The Environmental Protection Agency has announced it will impose new controls to reduce the discharge of a wide range of toxic chemicals into the nation`s surface waters.
The pollution of waterways by these toxic chemicals, including such cancer-causing substances as benzene and vinyl chloride, is now virtually uncontrolled at the national level, EPA officials said.
According to estimates by the agency, compliance with the new rules would cost the industry about $500 million a year. These costs could cause as many as 61 chemical plants to close and as many as 3,300 workers to lose their jobs, according to agency projections.
A spokesman for the EPA said this week that the closure estimate was based on a plant-by-plant survey, but added that the agency could not disclose the names of the plants because the companies had been promised confidentiality. He added, however, that all 61 were located in four states:
New Jersey, West Virginia, South Carolina and Alabama.
The new rules cover 66 pollutants, including organic chemicals, plastics and synthetic fibers. They will require polluters to adopt the best available or practicable technology to eliminate these pollutants from wastes dumped into the nation`s waters.
Compliance with the new rules would result in a reduction of 23.6 million pounds of toxic pollutants and 108 million pounds of non-toxic pollutants discharged by the industry each year, the EPA said.
The agency said about 1,000 plants making over 25,000 different products will be subject to the new rules.
One agency official said the Office of Management and Budget was not happy about the new rule because of the high cost of compliance. The Reagan administration has generally opposed federal regulations that impose heavy costs on industry.
But the official said the budget office had no choice but to agree to the rules because the administration was facing a court-ordered deadline to establish limitations on these toxic water pollutants. The order was a result of a lawsuit brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.
The official also said that the estimate of 61 plant closings was a
”worst case scenario” and it was just as likely no plants would close.
The agency also said the improvement in water quality caused by the new rules in areas such as commerical and sports fishing, boating and irrigation would result in benefits that range from $178 million to $330 million a year. The rules also would produce benefits that cannot be measured in dollars, the agency said, referring to such things as the esthetic improvement in bodies of water.
Lawrence Jensen, the agency`s assistant administrator for water, called the new controls program ”one of the most ambitious and important water pollution control regulations ever issued by EPA.”
The new rules are final and will take effect 44 days after they are published in the Federal Register.
Chemical industry officials had no immediate reaction. A spokesman for the Chemical Manufacturers Association, an industry trade group, said the new rules had just been received Monday and were being studied by regulatory experts.
Ellen Silbergeld, staff toxicologist for the Environmental Defense Fund, a non-profit group that litigates and does research on environmental issues, said Monday she welcomed the effort to reduce pollution in the nation`s waters. Silbergeld added, however, that the agency should not just require polluters to use the best available technology but to achieve a specific numerical reduction of each pollutant. For cancer-causing substances such as benzene, she said, the number should approach zero.
In a related development, the agency announced Monday other rules requiring most drinking water supply operators to inform their customers of lead levels in their drinking water and of the health impact of lead. Lead has been found to cause brain damage, particularly in children, and other health problems.
The agency`s current rules permit lead levels of 50 parts per billion or lower in water. It has been considering reducing the permitted level to 20 parts per billion or less.
David Dickson, a spokesman for the American Water Works Association, an association of water suppliers, said the industry would be able to comply with the new reporting rules although it would entail some additional expense.
