EPA WORKSHOP LISTS MAJOR SOURCES OF DIOXIN

Hazardous Waste Burning Cement Kilns Listed as
Second Highest Source of Dioxin in the United States

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(Washington, D.C.) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently cited cement kilns that burn hazardous waste as the second highest source of dioxin in the United States. At a workshop held in late November, preliminary data presented by EPA showed that the 21 cement facilities that burn hazardous waste accounted for 17 percent of the total dioxin emissions in the United States for 1995. Hazardous waste burning cement kilns account for 99 percent of the total dioxin emissions from the entire cement industry.

EPA released the new data at its Dioxin Workshop on Formation Processes and Sources in Chevy Chase, Maryland to address criticisms of the agency=s Dioxin Reassessment of 1994. Criticism of the 1994 report stemmed from claims that the data was ambiguous and not specific to any particular year. The workshop discussed new estimates for 1987 and 1995 in an effort to indicate new trends in dioxin formation and sources.

According to EPA=s revised estimates, hazardous waste burning cement kilns released 850 grams TEQ in 1995, compared with the agency=s estimate of 350 g TEQ for 1994 in the earlier report. New Data compiled for 1987 put total dioxin emissions for hazardous waste burning cement kilns at 330 g TEQ. Comparing EPA=s 1987 data with that for 1995, hazardous waste burning cement kilns represent one of the only groups that actually increased dioxin emissions.

In comparison with hazardous waste burning cement kilns, the 160 on-site and off-site hazardous waste incineration facilities accounted for only 1.5 percent (75 g TEQ) of the total

dioxin emissions in the United States for 1995. AI believe that the difference between the hazardous waste burning cement kilns and commercial incinerators= dioxin emissions demonstrates that the air pollution technology used by commercial incinerators is far more protective. More needs to be done to bring hazardous waste burning cement kilns up to par on dioxin emissions. The proposed MACT standards will accomplish just that,@ said Tom Blank, communications director for the Association for Responsible Thermal Treatment (ARTT). Administrator Browner proposed the MACT (Maximum Achievable Control Technology) standards last April under the Clean Air Act that require greatly reduced dioxin and other emissions once they are made final by EPA.

AIn 1995, hazardous waste burning cement kilns unsuccessfully attempted to place a rider on EPA appropriations bill that would have given that industry regulatory relief from the more protective air emissions standards -- MACT -- EPA was about to propose to control dangerous emissions such as dioxin and particulate matter,@ Blank said. "We hope they will not pursue similar action in 1997."

In a related development, EPA recently established the Endocrine Disruptors Screening and Testing Advisory Committee (EDSTAC), to advise the agency on a strategy for screening and testing chemicals and pesticides for their potential to disrupt endocrine functions in humans and wildlife. Dioxin, which is a family of seventy-five chemicals and a known carcinogen that affects the reproductive, endocrine and immune systems, can act as an endocrine disruptor. The impact of endocrine disruptors has received extensive media coverage as a result of a new book, Our Stolen Future.

TABLE 1

DIOXIN/FURAN SOURCE INVENTORY [PCCDD/F TEQ (g/year)]

TOTAL US TEQ g/yr 24,000 11,500 5,000

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