EPA to Ban Chemical Solvent Trichloroethylene
The EPA will ban the import and manufacture of the chemical solvent trichloroethylene (TCE), according to a Federal Register notice. This final rule is effective Jan. 16.
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The restriction follows EPA's determination that TCE presents an "unreasonable risk of injury to health." The agency plans to allow for a transition period to limit the industrial and commercial use of the solvent, with a target set to ban the substance.
TCE has numerous uses, including in rocket booster nozzle production and rocket engine cleaning, asphalt testing and recovery, and in operations related to aerospace and naval machine maintenance, according to the notice.
Other uses, according to an EPA Dec. 9 press release, include cleaning and furniture care products, degreasers, brake cleaners, sealants, lubricants, adhesives, paints and coatings, arts and crafts spray coatings, and refrigerant manufacturing.
The final rule sets recordkeeping requirements where manufacturers, processors, industrial and commercial users and distributors maintain business records, such as invoices and bills-of-lading, that demonstrate compliance with the regulations. These records must be maintained for a period of five years from the date that a record is generated. This requirement begins Feb. 18. Importers and manufacturers also will have to provide downstream notification of prohibitions via safety data sheets "to spread awareness throughout the supply chain of the restrictions" on the solvent.
Most uses of TCE will be banned within one year. But EPA said it could grant exceptions to the rule under one of three findings: a critical or essential use for which no technically and economically feasible safer alternative is available; a situation where compliance with the requirement would significantly disrupt the national economy, national security or critical infrastructure; or a situation where the specific condition of use of the chemical substance or mixture, as compared with reasonably available alternatives, provides a substantial benefit to health, the environment or public safety.
Timed exemptions could occur for industrial and commercial uses within the military aerospace industry and NASA, for Armed Forces vessels, and for lead-acid battery separator manufacturing, among other industries.
This final rule builds upon the proposed rule that was published in October 2023 (see 2310310055).
TCE is "an extremely toxic chemical known to cause liver cancer, kidney cancer, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. TCE also causes damage to the central nervous system, liver, kidneys, immune system, reproductive organs, and fetal heart defects. These risks are present even at very small concentrations," EPA said in its press release on the ban.