DOT Converts Hazmat Transportation Permits into Federal Regulations

“This rulemaking is another step in incorporating tested transportation technologies and operations from longstanding special permits into the regulations, promoting safety and streamlining our processes,” said PHMSA Administrator Cynthia Quarterman.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) recently announced its efforts to improve the safe transport of hazardous materials by incorporating the provisions of six widely used cargo tank special permits into Federal Hazardous Materials regulations. The agency hopes the new regulation will cut down on thousands of special permit applications each year.

The special permits incorporated into regulations have long established safety records. Like all special permits, these were used to approve processes for hazmat transport not explicitly spelled out in PHMSA regulations. Over years, the practices approved in these permits became commonplace and were proven safe.

“President Obama asked us to find ways to make our government better for the people of the United States,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Getting rid of this cumbersome process will maintain safety and save businesses and the government both time and money.”

“This rulemaking is another step in incorporating tested transportation technologies and operations from longstanding special permits into the regulations, promoting safety and streamlining our processes,” said PHMSA Administrator Cynthia Quarterman.

Streamlining the hazardous materials special permit and approvals process is a major priority for PHMSA. Last year, the Department released an Action Plan to improve PHMSA’s safety oversight, processes, procedures, and policies for its hazardous materials special permits and approvals program.

Listed below are the six special permits that will be incorporated into the Hazardous Materials Regulations pertaining to the shipment of certain hazardous materials in cargo tanks.

Two of the special permits cover hazardous materials mounted on farm trucks used exclusively for agricultural purposes:

- Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
- Liquid soil pesticide (toxic substances)
- One special permit covers the transportation of hazardous materials used for striping roads.
- One special permit authorizes private motor carrier companies to transport propane tanks most commonly used for home heating and cooking.
- Two special permits address nurse tanks:
- The first covers the transportation of nurse tanks securely mounted on field trucks.
- The second authorizes the use of the nurse tanks carrying anhydrous ammonia under certain conditions when the tanks are missing or have illegible identification plates.
- The final rule is available on PHMSA’s website at www.phmsa.dot.gov.

AMBULANCE CALL ESCALATES INTO HAZ-MAT RESPONSE AFTER EMT’S GET CONTAMINATED

HERNDON — Two Dalmatia Ambulance crew members were taken to the hospital with upper respiratory problems Monday after treating a 27-year-old man who claimed he suffered a chemical burn while riding a train through southern Northumberland County.

Norfolk Southern Corp. spokesman Rudy Husband said the burned man’s story doesn’t add up and there’s no evidence he was even on a train.

State police Cpl. George Ritchey said an investigation was continuing to determine what happened.

“There is no reason for public alarm,” he said. He refused to identify the man unless criminal charges are filed.

The 8:45 a.m. incident in Jackson Township, just south of Herndon, brought out Northumberland County’s hazardous-materials team, state police, Norfolk Southern Corp. railroad police, state Department of Environmental Protection representatives and several area fire and ambulance departments.

Identified by police only as a 27-year-old who lives outside the area, the man knocked on several homes and businesses in Herndon asking for help, Herndon Assistant Fire Chief Ron Hinckley said.

No one allowed the man inside, but someone called 911.

Among the first to reach the man in a parking lot off Route 147 next to the Lower Northumberland County Senior Action Center was the Dalmatia Ambulance. Edward Carl Sr. and Eric Shrawder were treating the man, who was apparently burned, inside an ambulance when they became sick, Hinckley said.

“They were having trouble breathing and (experiencing) respiratory distress,” he said.

Northumberland County’s hazmat team was called to the scene, and all three men were stripped naked and doused with a cleansing solution from a decontamination unit set up in the lot.

While first responders tried to shield the men from being seen by passersby, no one could protect them from the 20-degree chill.

Carl and Shrawder were taken by ambulance to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, where they were treated and released.

The burned man was flown by helicopter to the burn unit at Lehigh Valley Medical Center, Allentown. His condition was unknown.

First-responders were tight-lipped at the scene, but Husband said in a telephone interview that the burned man’s story raised questions from the start.

Specifically in question is his claim that he got on a train illegally in Philadelphia and rode it to Herndon where he jumped off.

Norfolk Southern doesn’t run trains between Philadelphia and Herndon, Husband said, and all trains passing through the small Northumberland County borough travel at 40 mph.

“There was no evidence of anyone jumping off a train,” Husband said.

Also, only one train passed through the borough Monday morning, and it was an empty coal train.

Husband said Norfolk Southern does transport chemicals, but the material is contained in tanks.

Clothing was found in a Herndon park on Lower Road, just feet from the railroad tracks and about a mile from the parking lot where the hazmat team convened, but it didn’t immediately shed light on the type and source of chemical that may have caused the problems, Northumberland County Emergency Services Director Paul Froutz said.

The area where the clothing was found was roped off while several children played on a hill several feet away.

The ambulance in which the burned man was initially treated and the two EMTs were overcome was left in the parking lot and roped off until the substance could be identified and the interior thoroughly cleaned.

Update for Hazwaste Regs

DNREC is in the process of updating the state’s hazardous waste regulations to maintain equivalency with the federal RCRA program and retain state primacy for the program.
The proposed amendments would:

• Adopt federal requirements for the export of batteries to OECD countries
• Adopt federal corrections to the Uniform Manifest rules
• Add clarification regarding subsequent notifications for generators concerning EPA ID numbers
• Strike a confusing date regarding recordkeeping deadline regarding generator Annual and Exception Reports
• Allow use of amended SPCC plan as a contingency plan for TSDFs
• Clarify TSDF submittal of manifest copies to the generator state
• Strengthen secondary containment by adding requirement for coating and water stops for tanks in TSDF containment requirements
• Add requirement that generators must keep records on-site for 3 years regarding written records of shipments of used oil

U.S. EPA Removes Saccharin From List Of Hazardous Substances

December 21, 2010

Saccharin, an artificial sweetener in the form of a white crystalline powder, is 300 times sweeter than sucrose or sugar. It is typically an ingredient in diet soft drinks, juices, sweets, and chewing gum. Saccharin can also be found in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

In December, 2010, EPA amended its regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to remove saccharin and its salts from the lists of hazardous constituents and commercial chemical products which are hazardous wastes when discarded or intended to be discarded.

EPA also amended the regulations under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) to remove saccharin and its salts from the list of hazardous substances.

In response to a petition submitted to EPA by the Calorie Control Council (CCC) to remove saccharin and its salts from RCRA and CERCLA, EPA will no longer list these substances as hazardous on the above mentioned lists.

EPA granted CCC's petition based on a review of the evaluations conducted by key public health agencies concerning the carcinogenic and other potential toxicological effects of saccharin and its salts. In addition, EPA assessed the waste generation and management information for saccharin and its salts, concluding that the wastes do not meet the criteria for hazardous waste regulations.

EPA must overcome lobbying to fight pollution

BY NICOLE LOWEN
Nicole Lowen is a state associate at Ann Arbor-based Environment Michigan.

This holiday season, many Americans have made New Year’s resolutions for healthier lifestyles — vowing to exercise more and eat healthier foods, and swearing away bad habits like smoking. Sadly, while there are many things we can do to maintain good health, we face a number of unseen threats to our health that we can do little about.

There are myriad pollutants that attack our health from all fronts every day. Soot and smog are a particular problem here in Michigan, where, according to the Clean Air Task Force, 678 people die and 1,097 more have heart attacks every year because of these nasty pollutants. This air pollution also means that more of the nearly 721,000 Michiganders who suffer from asthma are rushed to the emergency room gasping for air every year.

Mercury and lead in the air, contaminates our water where it then seeps into the food chain and puts children at risk of brain damage and developmental disorders. In fact, one in every six women has enough mercury in her body to put her baby at risk of neurological damage should she become pregnant. Additionally, unchecked global warming also is threatening our health with the spread of infectious diseases, an increase in asthma attacks and respiratory disease, and more heat-related deaths from record high temperatures.

All of these pollutants share a common culprit: every year coal-fired power plants and polluting industrial facilities spew hundreds of thousands of tons of dangerous pollution into our air and water, contaminating our environment and making us sick.

Fortunately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is stepping up to protect our health by requiring that big polluters clean up their act. During the next three years, the EPA is planning to issue new standards to cut dangerous pollution — including mercury pollution, soot and global warming pollution. These standards will save thousands of lives each year, prevent millions of incidents of illness and avoid many billions of dollars in health care costs.

But as the EPA moves forward to clean our air, some of the biggest culprits, including coal and oil companies, are mounting a huge opposition and pushing the agency to weaken or block new life-saving standards.
What’s worse, many of the pollution rules that EPA is planning already have been put on hold for decades. For example President George W. Bush’s administration delayed cleanup standards for a variety of harmful pollutants, and even when standards were proposed, they were often so weak that courts found them unlawful and returned them to EPA for improvement.

Now, as the Obama administration has pledged to finally clean our air and protect public health, those same Bush-era EPA officials are lobbyists for the biggest coal utilities, continuing their legacy of life-threatening delays.These corporate insiders have put our health at risk for too long; Michiganders and all Americans deserve cleaner air and better health.

It’s time to stop letting big coal and oil companies stand in the way of a healthier future. The current EPA Administrator, Lisa Jackson, can protect our families and prioritize health and the environment. Her New Year’s resolution should be to issue the strongest possible standards to control dangerous pollution and protect public health. Just as Americans will resolve to improve their health this holiday, we hope that Jackson will do so for the nation as well.