerite),
- Anthophyllite,
- Tremolite, and
- Actinolite.
- Asbestos-containing material (ACM): When referring to school buildings, means any material or product which contains more than 1 percent asbestos.
- Asbestos debris: Pieces of ACBM that can be identified by color, texture, or composition, or means dust, if the dust is determined by an accredited inspector to be ACM.
- Byproduct: A chemical substance produced without separate commercial intent during the manufacturing or processing of another chemical substance(s) or mixture(s).
- Capacitor: A device for accumulating and holding a charge of electricity and consisting of conducting surfaces separated by a dielectric.
- Composite wood product: Hardwood plywood made with a veneer or composite core, medium-density fiberboard, and particleboard.
- Disposer of PCB waste, as the term is used in subparts J and K of this part, means any person who owns or operates a facility approved by EPA for the disposal of PCB waste which is regulated for disposal under the requirements of subpart D of this part.
- Distributor: Any person or entity to whom a composite wood product, component part, or finished good is sold or supplied for the purposes of resale or distribution in commerce, except that manufacturers and retailers are not distributors.
- Fabricator: A person or entity who incorporates composite wood products into component parts or into finished goods. This includes laminated product producers, but persons or entities in the construction trades are not fabricators by renovating or remodeling buildings.
- Friable: When referring to material in a school building, means that the material, when dry, may be crumbled, pulverized, or reduced to powder by hand pressure, and includes previously nonfriable material after such previously nonfriable material becomes damaged to the extent that when dry it may be crumbled, pulverized, or reduced to powder by hand pressure.
- Generator of PCB waste: Any person whose act or process produces PCBs that are regulated for disposal under subpart D of this part, or whose act first causes PCBs or PCB Items to become subject to the disposal requirements of subpart D of this part, or who has physical control over the PCBs when a decision is made that the use of the PCBs has been terminated and therefore is subject to the disposal requirements of subpart D of this part. Unless another provision of this part specifically requires a site-specific meaning, “generator of PCB waste” includes all of the sites of PCB waste generation owned or operated by the person who generates PCB waste.
- Liquid PCBs: A homogenous flowable material containing PCBs and no more than 0.5 percent by weight non-dissolved material.
- Manifest: The shipping document EPA form 8700-22 and any continuation sheet attached to EPA form 8700-22, originated and signed by the generator of PCB waste in accordance with the instructions included with the form.
- Miscellaneous ACM: Miscellaneous material that is ACM in a school building.
- Mixture: Any combination of two or more chemical substances if the combination does not occur in nature and is not, in whole or in part, the result of a chemical reaction; except that such term does include any combination which occurs, in whole or in part, as a result of a chemical reaction if none of the chemical substances comprising the combination is a new chemical substance and if the combination could have been manufactured for commercial purposes without a chemical reaction at the time the chemical substances comprising the combination were combined.
- Nonfriable: Material in a school building which when dry may not be crumbled, pulverized, or reduced to powder by hand pressure.
- PCBs: Any chemical substance that is limited to the biphenyl molecule that has been chlorinated to varying degrees or any combination of substances which contains such substance. Refer to 761.1(b) for applicable concentrations of PCBs. PCB and PCBs as contained in PCB items are defined in 761.3. For any purposes under this part, inadvertently generated non-Aroclor PCBs are defined as the total PCBs calculated following division of the quantity of monochlorinated biphenyls by 50 and dichlorinated biphenyls by 5.
- PCB container: Any package, can, bottle, bag, barrel, drum, tank, or other device that contains PCBs or PCB Articles and whose surface(s) has been in direct contact with PCBs.
- PCB-contaminated: A non-liquid material containing PCBs at concentrations ≥50 ppm but <500 ppm; a liquid material containing PCBs at concentrations ≥50 ppm but <500 ppm or where insufficient liquid material is available for analysis, a non-porous surface having a surface concentration >10 mg/100 cm2 but <100 mg/100 cm2 , measured by a standard wipe test as defined in 761.123.
- PCB equipment: Any manufactured item, other than a PCB container or a PCB article container, which contains a PCB article or other PCB equipment, and includes microwave ovens, electronic equipment, and fluorescent light ballasts and fixtures.
- PCB item: Any PCB article, PCB article container, PCB container, PCB equipment, or anything that deliberately or unintentionally contains or has as a part of it any PCB or PCBs.
- PCB transformer: Any transformer that contains ≥500 ppm PCBs. For PCB concentration assumptions applicable to transformers containing 1.36 kilograms (3 lbs.) or more of fluid other than mineral oil, see 761.2. For provisions permitting reclassification of electrical equipment, including PCB Transformers, containing ≥500 ppm PCBs to PCB-Contaminated Electrical Equipment, see 761.30(a) and (h).
- PCB waste(s): Those PCBs and PCB Items that are subject to the disposal requirements of subpart D of this part.
- Phenol-formaldehyde resin: A resin that consists primarily of phenol and formaldehyde and does not contain urea-formaldehyde.
- Preventive measures: Actions taken to reduce disturbance of ACBM or otherwise eliminate the reasonable likelihood of the material’s becoming damaged or significantly damaged.
- RCRA: The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (40 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.).
- Response action: A method, including removal, encapsulation, enclosure, repair, operations and maintenance, that protects human health and the environment from friable ACBM.
- Retrofill: To remove PCB or PCB-contaminated dielectric fluid and to replace it with either PCB, PCB-contaminated, or non-PCB dielectric fluid.
- School: Any elementary or secondary school as defined in section 198 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 2854).
- Surfacing material: Material in a school building that is sprayed- on, troweled-on, or otherwise applied to surfaces, such as acoustical plaster on ceilings and fireproofing materials on structural members, or other materials on surfaces for acoustical, fireproofing, or other purposes.
- TSCA: The Toxic Substances Control Act (15 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.).
- Transporter of PCB waste: Fr the purposes of Subpart K of this Part, any person engaged in the transportation of regulated PCB waste by air, rail, highway, or water for purposes other than consolidation by a generator.
Summary of requirements
- Local Education Authorities must inspect schools for asbestos hazards, notify concerned parties of abatement plans, and employ certified abatement contractors to abate asbestos hazards in schools.
- States must to human health threats posed by exposure to radon. The goal is to have exposures to radon indoors be the same as outdoors.
- Manufacturers of laminated and composite wood products must comply with the labeling and production requirements of the Formaldehyde Emissions Standards for Composite Wood Products Act.
- Prepare annual logs and maintain records for PCBs and PCB items stored onsite.