DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AIR AND RADIATION MANAGEMENT ADMINISTRATION

RESPONSE TO COMMENTS

for t h e

PUBLIC HEARING held on January 23, 2008 in BALTIMORE, MD

Related to Proposed Regulation COMAR 26.11.35 C ontrol of VOC Em issions from Adhesives and Sealants and Am endm ents to COMAR 26.11.19.30 Control of Volatile Organic Com pounds from Chem ical Production and Polytetrafluoroethylene Installations.

Purpose of Hearing : The purpose of today' s hearing is to give the public an opportunity to

com m e nt on the new Regulations .01 - .07 under a new chapter, COMAR 26.11.35 Control of VOC Em issions from Adhesives and Sealants and proposed am endm ents to Regulation .30 under COMAR 26.11.19 Control of Volatile Organic Com pounds from Chem ical Production and Polytetraf luoroethylene Installations.

Date and Location : The public hearing was held on January 23, 2008 at 10:00 a.m

. at 1800 W a shington Boulevard, 1 st Floor Aqua Conference Room , Baltim ore MD 21230.

Hearing Officer: Deborah Rabin, Regulations Coordina tor, Air and Radiation Managem e nt Adm i nistration, served as Hearing Officer.

Attendance : The following parties were present on this date. Joe Miedusiewski, EPDM Bill Schneider, EPDM Mike Ducharm e , EPDM

Statem ent : The Departm e nt' s statem ent was subm itted into the record by Dr. Husain W a heed, Public Health Engineer, Regulation Devel opm ent Division of the Air and Radiation Managem e nt Adm i nistration, Departm e nt of the Environm ent.

Com m e nts Received : W r itten com m e nts were received from the EPDM Roofing Association and the Departm e nt of the Navy.

Com m e nts and Responses : The com m e nts received by the Departm e nt during the 30 -d ay co m m e n t period that relate to the proposed action have b een sum m a rized and the Departm e nt' s responses are given below.

1. COMMENT: Although the rubber roofing industry ha s developed low-VOC adhesives and sealants that are suitable for effective installation during the late spring, sum m e r and early fall in Maryland, there is no currently available technology that can supplem ent the need for high-VOC adhesives to bond the rubber m e m b rane to roof substrates during the colder m onths of the year.

1Because of the lack of effective low-VOC in stallation technology during the early spring, later fall and winter m onths, ERA recom m e nds a s easonal approach to VOC regulation, requiring low-VOC adhesives during the warm er "ozone s eason" m onths while continuing to allow highVOC adhesives during the colder m onths outside the ozone season.

In an ef f

o rt to help assure that such a seasonal approach will m a xim i ze the reduction of VOCs during the ozone season and reduce concerns that high-VOC adhesives m i ght inadvertently be used during the warm er, ozone-prone m onths, an industry- sponsored program is proposed to be im plem ented.

RESPONSE:

The basis for the adhesive and sealant regulations is a regional m odel rule developed by staff of

m e m b er states, including Maryland, and the Ozone Transport Com m i ssion (OTC) in 2006. The

m odel rule itself was based in large part upon the reasonably available control technology (RACT) and best available retrofit control technology (BARCT) determ ination developed in 1998 by the California Air Resources Board (CA RB). Based upon a review of those standards and com m e nts received at public m eetings, the OTC states finalized a m odel rule suitable for im plem entation in the Northeast in early 2007. Maryland has requested the OTC to review the applicability of bonding adhesives in the clim atic conditions of the Northeast. The Departm e nt will analyze the inf o rm ation and take into consideration the recom m e ndations of the OTC.

2.COMMENT: COMAR 26.11.35.01 should include an exem ption for internal transfers and transactions that occur at m ilitary installations. The m ilitary has a single point of control f o r the purchase, receipt and distribution of hazardous m a terials including paints and coatings. In the Navy, this single point of control is called h azardous m i nim i zation (HAZMIN) pharm acy. It is not clear whether the term “supplies” in COMAR 26.11.35 is applicable to HAZMIN operations. Large inventories of adhesives and sealants that do not m eet the standards would have to be sent to landf ills.

RESPONSE: HAZMIN pharm acy program as described is different from a supplier of products that engages in the activity as a result of a sale. HAZMIN transfers take place after a purchase has been m a de by the Navy and the product is distributed to naval facilities. The standards in the regulations apply at the tim e of purchase. Once the purchase has been m a de the Navy can distribute to other facilities as needed. All entities that purchase and supply adhesives and sealants are subject to the requirem e nts of the regulations. Specific exem ptions are provided in the regulations. Calif ornia has im plem ented the standards with sim ilar lead-tim e as the shelf lif e of the m a terials is lim ited. The regulations provide for a com p liance date of January 1, 2009 so that inventories can be f u lly utilized.

3.COMMENT: COMAR 26.11.35.07 states that m a xim u m or actual VOC content should be included on the containers. To enhance the ability to determ ine com p liance there should be a requirem e nt for m a xim u m VOC content allowed and actual VOC content on the containers.

RESPONSE: The s tandards in the regulations have to be com p lied with on an as applied basis. If the actual or m a xim u m VOC content is given then a determ ination can be m a de on whether

2the product m eets the standards. These requirem e nts com e from the OTC m odel rule and are designed to have regional consistency.

4.COMMENT: The de m i nim i s exem ptions under COMAR 26.11.35.01 apply to facilities that

em it less than 200 pounds of VOCs per year. Five year m onthly records need to be m a intained to claim this exem ption. It would be m o re appropriate if yearly records were required.

RESPONSE: Maintaining yearly records, as opposed to m onthly records, m a y provide som e relief in adm i nistrative record keeping. However, usage or em issions rates would not be noticed until af ter the f act if em ission records were not m a intained m onthly.

5.COMMENT: The regulations should allow the use of products in existing inventory. This can be accom p lished by requiring that products m a nufactured after January 1, 2009 m eet the standards in the regulations instead of the requirem e nt for all products.

RESPONSE: The regulations provide the lead-tim e of alm o st one year to use existing m a terials. The em ission reductions are needed in 2009 to achieve attainm e nt of air quality standards and

m eet the com m itm ents of the State Im plem entation Plan. California has im plem ented the standards with a sim ilar lead-tim e and problem s with utilization of inventory have not been reported.

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