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June 9, 2011

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1

2 PUBLIC HEARING OF THE

3 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY'S PROPOSED RULE

4 FOR

5 NATIONAL EMISSION STANDARDS

6 FOR HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS

7 FOR POLYVINYL CHLORIDE AND COPOLYMERS PRODUCTION

8 FOR MAJOR AND AREA SOURCES

9

10 THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 2011

11 COMMENCING AT 9:00 A.M.

12

13 HELD AT THE OLLIVER POLLOCK ROOM

14 AT THE LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

15 GALVEZ BUILDING

16 602 N. FIFTH STREET

17 BATON ROUGE, LA 70802

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25
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1 PRESENT:

2

3 PENNY LASSITER, PANEL CHAIR

4 GROUP LEADER

5 U.S. EPA - OFFICE OF AIR QUALITY PLANNING AND STANDARDS

6 SECTOR POLICIES AND PROGRAM DIVISIONS

7 REFINING AND CHEMICALS GROUP

8 RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC 27711

9

10

11 JODI HOWARD, PANEL MEMBER

12 PROJECT MANAGER

13 ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER

14 U.S. EPA - OFFICE OF AIR QUALITY PLANNING AND STANDARDS

15 SECTOR POLICIES AND PROGRAM DIVISIONS

16 REFINING AND CHEMICALS GROUP

17 RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC 27711

18

19

20 REPORTED BY:

21 Estella O. Champion, RDR, CRR

22 Baton Rouge Court Reporters

23 * * *

24

25
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1 INDEX

2 PAGE

3 MORNING SESSION .........................5

4 OPENING COMMENTS .........................5

5 MS. GAUTREAU .............5

6 MS. LASSITER .............6

7 COMMENTS FROM SPEAKERS ........................14

8 OTIS SISTRUNK POLYONE CORP. ...........14

9 RICHARD KROCK VINYL INSTITUTE .........17

10 MARY BACHYNSKY FORMOSA PLASTICS ........19

11 CORPORATION, USA

12 CHRISTINE BENNETT MEAN ....................24

13 DELMA BENNETT MEAN ....................24

14 C. DEAN THOMPSON RESILIENT FLOOR .........34

15 COVERING INSTITUTE

16 ALLEN BLAKEY VINYL INSTITUTE .........38

17 MS. BEVERLY MYLEY SOLUTIONS THROUGH .......44

18 SCIENCE

19 MRS. CHRISTINE BENNETT MOSSVILLE ...............47

20 ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION

21 HENRY GRAHAM, JR., LOUISIANA CHEMICAL ......49

22 ASSOCIATION

23 * * *

24

25
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1 INDEX

2 PAGE

3 AFTERNOON SESSION ........................53

4 OPENING COMMENTS ........................53

5 MS. LASSITER ............53

6 COMMENTS FROM SPEAKERS ........................61

7 WILMA SUBRA LOUISIANA ...............61

8 ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION

9 NETWORK AND THE

10 LOWER MISSISSIPPI

11 RIVER KEEPER

12 MONIQUE HARDIN ADVOCATES FOR ...........68

13 ENVIRONMENTAL HUMAN

14 RIGHTS AND MEAN

15 CONCLUSION OF HEARING ........................75

16 MS. LASSITER ............75

17 MS. GAUTRAU .............76

18 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE ........................78

19 * * *

20

21

22

23

24

25
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1 MS. GAUTREAU: Okay. We would like to

2 welcome you to DEQ, to the facility. I think

3 we're going to try to get started.

4 My name is Leigh Gautreau. I work here

5 at DEQ in the Air Enforcement Group. Jodi

6 had called me and asked me to set up a

7 meeting room for your public hearing on the

8 rule here.

9 Just a couple of logistics before we get

10 started. If you go out either of these doors

11 and around this back wall, the restrooms are

12 there. There's a water fountain, there are

13 some snack machines and Coke machine.

14 Lunch break, we have a lot of

15 restaurants downtown on Third Street which

16 are quite nice.

17 Parking, if you're in the parking

18 garage, if you will write your name on the

19 back of your ticket, I will collect those and

20 get the guards to validate them for you.

21 If you're going to be here through the

22 entire thing -- and I'll remind everyone --

23 but the parking garage roughly closes about

24 5:30 ish. It technically doesn't close until

25 9:00; but if you're here that late, you might
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1 get stuck in there.

2 So after dinner break, if we're still

3 going on, everyone really needs to park on

4 the street if you return, if we're going to

5 be coming back. And I'll remind everybody

6 later of that.

7 So I think that's the logistics we need.

8 I'll turn it over to EPA.

9 MS. LASSITER: All right.

10 Good morning, and thank you for

11 attending this public hearing of the

12 Environmental Protection Agency's proposed

13 rule for National Emission Standards for

14 Hazardous Air Pollutants for Polyvinyl

15 Chloride and Copolymers Production for Major

16 and Area Sources.

17 I recognize that some of you may have

18 traveled quite a bit of a distance to be

19 here, and so we look forward to your

20 comments.

21 My name is Penny Lassiter. I am the

22 Group Leader of the Refining and Chemicals

23 Group. We're part of the sector of Policies

24 and Programs Division at EPA's Air Office

25 Headquarters in Research Triangle Park, North
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1 Carolina, and I will be chairing today's

2 hearing.

3 We're here today to listen to your

4 comments on EPA's proposed air toxic

5 standards for polyvinyl chloride and

6 copolymers production. The proposed

7 standards were published in the Federal

8 Register on May 20th of this year.

9 Before we begin, I would like to

10 describe briefly the proposed rules that are

11 the subject of today's hearing and provide

12 you with some context.

13 The Clean Air Act is the main law that

14 governs how EPA addresses air pollution in

15 the United States. Section 112 of the Clean

16 Air Act established the way in which we at

17 EPA must address air toxic emissions from

18 industries such as PVC production.

19 Air toxics, also known as hazardous air

20 pollutants, are known or suspected to cause

21 cancer or other serious health effects. The

22 law requires that we list categories of

23 industries to be regulated, such as PVC

24 production. It requires us to establish

25 standards based on the emission levels
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1 achieved by the best controlled sources in

2 the industry. These standards are known as

3 Maximum Achievable Controlled Technology

4 Standards or MACT Standards for short.

5 In the case of this specific rule, we

6 initially established MACT Standards in 2002.

7 Those standards established emission limits

8 for vinyl chloride for both new and existing

9 PVC production facilities.

10 The 2002 emission standard for vinyl

11 chloride was set as a surrogate for the

12 remaining hazardous air pollutants because it

13 was the predominant pollutant used and

14 emitted at PVC production plants. EPA

15 determined that compliance with the existing

16 1976 vinyl chloride NESHAP reflected MACT and

17 satisfied the requirements of Section 112(d)

18 of the Clean Air Act with the exception of

19 adding new requirements for equipment leaks

20 at new sources.

21 However, in 2002 EPA was sued on these

22 standards. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the

23 D.C. Circuit vacated and remanded the rule

24 and directed the Agency to either reconsider

25 the rule or properly explain its methodology
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1 for regulating hazardous air pollutants

2 emitted in PVC production other than vinyl

3 chloride by use of a surrogate.

4 In 2007 EPA issued new standards for

5 both new and existing PVC production area

6 sources based on generally available control

7 technology or management practices, and these

8 standards were known at GACT, G-A-C-T,

9 Standards. That rule requires area sources,

10 which are facilities that are the smaller

11 facilities that emit less than 10 tons a year

12 of any single hazardous pollutant or less

13 than 25 tons annually of a combination of

14 hazardous air pollutants, to meet the

15 existing requirements, those established in

16 the 1976 rule. These requirements only

17 addressed vinyl chloride emissions.

18 In the May 2011 proposed PVC NESHAP,

19 which is the subject of today's hearing, we

20 are fulfilling our obligation under 112(d)(6)

21 of the Clean Air Act to review and revise as

22 necessary the PVC production area source

23 standards.

24 In response to the remand and our

25 technology review required under
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1 Section 112(d)(6), we proposed NESHAP for PVC

2 production for major and area sources on

3 May 20, 2011. It is these proposed rules

4 that are the subject of today's public

5 hearing. These proposed rules would do the

6 following:

7 Set specific emission limits to

8 significantly reduce emissions of toxic air

9 pollution from all new and existing PVC

10 production facilities. These limits include

11 emissions from process vents, stripped resin,

12 and wastewater systems.

13 Set specific limits for hydrogen

14 chloride, dioxin/furans, total toxic air

15 pollution, and vinyl chloride emissions from

16 all new and existing process vents located at

17 facilities that are major or area sources of

18 hazardous air pollutant emissions.

19 Set work practice standards to control

20 toxic air pollution from equipment leaks,

21 storage vessels and heat exchange systems at

22 PVC facilities.

23 The proposed rules also include

24 monitoring and testing requirements for vinyl

25 chloride, total emissions of toxic air
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1 pollution and dioxins and furans.

2 More details about the proposed rules

3 and instructions for submitting public

4 comments are available at the registration

5 area. We also have prepared a list of topics

6 in the proposed rule for which we are

7 specifically seeking comment. That list is

8 also available in the registration area and

9 may be helpful to you as you're commenting

10 today or submitting written comments later

11 on. EPA will be accepting written comments

12 until July 19 of this year.

13 Let me also mention that the proposed

14 rules for PVC production do not include vinyl

15 chloride monomer and ethylene dichloride

16 manufacturing which are often co-located at

17 PVC production plants. As part of an

18 upcoming rule on the chemical manufacturing

19 sector, the Agency will revisit those

20 emission standards.

21 EPA has required some chemical plants,

22 including some in this area, in the Mossville

23 area, to test for and submit information on

24 vinyl chloride and dioxin emissions to

25 support the upcoming chemical manufacturing
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1 sector rule; however, I note that these are

2 not the subject of today's hearing.

3 Now let me turn to the public comment

4 portion of the hearing. Today's hearing will

5 work as follows: I'll call the speaker to

6 the microphone, and I'll ask that you remain

7 at the table after you've completed your

8 testimony in order to give us an opportunity

9 to ask any clarifying questions.

10 We will be preparing a written

11 transcript of today's hearing and the

12 transcript will be available as part of the

13 official record for the rule. When it's time

14 for you to speak, please state your name and

15 your affiliation. We're going to ask that

16 you hold your testimony to about five or so

17 minutes, but we do have a fairly light crowd

18 this morning; so if you need a little bit of

19 extra time, I don't think that that will be

20 an issue.

21 As I mentioned, we are transcribing

22 today's hearings and each speaker's oral

23 testimony will become part of the official

24 record. If you have brought with you a copy

25 of your comments in writing, we would
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1 appreciate that you provide those to our

2 staff at the registration table, and we'll be

3 sure to put the full text of your written

4 comments into the public docket for you.

5 We will work hard to ensure that

6 everybody has an opportunity to comment. We

7 will be here until 8:00 p.m. this evening.

8 We will be taking breaks for lunch and dinner

9 as follows: Lunch break is scheduled from

10 12:30 to 2:00 today, and then dinner is

11 scheduled from 5:00 until 6:30.

12 If you would like to testify but you

13 haven't yet registered, please feel free to

14 do so at the registration table outside of

15 the door. For those of you who have already

16 registered to speak, we tried to accommodate

17 your particular request for a specific time

18 slot, and we ask for your patience as we

19 proceed through the list and progress through

20 the hearing.

21 At this point I would like to introduce

22 Jodi Howard sitting next to me here on the

23 panel. Jodi works in my group at EPA in

24 North Carolina, and she is the Project

25 Manager for the Development of these PVC
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1 Rules.

2 So with that, I would like to thank you

3 all for participating and coming today, and I

4 would like to go ahead and get started and

5 invite our first speaker to come forward, and

6 that is Mr. Otis Sistrunk.

7 MR. SISTRUNK: Good morning.

8 Volume on?

9 My name is Otis Sistrunk and I am an

10 Environmental Health and Safety Manager with

11 PolyOne Corporation. Our corporate offices

12 are located in Avon Lake, Ohio.

13 PolyOne is a specialty PVC resin

14 producer and the leading PVC resin compounder

15 of hundreds of materials used in diverse

16 products across many market sectors. PolyOne

17 operates specialty resin plants in

18 Pedricktown, New Jersey and Henry, Illinois,

19 and numerous PVC compounding facilities

20 across the U.S. PolyOne provides hundreds of

21 jobs at the plants themselves and

22 corresponding support jobs within the

23 communities where these plants are located.

24 PolyOne PVC resin manufacturing sites

25 utilize a technology called vent gas
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1 absorbers to recover vinyl chloride monomer

2 for reuse from its process vents. The

3 recovered VCM is then returned to the

4 manufacturing process for polymerization into

5 PVC resins.

6 PolyOne's vent gas absorbers are

7 recovery devices and not control devices.

8 The flow rate out of PolyOne's absorbers is

9 two orders of magnitude less than emissions'

10 flow rate from control device technology that

11 includes thermal oxidizers and scrubbers

12 combined.

13 The proposed MACT should take emissions'

14 rates into consideration and not solely rely

15 on emissions' concentrations when

16 establishing limits for recovery devices.

17 PolyOne believes the proposed MACT should

18 categorize vent gas absorbers in a way that

19 recognizes their use as a recovery device and

20 not regulate them as if they were control

21 devices.

22 For sites equipped with VGA recovery

23 technology, thermal oxidizers are necessary

24 only in the event of an outage or malfunction

25 with the operation of the vent gas absorbers
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1 to ensure that any VCM which is not recycled

2 back to the process is destroyed. Because

3 PolyOne's vent gas absorbers do not operate

4 at elevated temperatures or combust the VCM,

5 they do not result in the formation of

6 additional HAPs; but as currently proposed,

7 the MACT would require that backup

8 thermo-oxidizers be used continuously which

9 would likely result in the formation of

10 additional HAPs. Not only would these

11 additional classes of pollutants be

12 needlessly generated, but large amounts of

13 energy will be consumed and greenhouse gasses

14 emitted in an effort to control a tiny amount

15 of VOC. Consideration should be given to the

16 overall air impact of operating backup

17 thermo-oxidizers continuously. Control and

18 recovery device technology flexibility is

19 needed as an alternative.

20 Thank you for this opportunity to

21 comment on the proposed ruling. Thank you.

22 MS. LASSITER: Thank you.

23 MR. SISTRUNK: Thank you.

24 MS. LASSITER: Thank you.

25 All right. Well, we're running a little
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1 bit ahead of schedule here, but since we have

2 our next speaker, I'm going to go ahead and

3 call Mr. Richard Krock.

4 MR. KROCK: Good morning and thank you for

5 the opportunity to address the EPA's Proposed

6 Maximum Achievable Controlled Technology

7 Regulations for PVC Production Facilities.

8 I'm Rich Krock. I'm the Technical

9 Director for the Vinyl Institute, which is a

10 U.S. based trade association comprised of

11 leading producers of PVC resins and some

12 associated additive suppliers and downstream

13 product manufacturers.

14 The Vinyl Institute has been in

15 existence since 1982. One of our key

16 missions is to advocate for the responsible

17 manufacture of PVC resins. The VI thanks the

18 EPA for the opportunity to provide some

19 broad-based comments on this important

20 rule-making activity.

21 The Vinyl Institute agrees that the PVC

22 MACT is overdue and our industry supports an

23 update of the regulatory requirements.

24 We look forward to working cooperatively

25 with agency staff on the development of a
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1 final rule that meets agency requirements and

2 allows for continued growth of our industry.

3 The proposed rule is a step change from the

4 current regulatory regime, and member

5 companies have started a comprehensive review

6 of the requirements and background documents.

7 The Vinyl Institute is in the process of

8 reviewing proposal-related information in

9 anticipation of formulating and submitting

10 meaningful and detailed comments on the

11 proposal.

12 Based on our preliminary review of the

13 docket materials and the proposal, there are

14 a few points we wish to highlight. The Vinyl

15 Institute believes that the Agency's

16 selection of emission points and evaluation

17 of hazardous air pollutants moves in the

18 right direction, and we look forward to

19 working with the Agency on these provisions.

20 The VI recommends that more

21 consideration be given to variability of

22 emissions from the wide array of products

23 that the industry manufactures, over 100

24 different resins in a season. The VI also

25 recommends consideration for seasonality and
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1 production rates and the need for flexibility

2 in achieving the lower limits.

3 The VI would appreciate the opportunity

4 to assist agency staff in fully understanding

5 this topic as it is the key to development of

6 a technically sound rule. As previously

7 mentioned, the VI will submit substantial

8 comments to the Agency regarding the

9 proposal.

10 Thank you for the opportunity to speak

11 today, and we look forward to working with

12 the EPA on this important activity.

13 MS. LASSITER: Okay. Thank you.

14 All right. Appreciate it.

15 The next person on the list is scheduled

16 to speak is Mary Bachynsky. And, Mary,

17 you're scheduled for 9:45. I don't know if

18 you want to go on ahead.

19 MS. BACHIYNSKY: Sure. No problem.

20 I'm Mary Bachynsky of Formosa Plastics

21 Corporation USA. I'm Chair of the Vinyl

22 Institute's Health, Environmental and Safety

23 Committee, and I've been involved in EPA's

24 rule making and regulations that affect our

25 industry since 1994. I'm an air manager at
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1 our corporate offices in New Jersey, and my

2 oral comments are somewhat technical in

3 nature.

4 Formosa Plastics USA is a leading

5 manufacturer of PVC and copolymer resins. We

6 have four operating plants in the United

7 States -- two in Texas, one in Louisiana, and

8 one in Delaware -- and we produce dozens of

9 different PVC suspension, dispersion and

10 copolymer products, anything from a

11 general-purpose PVC resin to a specialty

12 customer-developed PVC resin. We provide

13 hundreds of jobs in the New Jersey, the

14 Texas, the Louisiana and Delaware area.

15 Formosa recognizes the extensive

16 technical efforts that EPA has put into

17 developing this proposed rule, and we will be

18 submitting timely comments on the proposal as

19 requested by EPA in the rule itself and as

20 summarized in this document today. Formosa

21 will be contributing by providing some

22 detailed information about one of our key

23 concerns; it is the particle morphology of

24 making PVC resin.

25 Each PVC resin grade has unique physical
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1 characteristics known as particle morphology.

2 This uniqueness is necessary in order to make

3 the variety of PVC products -- anything from

4 a rigid, blue sewer pipe that many of you are

5 familiar with, to a soft, flexible handle on

6 a pair of pliers.

7 Particle morphology is made up of a

8 variety of factors.

9 It can be particle size, meaning teeny

10 tiny, ranging from one micron to 425 microns.

11 It can also be of characteristic that is

12 porosity. Porosity are the pores; the more

13 pores you have in a particle, the easier it

14 is to get the resin, the VCM out.

15 Mechanical stability: Will it sheer or

16 will it agglomerate?

17 Heat stability: How much heat can be

18 applied during processing without product

19 degradation? Too much heat, we get a brown

20 product rather than a white product.

21 PVC resins' characteristics are

22 different. PVC is a polymer, which is very

23 different than a commodity chemical like

24 benzene or toluene. Historically, PVC has

25 not been regulated under the Clean Air Act as
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1 a synthetic organic chemical manufacturing

2 industry chemical because of this

3 consideration and characteristic.

4 Each PVC resin grade that is produced

5 has a specific end use, and that end use may

6 be very different in nature: Whether the PVC

7 needs to flow onto a smooth surface, or be

8 extruded like some Play Dough, or poured into

9 a malt. The PVC industry needs regulatory

10 flexibility in order to produce a full

11 complement of different resins that are used

12 in diverse final products, such as: Vinyl

13 siding, PVC pipe, window frames, flooring,

14 electrical wiring insulation, roofing, credit

15 cards, and other applications.

16 Formosa agrees with EPA's statements

17 that steam stripping is the available control

18 technology to reduce HAPs in PVC resin.

19 Going beyond the floor by routing vents

20 downstream of resin strippers to an

21 additional control device is not appropriate.

22 We're going to be emphasizing in our comments

23 that residual HAP limits must be achievable

24 on a daily basis for all grades of PVC resins

25 so that the United States can stay
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1 competitive in a global market.

2 I thank you very much for the

3 opportunity to present my oral comments

4 today, and on this important matter look

5 forward to working with EPA in the future.

6 MS. LASSITER: Thank you.

7 I have just one question, Mary.

8 You said that Formosa agrees that steam

9 stripping is the appropriate technology --

10 MS. BACHIYNSKY: For resin.

11 MS. LASSITER: -- for resin.

12 But I'm not sure I completely understood

13 what you said after that about the

14 downstream.

15 MS. BACHIYNSKY: Sure. Yes.

16 In the preamble language, you agree that

17 going beyond the MACT floor of adding a

18 control device to the downstream equipment is

19 not appropriate.

20 MS. LASSITER: Okay. All right. Thank you.

21 MS. BACHIYNSKY: Anything else?

22 MS. LASSITER: No. Thank you.

23 Our next speaker is Mrs. Christine

24 Bennett. And I know that you're scheduled to

25 speak at about ten minutes until ten, so I
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1 don't know if you would rather go now or wait

2 until your scheduled time slot.

3 MR. BENNETT: We're going to go together.

4 MS. LASSITER: Okay. All right.

5 MR. BENNETT: My name is Delma Bennett.

6 MRS. BENNETT: Christine Bennett.

7 MR. BENNETT: It's so exciting to be able to

8 hear what the refineries and the companies

9 are doing, especially the PVC companies. And

10 I know it's exciting to know that a lot of

11 people receive jobs to be able to, not only

12 help themselves, but even help the country;

13 but there's things that's happening, even

14 with the proper regulation that is given to

15 each of the companies.

16 We are here today representing Mossville

17 Environmental Action Now, a community

18 organization that is dedicated to achieving

19 our rights for environmental justice. And in

20 doing this, I know that it sort of bucked the

21 system because there is millions of dollars

22 made in these different refineries and, like

23 I said, that have helped the nation to be

24 able to strive and to be able to keep up with

25 the rest of the world.
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1 But in our community, with all the

2 progress that's taking place in the

3 refineries, I've learned that the workers in

4 the refineries suffer as much as we do, even

5 though it's not mentioned the way we mention

6 it; and it's because I've learned from them

7 that they say that they rather die knowing

8 that at least they have had a good life, you

9 know, while they have lived.

10 But in our community we are suffering

11 from cancer-causing chemicals from these

12 facilities on a daily basis, including

13 dioxin. Mossville residents have an average

14 blood dioxin level three times the national

15 average. And what truly bothered me about it

16 is that recently EPA came to our community

17 and they examined our community for the

18 Superfund site, and we missed it by one

19 point, one point, and it's just amazing, you

20 know.

21 So when the report goes to the

22 refineries that we weren't qualified as a

23 Superfund site, the refineries were saying

24 that we didn't have a problem.

25 When I went down to Pittsburgh at PPG's
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1 stockholders' meeting, the CEO said that

2 there weren't any problems in Mossville. But

3 EPA didn't say that there weren't any

4 problems in Mossville, they just said that we

5 weren't qualified for Superfund, knowing that

6 we had missed it by one point.

7 The research by Wilma Subra -- The three

8 times of national average of dioxin in our

9 body was researched by Wilma Subra, one of

10 the best environmental scientists in our

11 country, showing that dioxin in our blood are

12 the same kind of dioxin, excuse me, released

13 by the industrial facilities near Mossville.

14 Now, when EPA came to Mossville, they

15 said they did find dioxin on some of the

16 sites in Mossville, but the reason why they

17 found the dioxin on the sites in Mossville

18 was because of the fact that people burned

19 trash in their yard. So it's their own fault

20 that they have dioxin in their community.

21 And can you imagine people having that

22 type of dioxin in their blood? That means

23 that there have to be a certain amount of

24 smoke in their area practically every day

25 from burning trash because the study was made
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1 by Sarah Lee College. Some students came

2 down and we had a study, and we found out

3 that the amount -- quite a few people in our

4 community have cancer. And I guess it's all

5 from burning trash, but yet we are surrounded

6 by these different facilities, and they

7 don't -- they are not responsible because

8 they say that they operate within the law.

9 And as long as I'm operating into the law,

10 then I'm not doing anything wrong.

11 And I stopped and I started thinking

12 about the law. I had a house in my area that

13 I was using for storage, but the law said I

14 had to tear it down.

15 So I said, Sir, the law say I had to

16 tear it down because there are certain

17 standards and what have you. I say, Well, I

18 remember one time there was a law that said

19 that I couldn't go in the front door, and

20 everybody was happy with it but certain

21 people. And they lived with it for a long

22 time that certain people couldn't go in the

23 front door, but that was the law.

24 So a lot of times when we have laws, I

25 wonder: Are the laws made for a certain
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1 group of people, or is it made for a certain

2 financial group of people? And then I know

3 that the financial group of people are

4 helping people. So what makes me wonder is,

5 how is the law truly based? That's the main

6 thing I'm concerned about.

7 You see, her research is in the report

8 in the National Source of Dioxin Poisoning in

9 the Mossville Area which was featured in the

10 special news broadcast on CNN last June

11 titled "Toxic America."

12 When I think about the fact that plants

13 are given a certain guideline to go by, when

14 the EPA came to examine Mossville for the

15 problems that they were having, they tested

16 the land, they tested the water, they tested

17 the air, they tested the animals, they tested

18 the crops, they tested everything in

19 Mossville but the people. Isn't that

20 strange? The land weren't complaining, the

21 water weren't complaining, the air weren't

22 complaining. Only the people were

23 complaining, but none was tested.

24 Our organization won a lawsuit against

25 EPA because the first regulations it planned
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1 and issued for the PVC industrial was not

2 complied with the Clean Air Act. The lawsuit

3 was important to us because our community of

4 Mossville has a large concentration of vinyl

5 manufacturers, the largest concentration of

6 vinyl manufacturing in the United States.

7 Now, the thing is this with me, even

8 with EPA or DEQ: If you are regulating

9 certain laws for a company to be able to

10 function under, shouldn't there be at least a

11 toxicologist in the area where these laws are

12 given where at least the individuals that

13 live in that area have some source to be able

14 to at least find out if they have any of

15 these chemicals in their body? Why aren't

16 the humans in the different areas in these

17 places where these refineries are and these

18 manufacturers are don't have this type of

19 means of being able to find out if they have

20 these chemicals in their body?

21 And I'm not against progress, but I just

22 want everyone to be fair to everyone. I

23 would like for my wife to finish.

24 MRS. CHRISTINE BENNETT: Christine Bennett.

25 Mossville Environmental Action Now is
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1 our community organization surrounded by 14

2 industries: One PPG; two, Conoco, and a list

3 of others that we're surrounded and we're

4 right in the middle of these 14 industries.

5 We were there first and they stole our clean

6 air, clean water, clean land.

7 So when they asked -- the little joke

8 they said, the young man said, Where are you

9 guys going this morning?

10 We said, We're going to an EPA meeting.

11 He say, Why they call them an EPA

12 meeting?

13 I say, They are the people that gives

14 industries the right to eat people alive.

15 So we just laughed about it, and he

16 said, Is that what the letters were for?

17 I said, Yeah, eat people alive.

18 And that's what the industries are

19 doing, they were eating people alive.

20 When EPA came to us to ask for more time

21 to prepare an effective air pollution

22 regulation of the PVC industry, we agreed.

23 Unfortunately this proposed regulation

24 creates too many exemptions for the PVC

25 industry. This regulation is contrary to the
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1 EPA administration, Lisa Jackson's, comment

2 to Environmental Justice, and more

3 importantly, continues to ignore our human

4 rights to a healthy environment. That's all

5 we're asking for is to bring back what we had

6 before the industries surrounded a small,

7 little African-American community called

8 Mossville, where a 14-year-old young lady

9 woke up one morning with a nasal problem --

10 she thought was a nasal problem, she thought

11 was a toothache -- but it was cancer in her

12 cheek, where they took half of her face off

13 at 15 years old.

14 Young men walking around, barely could

15 breathe, so much asthma. I mean, it's

16 killing them. Our children are sick. I

17 really think it is affecting their

18 educational level. But who cares, you know?

19 Money is more important than lives in

20 Mossville right now.

21 You know you need your job. We

22 understand that. But we need our young

23 people to live.

24 Section of the proposed regulation made

25 vinyl chloride the surrogate of all the other
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1 hazardous air pollutants which include

2 dioxin. Each pollutant should have emission

3 limits and procedures that achieve reduction.

4 There are also rules that set the bar so

5 high that PVC facilities are required to meet

6 any of the proposed regulation for storage

7 vessels, wastewater, and maximum control

8 technology for process vents [sic]. And PPG,

9 they say they have community relationship.

10 MEAN been there now over ten years or longer

11 and yet have to have PPG to even come to one

12 of our meetings. They say they have been

13 there. They say they have community

14 representation at their CAP meetings. One of

15 our largest PVC plants, and what are they

16 doing? Nothing to contact us.

17 The emissions are being done, the cancer

18 is being put out there, but yet are they

19 caring about our community? No.

20 There are some rules that set the bar so

21 high that no PVC facilities -- the proposed

22 rules leaves our community vulnerable to

23 continued exposure to the toxic chemicals

24 released by PVC facilities.

25 We are also disturbed by the methodology
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1 EPA uses to disregard the fact that the small

2 little African-American community in

3 Mossville, Louisiana are disproportionately

4 burdened with toxic pollution. EPA should be

5 working to end environmental injustice, not

6 hide it.

7 For these reasons, Mean urges EPA to

8 improve the proposed rule by setting maximum

9 reduction for each hazardous air pollutant

10 ensuring that Mossville residents and all

11 other affected people are not harmed by the

12 PVC industries. We're begging you, we're

13 pleading you: If it was your family, if it

14 was your children, your life, would you be

15 sitting here today just begging for EPA to

16 help?

17 I know much more can be done. You say

18 that you're doing something, but yet it's all

19 about that dollar.

20 And we thank you for all that you're

21 going to do in the future for Mossville,

22 Louisiana.

23 MR. BENNETT: Thank you.

24 MS. LASSITER: Thank you.

25 Jodi, do you have anything?
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1 Thank you.

2 All right. The next person I've got on

3 the list is scheduled to speak at 10:03 and

4 that's Mr. Dean Thompson, and I do not know.

5 Are you Mr. Thompson? Do you want to

6 go ahead or would you prefer to wait?

7 MR. THOMPSON: Now is perfect.

8 MS. LASSITER: Okay.

9 MR. THOMPSON: Good morning, everyone. My

10 name is Dean Thompson, and I'm here today in

11 my capacity as President of the Resilient

12 Floor Covering Institute, a nonprofit trade

13 organization that represents the North

14 American Resilient Flooring Industry. And I

15 want to thank the EPA for the opportunity to

16 provide my testimony at this important

17 hearing.

18 We thought it would be important for you

19 to hear a little bit about, among all the

20 technical information, real world

21 applications for PVC in the daily use of

22 people. And just to clarify for you, the

23 resilient flooring category I'm talking about

24 includes hard surface flooring products that

25 are constructed to have varying degrees of
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1 resiliency; hence, the name "resilient

2 flooring."

3 Specific products include: Vinyl sheet,

4 vinyl composition tile, luxury vinyl tiles

5 and planks, rubber and linoleum flooring.

6 Stone, ceramic, wood and terrazzo are

7 not included in the resilient flooring

8 category.

9 Approximately 90 percent of the

10 resilient flooring sold in North America

11 contains PVC. The amount of PVC depends on

12 the product; but, by weight, the estimated

13 range is between 10 percent and 50 percent.

14 Based on product mix, we estimate the

15 industry PVC content average to be in the 20

16 to 25-percent range by weight of the product.

17 The popularity of resilient flooring has

18 increased significantly over the past decade.

19 In 2000 the market share for resilient

20 flooring compared to all flooring categories,

21 including carpet, was 13.7 percent. In 2010

22 the estimated market share for resilient

23 flooring was 18.8 percent. Consumers and

24 specifiers are selecting vinyl flooring at

25 the expense of other flooring categories.
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1 The market is demanding vinyl flooring

2 because of its important benefits, including

3 long-lasting performance, sustainability,

4 safety, value and esthetics.

5 Healthcare, education and government are

6 key commercial market segments for vinyl

7 flooring. Ease of maintenance, cleanliness

8 and maximizing bacterial and pathogen

9 presence are especially important benefits

10 for healthcare and school environments.

11 Over 50 percent of the resilient

12 flooring sold in North America is used in

13 residential environments. New technologies

14 for improved esthetics, esthetic realism,

15 lower cost installation, and overall value

16 are making vinyl flooring the product of

17 choice for consumers.

18 Significant industry investment is a

19 strong indicator of the growing popularity of

20 PVC flooring. For example, in May of this

21 year, a Belgium company, IVCUS, opened a new

22 $73-million state-of-the-art facility in

23 Dalton, Georgia that is producing exclusively

24 PVC flooring products.

25 As directed by federal executive order
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1 13514, government agencies are increasing

2 their purchases of environmentally

3 preferrable products. The generally accepted

4 environmental hierarchy is: Reduce, reuse

5 and recycle. The long-lasting performance of

6 PVC flooring significantly impacts reduced

7 consumption, the most important element of

8 the environmental hierarchy. It is very

9 common for PVC flooring to provide well over

10 15 years of very useful life before

11 replacement. In addition, resilient flooring

12 manufacturers are actively recycling flooring

13 products.

14 In today's economy, consumers,

15 specifiers and purchasers are increasingly

16 searching for products that provide the very

17 best value: Products that look good, are

18 easy to maintain, that last a very long time

19 and are very affordable.

20 In terms of average value per square

21 foot sold, data from 2009 showed resilient

22 flooring at 64 cents per square foot to be

23 the very lowest in the flooring category,

24 followed by square foot values sold of carpet

25 and area rugs, 88 cents a square foot;
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1 ceramic tile at $1 a square foot; laminate

2 flooring at 1 dollar a square foot; wood

3 flooring at $2.30 a square foot; and stone

4 flooring at $3.98 a square foot.

5 The facts show that the market has

6 clearly spoken in favor of PVC flooring

7 products. We urge the EPA to adopt

8 reasonable requirements for the updated

9 NESHAP to avoid any unwarranted economic

10 costs on PVC producers that would adversely

11 impact and affect the economical use of PVC

12 in resilient flooring.

13 Thank you.

14 MS. LASSITER: Thank you.

15 The next person on my list is scheduled

16 to speak at 10:09, and it's actually ten

17 minutes until, and that's Mr. Allen Blakey.

18 So, Mr.Blakey, your option is to speak now

19 or --

20 MR. BLAKEY: I'm happy to speak now.

21 Good morning.

22 On behalf of the Vinyl Institute, I

23 appreciate this opportunity to speak today on

24 these proposed PVC MACT rules.

25 As you heard earlier, the Vinyl
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1 Institute is the national trade association

2 for manufacturers of PVC resins and

3 copolymers and related additives. I'm

4 speaking today, not to address the technical

5 issues in the proposed rule, but to

6 underscore the value of vinyl to the national

7 economy, to many local economies, and as well

8 to underscore this industry's commitment to

9 protecting the health of workers, plant

10 communities and the environment. Our

11 stewardship commitment is altogether fitting

12 given the many important, even critical uses

13 of vinyl in PVC and products.

14 Vinyl is the material of choice for

15 blood bags and medical tubing, for pipe to

16 deliver safe, clean, drinking water, and for

17 insulation on building wire protecting

18 against catastrophic electrical failure.

19 It's the material of choice for meat wrap and

20 tamper-resistant packaging. It's the

21 material of choice for homeowners interested

22 in affordable windows and energy-efficient

23 window frames, and the list goes on.

24 The PVC resin manufacturing industry

25 supports this MACT rule making. The industry
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1 has long operated under the vinyl chloride

2 standard, a precedent-setting rule in both

3 its scope and stringency. To support the

4 current rule making, the industry has

5 expended significant manhours and millions of

6 dollars to generate the information that EPA

7 needed to develop the proposal.

8 We know the agency is working hard under

9 a very short deadline to finalize this

10 regulation, and we intend to bring our best

11 thinking and our comments that we will file

12 in order to help develop the most effective,

13 manageable rule that is fully compliant with

14 the Clean Air Act and related precedents.

15 I would like to share some facts with

16 you that I think clearly show this industry's

17 success in practicing environmental

18 stewardship, conserving energy, and reaching

19 for sustainability.

20 Our vinyl chloride emissions were

21 reduced 80 percent in the years 1987 to 2007.

22 Our dioxin emissions were reduced 80 percent

23 simply in the years 2000 to 2007. And these

24 Dixon emissions, by the way, are a small

25 fraction of the emissions from all manmade
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1 and natural sources.

2 Furthermore, data compiled by EPA shows

3 that total dioxin emissions to the

4 environment have plummeted since the 1960s,

5 falling well over 90 percent, and during this

6 time production of vinyl ramped up and

7 soared.

8 The collection of federal U.S.

9 regulations governing our industry sets

10 global standards for human and environmental

11 safety, health and performance. And our

12 manufacturing plants have community advisory

13 boards that do meet regularly with management

14 for dialogue on operations and community

15 issues. These plants strive to be good

16 neighbors. After all, they draw their

17 employees from the community and provide jobs

18 and taxes. And the evidence shows that our

19 plants are by and large good neighbors,

20 managed responsibly in accordance with

21 regulations designed to protect health and

22 the environment. Government studies of both

23 the federal and state levels have compared

24 key health indicators in PVC plant

25 communities and non-plant communities and
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1 found no significant differences.

2 We are concerned that EPA get this rule

3 right. Regulation is important and

4 necessary; but, as Congress intended for the

5 Clean Air Act, other considerations also

6 matter. We all want a clean, healthy

7 environment, but we also want products that

8 bring value to our lives, and we want jobs

9 and a strong economy.

10 How does the PVC industry help? Our

11 industry generates an estimated $50 billion a

12 year in products. Federal taxes from

13 producing the raw material alone amount to

14 $230 million. The 13 billion pounds,

15 13 billion or so pounds of PVC manufactured

16 in 2010 created high-paying jobs for tens of

17 thousands of American manufacturing workers,

18 and many times more jobs for transporters,

19 distributors, installers and recyclers.

20 Vinyl products are made in hundreds of plants

21 in almost every state.

22 U.S.-made vinyl resin is in high demand

23 as an export product accounting for as much

24 as 35 percent or more of industry revenues,

25 and this is expected to continue in the
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1 future. Abundant natural resources and an

2 efficient manufacturing process account for

3 the success.

4 Thank you, and we look forward to

5 providing additional details in our written

6 comments.

7 MS. LASSITER: Thank you.

8 MS. HOWARD: I do have two clarifying

9 questions. Question number one: In the

10 beginning of your presentation, you were

11 talking about vinyl. I just wanted to make

12 sure you were talking about vinyl, or were

13 you actually referring to polyvinyl chloride?

14 MR. BLAKEY: I was actually referring to

15 polyvinyl chloride. I do use "vinyl" and

16 "PVC" interchangeably, and I know vinyl can

17 refer to more than one thing.

18 MS. HOWARD: Okay.

19 My second question was about the numbers

20 that you described for the dioxin emissions.

21 I couldn't understand. Were those air

22 emissions or what type of emission

23 reductions?

24 MR. BLAKEY: Those were total emissions,

25 external emissions according to the EPA
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1 criteria for measuring those emissions. So

2 multimedia.

3 MS. HOWARD: Okay. Thank you.

4 MS. LASSITER: All right. The next speaker

5 on my list is Ms. Beverly Smiley. And I know

6 that you're scheduled -- are you Ms. Smiley?

7 Okay. Are you ready to go?

8 MS. SMILEY: Okay.

9 MS. LASSITER: All right. Thank you.

10 MS. SMILEY: Good morning. My name is

11 Beverly Smiley. I am the executive director

12 of Solutions through Science, a membership

13 organization of chlorine and vinyl

14 manufacturers and users in Louisiana.

15 I am a native and a lifelong resident of

16 Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I grew up in the

17 industrial area of north Baton Rouge. My

18 father, as well as fathers of most of my

19 childhood friends, worked at the plants

20 during that time.

21 And I have chosen to remain in Baton

22 Rouge, having been educated here and raising

23 my two children here. And during the years

24 that I have lived in this community within

25 just a few miles of the industrial plants, I
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1 have always felt safe. I have worked in this

2 area my entire adult life, first with Girl

3 Scouts, and then as director of the Food Bank

4 which was located right across the street

5 from the plants. And later I chose to work

6 for the chlorine and vinyl industry. I feel

7 as safe when I am on site at one of my member

8 facilities as I have felt anywhere else that

9 I have ever worked.

10 The chlorine and vinyl industry

11 established facilities in Louisiana because

12 of our numerous natural resources that are

13 needed to manufacture chlorine and vinyl:

14 Salt domes, which are located throughout

15 south Louisiana; natural gas and waterways.

16 Salt is the most plentiful material on earth,

17 and PVC, by weight, is 57 percent salt.

18 Natural gas is plentiful and affordable in

19 Louisiana and is a clean-burning energy

20 source. Water, which is used in our

21 manufacturing process, is returned purer than

22 its original state, and runoff from rain is

23 purified before being released back into the

24 environment.

25 As I was growing up, these companies
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1 provided good, steady jobs, just as they do

2 now. They are an important part of the

3 community, providing economic benefits for

4 our city and our state. And many of the

5 things that we need and use every day are

6 manufactured from the products that are made

7 in the facilities that produce the PVC resins

8 in Louisiana.

9 These products include a large percent

10 of our building materials, such as

11 double-paned vinyl windows that are

12 energy-efficient and that never need

13 painting; vinyl siding that is durable and

14 affordable and that is not susceptible to

15 termites; and PVC pipe that conducts safe

16 drinking water into our homes and our public

17 buildings; and insulation for electric wiring

18 and computer cables.

19 Vinyl also offers safe, affordable

20 materials for IV and blood bags, and tubing

21 and medical supplies, such as surgical

22 gloves, inflatable splints. And vinyl is

23 compatible with virtually all pharmaceutical

24 products used in healthcare settings.

25 Because of its purity, PVC or vinyl -- which
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1 I'm using interchangeably as well -- offers a

2 safe material for our healthcare

3 professionals who can depend on it in their

4 work.

5 The companies that manufacture vinyl are

6 operated in a safe and environmentally sound

7 manner, and they spend thousands of hours

8 training their employees in safety and

9 environmental management.

10 Because of improved technology and

11 regulations, emissions have decreased

12 steadily over the years and will continue to

13 do so.

14 And thank you again for allowing me to

15 comment on this. And do you have any

16 questions?

17 MS. LASSITER: Thank you.

18 MS. SMILEY: Thank you.

19 MRS. CHRISTINE BENNETT: Christine Bennett.

20 I'm getting something wrong. Did you

21 say that you guys are the ones that ask the

22 questions?

23 MS. LASSITER: Yes.

24 MRS. CHRISTINE BENNETT: You know, I don't

25 want to be disrespectful, but it looks like
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1 I'm not supposed to be here. I'm in the

2 wrong room, you know. Maybe we supposed to

3 be some, another meeting, because this is

4 like we're saying we're for it, and we're

5 not. We're against it, you know. And

6 talking with someone, you know, and realizing

7 that what -- I'm lost, I'm really, I'm

8 confused, you know, because I'm concerned

9 about our health. And it seems like

10 everybody here is for PVC, vinyl chloride.

11 And she just said it was so pure. And

12 if it's so pure, what do you all need -- what

13 they need you all for? What they need

14 regulations for if it's so pure? And I'm

15 lost now because she says it's so pure. What

16 they need you all for if it's so pure?

17 So I'm in the wrong meeting, and maybe,

18 when you guys are willing to try to help

19 Mossville or do something to say -- because I

20 know there are things out there that they can

21 use besides the PVC pipes and all these

22 things that they are going for it, they are

23 going for it.

24 But until you live in our area, Penny --

25 and like she said, she live in it. So I'm
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1 lost. Like the Bible says, Those who destroy

2 the land will be destroyed. So let's wait

3 for judgment day.

4 MS. LASSITER: Okay. Well --

5 MRS. CHRISTINE BENNETT: Thank you, Penny.

6 MS. LASSITER: Thank you.

7 This is an opportunity for everybody to

8 stress their comments, and people do have

9 different positions.

10 All right. The next speaker that I have

11 scheduled is Mr. Henry Graham for 10:27. But

12 if Mr. Graham is here and ready, we invite

13 you to come forward.

14 Mr. Graham, I'm going to ask you just

15 hold for just a couple of minutes here.

16 MR. GRAHAM: No problem.

17 MS. LASSITER: Okay. Mr. Graham, we're ready

18 to proceed.

19 MR. GRAHAM: Good morning. My name is Henry

20 Graham, Jr. I am Vice President of

21 Environmental Affairs and Legal Counsel for

22 the Louisiana Chemical Association.

23 LCA is a trade association of chemical

24 manufacturers in the state of Louisiana. We

25 have about 64 companies and over 90 plant
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1 locations. Some of our plants that we

2 represent are producers or manufacturers of

3 polyvinyl chloride or related materials used

4 in the polymers production and would be

5 impacted by this rule. So we certainly do

6 appreciate the Agency's efforts, as well as

7 those of the Louisiana Department of

8 Environmental Quality, to provide

9 regulations, guidance and information for our

10 industry concerning these products and our

11 right to produce these products here in this

12 country. We recognize the fact that we have

13 come a long way, and a lot of that credit

14 goes to the agencies DEQ and EPA.

15 I worked in a chemical plant myself for

16 over eleven years, had a variety of tasks,

17 including environmental engineer; and for the

18 past 27 years, I have worked for the

19 association on environmental matters. So I

20 have been involved and our organization has

21 been involved in the development of rules and

22 regulations, from my early on the state

23 level, but also on the national level, and we

24 appreciate this process that you're going

25 through.
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1 We would encourage you and the folks

2 that are looking at the rules, as you have

3 done in the past, to examine the processes

4 and look at the opportunities for flexibility

5 and variability, because there are sometimes

6 differences in operations that can actually

7 achieve an environmental benefit. There are

8 differences in operations; and by allowing

9 some flexibility, you may actually be able to

10 improve the emissions' reduction.

11 We encourage the use of maximum

12 achievable control technology. We think that

13 technology-forcing standards will improve

14 emissions and present us with a more

15 competitive environment, especially if those

16 standards are uniformly administered.

17 But we do recognize, we are competing in

18 a world market. As a result of that, you

19 know, our products have to conform, not only

20 to standards here, but to also satisfy the

21 requirements of our competitors.

22 We want to be good neighbors, and we

23 feel we have been good neighbors, in

24 addressing concerns of the community.

25 However, we've not always -- and we
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1 appreciate the extra level of effort that EPA

2 has given, but particularly in some of the

3 communities near our facilities.

4 But we believe that we are good stewards

5 of the environment, and what I would like to

6 do is we want to put on record that we are

7 supportive of the comments of the Vinyl

8 Institute and of some of our LCA members who

9 may be submitting individual comments. And

10 we will save the technical comments for the

11 written portion, but encourage the agency,

12 where it can, to visit facilities to obtain

13 information that will be helpful in

14 determining the most reasonable rules and

15 regulations for our facilities to operate.

16 Thank you again for your patience.

17 MS. LASSITER: Okay. Thank you.

18 Okay. At this point I've got twelve

19 minutes past 10:00, and we do not have any

20 speakers currently scheduled until -- I

21 believe our next speaker that's signed up is

22 for after the lunch break at 2:00 today.

23 However, we will be here until the

24 12:30 lunch break in case other people come

25 and want to sign up ad hoc and speak. And
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1 also, I'll just reiterate, that if you have

2 not signed up and you would like to speak,

3 please feel free to see the folks outside the

4 door at the registration table and we will

5 make sure that you have the opportunity.

6 But with that, we will break until such

7 time that there's another speaker. And

8 again, we'll be around here until the

9 12:30 lunch break. All right?

10 Thank you.

11 (Lunch break until 2:00 p.m.)

12 * * *

13 MS. LASSITER: Okay. I have just about a

14 minute past 2:00, so I'm going to go ahead

15 and reconvene the afternoon session of the

16 public hearing. And because I know that some

17 of you have joined since this morning, I'm

18 going to run back through my introductory

19 statement. So for those of you who have

20 heard this before, I'll ask you to bear with

21 me.

22 But I do want to thank all of you for

23 attending this public hearing. It is the

24 public hearing on the Environmental

25 Protection Agency's Proposed Rule for the
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1 National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air

2 Pollutants, which we call NESHAP, for

3 polyvinyl chloride and copolymers production,

4 and this rule making is for both major and

5 area sources.

6 And I recognize that some of you may

7 have traveled quite a ways or had to take

8 time out of your busy schedule to be here,

9 but we do look forward to your comments.

10 My name is Penny Lassiter. I am the

11 Group Leader of the Refining and Chemicals

12 Group. Our group is part of the sector of

13 Policies and Programs Division, and we are a

14 headquartered Air Quality Office for EPA.

15 We're located in Research Triangle Park,

16 North Carolina, and I am your chair for the

17 hearing today.

18 The purpose of the hearing is to hear

19 your comments on EPA's proposed air toxic

20 standards for the polyvinyl chloride and

21 copolymers production rule. These standards

22 were proposed May 20 of this year. And

23 before I begin, I would like to just briefly

24 describe the proposed rules that are subject

25 of today's hearing and provide you with some
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1 context.

2 The Clean Air Act is the main law that

3 governs how EPA addresses air pollution in

4 the United States. Section 112 of the Clean

5 Air Act establishes the way in which we at

6 EPA must address toxic air emissions from

7 industries such as PVC production. Air

8 toxics are also known as Hazardous Air

9 Pollutants and are suspected to cause cancer

10 or other serious health effects. The law

11 requires that we list categories of

12 industries to be regulated, such as PVC

13 production. It requires us to establish

14 standards based on emission levels achieved

15 by the best control sources of the industry,

16 and these standards are known at Maximum

17 Achievable Control Technology Standards, and

18 we use the term MACT for short.

19 And just as a little history lesson

20 here, we initially issued standards for major

21 sources of polyvinyl chloride production in

22 2002, and those standards established

23 emission limits for vinyl chloride for both

24 new and existing PVC production facilities

25 and used vinyl chloride as a surrogate for
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1 the remaining hazardous air pollutants. And

2 in that particular standard, EPA determined

3 that compliance with the existing 1976 vinyl

4 chloride NESHAP reflected the MACT level of

5 the standard and satisfied the requirements

6 of Clean Air Act, Section 112(d), with the

7 exception that we did add some new

8 requirements for equipment leaks at new

9 sources.

10 In 2002 EPA was sued on those standards,

11 and in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC

12 Circuit, that court vacated and remanded the

13 rule back to the Agency and directed the

14 Agency to either reconsider the rule or to

15 properly explain its methodology for using

16 vinyl chloride as a surrogate for all HAP.

17 Now, that was the major source rule.

18 And just to be clear, a major source is any

19 facility that emits at least 10 tons of a

20 single toxic pollutant or 25 tons annually of

21 a combination of toxic pollutants.

22 Now, in 2007, we issued new standards

23 for both new and existing polyvinyl chloride

24 and copolymer production area sources. Area

25 sources are any sources that are not major,
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1 meaning that they either emit less than 10

2 tons of a single pollutant or less than

3 25 tons of a combination of pollutants. And

4 in that particular 2007 rule making, we did

5 not establish MACT, but rather we established

6 Generally Available Control Technology, or

7 Management Practices known as GACT, G-A-C-T.

8 And in that particular rule, we did establish

9 the 1976 vinyl chloride emission limits were

10 the appropriate GACT level of the standard.

11 I mention that because, in this most

12 recent May 2011 proposed PVC NESHAP, we're

13 not only proposing to put back in place the

14 major source rule that was vacated by the

15 Court in 2002, but to also fulfill our

16 obligation under Section 112(d)(6) of the

17 Clean Air Act to review and revise as

18 necessary the PVC production area source

19 standards.

20 In response to the 2002 remand of the

21 major source rule and our technology review

22 of the area source rule requirement, we

23 proposed these NESHAP on May 20, and it is

24 these proposed rules that are the subject of

25 today's public hearing.
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1 And, let's see. One other thing I

2 wanted to mention to you. Out on the table,

3 if you haven't already picked up the

4 materials, we do have some specific sheets

5 available for you. We have information on

6 how to comment. We also provide for your

7 assistance a list of particular topics of

8 which we are seeking specific comment. And

9 I'll note that we are accepting written

10 comments until July 19 of this year.

11 Let me also mention that the proposed

12 rule for PVC production, which is the subject

13 of today's hearing, does not include the

14 production of vinyl chloride monomer and

15 ethylene dichloride manufacturing, which are

16 also co-located at PVC production plants.

17 Those particular manufacturing processes are

18 actually part of an upcoming rule on the

19 chemical manufacturing sector that the Agency

20 is currently revisiting and looking at those

21 emission standards. And EPA has required

22 some chemical plants, including some in this

23 area and the Mossville area, to test for and

24 submit information on vinyl chloride and

25 dioxin emissions to support that upcoming
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1 chemical manufacturing sector rule that we'll

2 be proposing hopefully a few months from now.

3 However, I want to note that that particular

4 rule making is not the subject of today's

5 hearing.

6 Now let me just turn quickly to a couple

7 of logistics for the public hearing this

8 afternoon. I'm going to call each speaker to

9 the microphone, and I'll ask the speaker to

10 remain at the table, I want you to complete

11 your testimony, to provide us an opportunity

12 to ask any clarifying questions, that we make

13 sure that we understand the points that you

14 made in your testimony today.

15 When you approach the microphone, we ask

16 you to state your name and your affiliation.

17 The other thing I would like to say is we are

18 transcribing today's hearing, and each

19 speaker's oral testimony will become part of

20 the official record.

21 If you have brought with you a written

22 copy of your testimony, we would appreciate

23 it if you would leave it with our staff at

24 the registration table, and they will make

25 sure that those written comments get placed
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1 into the docket for you.

2 We do only have two speakers scheduled

3 for this afternoon, and I will bring the

4 first one up in a couple of minutes, once I

5 conclude my opening remarks. But I want to

6 point out that we are scheduled to be here

7 until 8:00 in case other people do show up

8 and wish to testify.

9 We are scheduled to take a dinner break

10 from 5:00 until 6:30. And I also would like

11 to offer, if there's someone here who did not

12 previously sign up to speak but would like to

13 do so, I invite you to see some of the folks

14 at the registration table and they will get

15 you on the list and notify us, and we'll

16 provide you the opportunity to testify.

17 With that, I would like to introduce

18 Jodi Howard sitting next to me. Jodi works

19 in my group down in Research Triangle Park,

20 and she is the Project Engineering Manager

21 for the Development of these polyvinyl

22 chloride and copolymer rules.

23 So with that, I think we're very close

24 to the 2:10 point, and I'm going to ask our

25 first speaker to come up and, that is
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1 Ms. Wilma Subra.

2

3 MS. SUBRA: Good afternoon. My name is Wilma

4 Subra with Subra Company in New Iberia,

5 Louisiana, and today I'm testifying on behalf

6 of Louisiana Environmental Action Network and

7 the Lower Mississippi River Keeper.

8 So on behalf of Louisiana Environmental

9 Action Network and the Lower Mississippi

10 River Keeper, I would like to thank the EPA

11 for the opportunity to comment on the

12 proposed rule dealing with polyvinyl chloride

13 and copolymer productions and especially

14 thank you for holding one of your hearings

15 here in Louisiana.

16 As you're aware, Louisiana Environmental

17 Action Network has been involved in the legal

18 petition process dealing with the lack of

19 emission standards for all of the hazardous

20 air pollutants that are emitted from the PVC

21 facilities. LEAN appreciates the EPA

22 proposed emissions standards for vinyl

23 chloride, hydrogen chloride, dioxins and

24 furans and total organic air toxins. LEAN

25 also appreciates the proposed emissions
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1 reductions that are proposed in the rule.

2 Those emission reductions are for vinyl

3 chloride, dioxin and furans, hydrogen

4 chloride, and hazardous air pollutants in

5 total.

6 While these reductions in emissions are

7 appreciated, based on the impacts to

8 environmental justice community members

9 living in close proximity to the PVC

10 production facilities, these reductions are

11 not adequate. The reductions would account

12 for only 30 percent of the vinyl chloride and

13 only 32 percent of the dioxins and furans

14 that are currently emitted. Such reductions

15 would still result in the EJ communities

16 continuing to be exposed to unacceptable

17 levels of vinyl chloride and dioxins and

18 furans.

19 Louisiana leads the nation in

20 PVC-production facilities with six facilities

21 located in Geismar, Plaquemine, Baton Rouge,

22 Addis and Westlake. The largest vinyl

23 chloride emitting facility in the whole

24 United States is located in Louisiana at

25 Geismar. The majority of the PVC facilities
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1 in the state of Louisiana are located in very

2 close proximity to environmental justice

3 communities, contrary to what is presented in

4 the proposed rule. And I work with a large

5 number of those environmental justice

6 communities in close proximity to the PVC

7 facilities in Louisiana, as well as in Texas,

8 and some of the others across the United

9 States.

10 In Louisiana, as a result of operations

11 of the PVC production facilities, vinyl

12 chloride is present in the ambient air in the

13 EJ communities located in close proximity to

14 the PVC facilities. And I would like to

15 thank the Louisiana Department of

16 Environmental Quality for their ambient air

17 monitoring program which has provided that

18 information that clearly demonstrates vinyl

19 chloride in the ambient air in the

20 communities adjacent and near the PVC

21 facilities.

22 The vinyl chloride fugitive emissions

23 from the PVC production facilities consists

24 of 55 to 78 percent of the total vinyl

25 chloride air emissions. That is, the
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1 fugitive emissions are 55 to 78 percent of

2 the total vinyl chloride emissions.

3 Even with the proposed toxic air

4 emission reductions that are being proposed

5 in the proposed rule, the ambient air will

6 continue to contain and be contaminated with

7 vinyl chloride and the associates HAPs. The

8 vinyl chloride emitted into the air by the

9 six PVC facilities in Louisiana is more than

10 double the vinyl chloride emissions that are

11 released into the air from the four PVC

12 facilities in Texas, and Texas ranks number

13 two.

14 So, in Louisiana, we have more than

15 double what's being emitted by the facilities

16 in Texas. And I work with a number of the

17 facilities' environmental justice communities

18 that are on their fence line and in close

19 proximity in the state of Texas as well.

20 So when we look at carcinogens -- and

21 you did mention carcinogens when you did your

22 introductory comments -- there are known

23 human carcinogens in the hazardous air

24 pollutants and there are probable human

25 carcinogens, hazardous air pollutants, that
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1 are emitted from the PVC production

2 facilities.

3 As a part of the proposed rule, EPA has

4 established emission limits for vinyl

5 chloride, dioxin and furans, total organic

6 HAPs and hydrogen chloride. LEAN and Lower

7 Mississippi River Keeper support the

8 inclusion of the emission limits for dioxin

9 and furans, for total organic HAPs and

10 hydrogen chloride, in addition to the vinyl

11 chloride in the proposed rule. However, in

12 addition, EPA desperately needs to have

13 established emission limits for each of the

14 known and probable carcinogen hazardous air

15 pollutants that are emitted by the PVC

16 production process.

17 When you look at accidental releases and

18 upsets, the PVC production facilities have a

19 large number of accidental releases and upset

20 operation conditions which result in the

21 release of vinyl chloride and other HAPs

22 associated with the production process. The

23 Formosa facility actually had an event of

24 this type this week.

25 The releases of HAPs frequently extend
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1 off the facility site and into the

2 surrounding EJ communities. The evaluation

3 and control of these releases of vinyl

4 chloride and the associated HAPs are critical

5 to protecting the health of the adjacent

6 communities.

7 When you look at recordkeeping and

8 reporting, those requirements for the

9 discharges in the proposed rule must be

10 extended to violations associated with

11 bypasses, pressure vessels and closed vent

12 systems and vacuum service. These records

13 and reports are critical to determine

14 emission concentrations and to determine the

15 extent of impacts due to the emissions and

16 measures that should be taken to prevent the

17 reoccurrence of similar types of events.

18 These records are also critical to

19 providing information to the fence line

20 communities.

21 When we look at wastewater, the EPA's

22 proposed rules that require wastewater

23 monitoring and compliance, the EPA should

24 have developed specific criteria limits for

25 the most prevalent and toxic HAPs in the
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1 wastewater above which reductions are

2 required. Rather than just saying the 1000

3 parts per million criteria for total HAPs,

4 you should have developed criteria for the

5 individual most toxic and most prevalent, as

6 well as the total.

7 Louisiana Environmental Action Network

8 and the Lower Mississippi River Keeper

9 encourage the EPA to reduce the quantity of

10 vinyl chloride, reduce the quantity of

11 hydrogen chloride, reduce the quantity of

12 dioxins and furans, and the quantity of

13 hazardous air pollutants emitted by further

14 tightening up the emission limits in the

15 proposed rule.

16 Dioxins and furans are released and have

17 the potential to and, in fact, have

18 contaminated and bio-accumulated in the

19 bodies of the human population in the fence

20 line communities of PVC facilities.

21 The reduction in emissions proposed by

22 the EPA will reduce the exposure of the EJ

23 communities, but there will still exist

24 unacceptable levels of exposure to vinyl

25 chloride, dioxin and furans, and hazardous
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1 air pollutants in the air of these

2 communities.

3 And I know you're tired of hearing me

4 say those over and over again, but those

5 communities are the recipients of the high

6 concentration of those chemicals that are

7 released into the environment, cross the

8 fence line, and occur in their communities.

9 Greater reductions of the toxic chemicals

10 must be required.

11 Thank you.

12 MS. LASSITER: Okay. Thank you.

13 MS. SUBRA: Thank you.

14 MS. LASSITER: Our next scheduled speaker is

15 Ms. Monique Hardin.

16 Good afternoon. My name is Monique

17 Hardin. I am an attorney and codirector of

18 Advocates for Environmental Human Rights.

19 We're based in New Orleans and we have a

20 policy office in Washington D.C. Our mission

21 is focused on upholding the human rights that

22 each and every one of us have to live in a

23 healthy environment.

24 And we represent Mossville Environmental

25 Action Now in another matter involving a
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1 recently admitted case before the

2 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,

3 the Organization of American States.

4 It's a case that seeks to find remedies

5 for residents of Mossville from decisions

6 that have been made through the environmental

7 regulatory system that violate their

8 fundamental human rights, like the right to

9 life, health, freedom from racial

10 discrimination, and the right to privacy as

11 related to the security of one's home. And

12 that case is currently pending before the

13 Inter-American Commission.

14 The community of Mossville is surrounded

15 by fourteen facilities, which includes the

16 largest concentration of vinyl manufacturers

17 in the United States. As a consequence, they

18 suffered significant environmental damage in

19 the community, with waterways that are

20 unsuitable for boat rides, swimming and

21 fishing, unhealthy levels of cancer-causing

22 chemicals in the air that they breathe, and

23 elevated levels of dioxins in the blood of

24 Mossville residents as determined by testing

25 by the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and
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1 Disease Registry.

2 These concentrations of dioxin in the

3 bodies of Mossville residents is on average

4 three times higher than the national

5 background level for the United States, and

6 it's also a unique grouping of dioxin

7 compounds; which Wilma Supra, who spoke just

8 before me, conducted some significant

9 research showing the correlation between the

10 dioxins that Mossville residents have been

11 exposed to and the dioxins and the emissions

12 of vinyl manufacturers and other industries

13 surrounding residents in the community.

14 Preceding the EPA's proposed rule for

15 PVC manufacturers, Mossville Environmental

16 Action Now sued the agency for failure to

17 comply with the Clean Air Act. It was a case

18 that was ruled against EPA for using vinyl

19 chloride as a surrogate for other hazardous

20 air pollutants emitted by the PVC industry.

21 Our review of the proposed rule by EPA

22 seems to continue this area of noncompliance

23 with the Clean Air Act, and specifically,

24 using vinyl chloride as a surrogate for other

25 hazardous air pollutants.
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1 There are several sections in the

2 proposed rule that limit the monitoring of

3 leaks at PVC facilities to just vinyl

4 chloride monitoring, when there are so many

5 other hazardous air pollutants that would be

6 present in such leaks. Other sections

7 minimize the volume of vinyl chloride and

8 process components when those process

9 components also contain dioxins and other

10 hazardous air pollutants.

11 And then another section dealing with

12 wastewater streams again makes a reduction

13 based on concentrations of vinyl chloride to

14 the exclusion of all other toxins.

15 With regards to the wastewater stream,

16 there's also another problem with it, which

17 we also saw with procedures for storage

18 vessels and process vents, where EPA sets a

19 limit for the threshold that would trigger a

20 vinyl chloride reduction, and then notes that

21 that threshold is above any of the capacity

22 of PVC manufacturers. So what you get, in

23 short, is an exemption of PVC manufacturers

24 from wastewater stream reductions.

25 We see that again in areas that focus on
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1 storage vessels, where again EPA notes the

2 established regulations for storage vessels,

3 and then notes that PVC manufacturers all

4 fall below those established regulations, and

5 then concludes that this will be the standard

6 for those manufacturers, which again would

7 essentially exempt those manufacturers from

8 the kinds of protections for storage

9 facilities that deal with sealing mechanisms,

10 floating roofs, and routing streams to a

11 controlled device that could reduce volatile

12 organic emissions by 95 percent. They are

13 not required to do that under this proposed

14 rule.

15 We also find highly questionable the way

16 in which EPA addresses non-detects in air

17 emissions. And this multiplying by a factor

18 of three is not presented in a clear way to

19 show the rationale behind this calculation.

20 In addition -- just three more

21 comments -- with regards to process vents

22 where dioxin, which of course is a tremendous

23 problem in the Mossville community, along

24 with other hazardous air pollutants would be

25 released, EPA said that -- I'm just going to
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1 read it -- that the control technologies --

2 to quote, the control technology that would

3 be needed to achieve the proposed MACT floor

4 levels for process vents are generally the

5 most effective controls available for

6 reducing vinyl chloride, hydrogen chloride,

7 total organic hazardous air pollutants, and

8 dioxins/furans. However, the EPA does not

9 require these control technologies; and it

10 doesn't ensure that such control

11 technologies, even if they were required of

12 the PVC manufacturers, would actually achieve

13 the maximum emission reduction, which should

14 be the goal of this proposed rule.

15 We also are disturbed by the subjective

16 standard that EPA applies to beyond-the-floor

17 controls, where it notes that substantial

18 reductions of vinyl chloride and dioxins,

19 among others, could be achieved; but it would

20 be, quote, not appropriate, close quote, to

21 require the industry to employ this

22 technology.

23 I'm not quite sure what the standard --

24 how one goes about determining what's

25 appropriate when the goal is: Is this the
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1 maximum reduction of emissions or not? And

2 this clearly would be a greater reduction of

3 emissions and should be a requirement within

4 the proposed rule.

5 And then my last thoughts are regarding

6 executive orders. The section of the

7 proposed rule that talks about EPA's

8 compliance with the executive order on

9 Environmental Justice Number 12898 applies

10 this methodology of aggregation, which is the

11 first time I've seen it used. The Executive

12 Order pertains to any and all communities or

13 populations that are disproportionately

14 people of color or poor to have safeguards

15 from the EPA and all other federal agencies

16 and departments from racially and

17 economically disproportionate pollution

18 burdens. It doesn't talk about the

19 aggregation of such communities, but each

20 individual community separately. And in the

21 situation for Mossville, it's a hundred

22 percent African-American community that's

23 subjected to PVC pollution on a daily basis.

24 And we think that EPA should find another

25 mechanism for addressing the concerns in this
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1 environmental justice community of Mossville

2 and not try to hide or obscure the fact that

3 African-American residents in Mossville do

4 exist, they are living there, and those PVC

5 facilities are all around them by this

6 aggregation methodology.

7 On the same note, with regards to

8 executive orders, we noticed that excluded

9 from the proposed rule is any statement about

10 compliance with Executive Order Number 13107.

11 It's an executive order that mandates that

12 EPA is responsible for ensuring

13 implementation of ratified human rights

14 treaties, which were applicable to

15 environmental protection in this case. And

16 their leaving that executive order out leaves

17 open whether or not EPA is actually

18 considering the obligation of our government

19 to ensure human lights for all people.

20 Thank you.

21 MS. LASSITER: Okay. Thank you.

22 Jodi, got anything?

23 Nothing? Thank you.

24 Okay. That is all the speakers that we

25 have signed up for the remainder of the
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1 public hearing; however, as we have noted, we

2 will be around and available should anyone

3 wish to testify. We'll be around until 8:00.

4 We will be breaking for dinner, I believe

5 that was from 5 until 6:30.

6 With that I'm going to break the public

7 meeting. Thank you all for your attendance

8 and for those of you who spoke.

9 MS. GAUTREAU: My name is Lee Gautreau and I

10 work here at DEQ.

11 If you parked over in our garage, I can

12 take your parking tags and get them validated

13 for you. That way you can get out without

14 paying.

15 And the only other thing, if you do

16 return for this evening sometime, park on the

17 street. After 5:00 the garage is open, but

18 you may in the be able to get out after that.

19 So if you are coming back, make sure you're

20 on the street.

21 * * *

22 (The panel remained until 8:00 p.m., but

23 there being no further speakers, the

24 transcript concludes at this point.

25 * * *
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1 STATE OF LOUISIANA

2 PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE

3 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE

4

5 I, ESTELLA O. CHAMPION, Certified Court

6 Reporter and Registered Professional Reporter in and

7 for the State of Louisiana, Certificate Number 77003

8 (in good standing), as the officer before whom this

9 proceeding was taken, do hereby certify that on June 9,

10 2011, the foregoing 76 pages were reported by me in the

11 Stenotype reporting method, that said transcript was

12 later prepared and transcribed by me or under my

13 personal direction and supervision and is a true and

14 correct transcript to the best of my ability and

15 understanding; that I am not related to counsel or to

16 the parties herein, nor am I otherwise interested in

17 the outcome of this matter.

18 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, this 14th day of

19 June, 2011.

20

21

22 ______________________________

 ESTELLA O. CHAMPION, CCR, CRR

23

24

25