Federal Alert—new regulations

EPA updates list of hazardous waste sites As required by the Superfund law, the Environmental Protection Agen­cy has now surveyed nearly 26,000 uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. The agency has been very diligent in adding the most hazardous to its priority list of sites eligible for long-term cleanup. But it has been far less successful in seeing that these sites are permanently cleaned up.

Late in January the agency added 64 sites to its national priorities list (NPL), bringing the total number of hazardous waste sites posing the greatest danger to human health and the environment to 951. Of these, 703 are final NPL sites, and 248 are proposed sites. One site, Silver Creek Tailings in Park City, Utah, has been removed from the list. To date, the agency has completely cleaned up less than a dozen sites on the NPL. It has, however, taken emergency ac­tions at 819 sites, including initial cleanup measures at 194 NPL sites.

Of newly added sites in this lat­est NPL update, Pennsylvania has the most with 15 sites, and Virginia follows with six. New Jersey, how­ever, continues to lead the nation with the most sites (92) on the total list, followed by New York (57), Michigan (56), Pennsylvania (48), and Minnesota (36).

Of the 64 newly listed sites, one is a federal facility—the Twin Cit­ies Air Force Reserve Base in Min­neapolis. It is one of 48 federal fa­cilities proposed for the NPL. No Su­perfund money can be used to clean up federal facilities, but listing them

,is one way of assuring they meet the same strict Superfund cleanup requirements as nonfederal sites.

Also part of the 64 are four Re­source Conservation & Recovery Act facilities that pose health and envi­ronmental threats. These are listed because the owners or operators are financially unable or otherwise un­willing to take corrective action.

The public has 60 days to com­ment on the proposed sites. Send comments to Russel H. Wyer, Di­rector (WH-548E), Hazardous Site Control Division, OERR (Attn: NPL Staff), EPA, Washington, D.C. 20460.

Lois Ember, Washington

This C&EN listing highlights regula­tions published in the Federal Reg­ister from Oct. 13, 1986, to Jan. 23, 1987. Complete information is avail­able on the page number cited.

PROPOSED

Environmental Protection Agency—Allows EPA to collect fees in advance for reviewing pesticide registration applications under pesticide law; comments by Feb. 26 (Nov. 26, 1986, page 42947).

Sets alternative requirements for small plants to reduce effluents to comply with clean water standards for organic chemi­cals and plastics; comments by Feb. 6 (Dec. 8, 1986, page 44082).

Makes sixth major revision to National Pri­orities List of hazardous waste sites under Superfund, adding 64 new sites; comments by March 23 (Jan. 22, page 2492).

Nuclear Regulatory Commission—Sets regulations for wastes with so little radio­activity that they need not be regulated as radioactive; comments by March 2 (Dec. 2, 1986, page 43367).

Develops criteria and procedures for emer­gency access to low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities; open comment period (Jan. 15, page 1634).

Occupational Safety & Health Administra­tion—Lowers health standard for meth­ylene chloride in workplaces from present 500 ppm averaged over eight hours to unspecified level; comments and requests for data by Feb. 23 (Nov. 24, 1986, page 42257).

FINAL

Drug Enforcement Agency—Places 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine on sched­ule 1 list of controlled substances because of abuse and illicit trafficking; effec­tive Nov. 13, 1986 (Oct. 14, 1986, page 36552).

Environmental Protection Agency—Re­vises regulations pertaining to how states develop state implementation plans for meeting air quality standards; effective Dec. 8, 1986 (Nov. 7, 1986, page 40656).

Promulgates prohibitions on land disposal of various hazardous wastes as required by 1984 Resource Conservation & Recov­ery Act; effective Nov, 8, 1986 (Nov. 7, 1986, page 40572).

Publishes list of "extremely hazardous" substances and establishes a "threshold planning quantity" for each to facilitate emergency planning and community right-to-know; effective Nov. 17, 1986 (Nov. 17, 1986, page 41570).

Sets final effluent limitations using best conventional control technology for dis­charges from pharmaceutical plants; ef­fective Jan. 29 (Dec. 16, 1986, page 45094).

Revokes all tolerances for residues of insecticides DDT and TDE, dieldrin, al-drin, and chlordane because no registered uses remain for these on foods; effec­tive Dec. 24, 1986 (Dec. 24, 1986, page 36658).

Establishes "no detectable residue" policy for use of sulfiting agents on grapes; ef­fective Dec. 31, 1986 (Dec. 31, 1986, page 47240).

Food & Drug Administration—Requires warning statement on labels of all pre­scription drugs to which sulfites have been added; effective June 3 (Dec. 5, 1986, page 43900).

Sets rules for manufacturing commercial cell lines for biological products, including hybridoma technology and recombinant DNA; effective Jan. 9 (Dec. 10, 1986, page 44451).

Declares aspartame safe for use as inac­tive ingredient for sweetening drug prod­ucts as long as warning for phenylketonurics is present; effective April 20 (Jan. 20, page 2108).

Nuclear Regulatory Commission—Prohibits any future imports of uranium from South Africa to comply with Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986; effective Dec. 31, 1986 (Dec. 31, 1986, page 47207).

Occupational Safety & Health Administra­tion—Stays new standards for exposure to nonasbestiform tremolite, anthophyllite, and actinolite to reopen public record; stay expires April 27 (Oct. 17, 1986, page 37002).

Establishes regulations for protection of workers engaged in hazardous waste site operations, including emergency response to spills; effective Dec. 19, 1986 (Dec. 19, 1986, page 45654).

Transportation Department—Tightens safe­ty control measures for shipments of ura­nium hexafluoride; effective Jan. 1 (Nov. 18, 1986, page 41631).

Amends hazardous material regulations to incorporate, as a separate list, all com­pounds designated hazardous by EPA un­der new Superfund law; effective July 1 (Nov. 21, 1986, page 42174).

NOTICES

Environmental Protection Agency—Emer­gency suspension of all pesticide products using dinoseb and cancellation of all regis­trations of those products because of high toxicity to workers; effective Oct. 7 (Oct. 14, 1986, page 36634).

Revises principles for updated bubble poli­cy on air emissions trading and banking under Clean Air Act; effective Dec. 4, 1986 (Dec. 4, 1986, page 43814).

Food & Drug Administration—Announces $300,000 in fiscal 1987 for cooperative research on analytical methods for detecting drug residues in animal tissue; applica­tions by March 3 (Jan. 2, page 165).

February 9, 1987 C&EN 21