Opinion ID: 1433888
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Relationship of the Cr(VI) Standard to Other Regulations

Text: EEI argues that OSHA failed to harmonize the Cr(VI) standard with regulatory requirements of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and OSHA's own arsenic standard as it applies to fly ash. With regard to workers in nuclear plants, EEI points to 10 C.F.R. § 20.1101(b), which requires employers subject to NRC licenses to use, to the extent practical, procedures and engineering controls based on sound radiation protection principles to achieve operational doses ... that are as low as is reasonably achievable (ALARA). Id. EEI contends that the controls required to comply with the new Cr(VI) standard would risk increasing the time workers spend in radioactive areas, particularly through use of respirators, and the total number of employees exposed to radiation. However, the record demonstrates that OSHA entered into an agreement with the NRC in 1988, which delineates jurisdiction regarding occupational safety and health at nuclear power plants. Memorandum of Understanding Between the U.S. NRC and OSHA, Oct. 21, 1988 (MOU). By the terms of the MOU, OSHA has jurisdiction to regulate [p]lant conditions which result in occupational risk, but do not affect the safety of licensed radioactive materials, conditions which might include exposure to toxic nonradioactive materials and other industrial hazards in the workplace. Id. Moreover, a regulatory guide published by the NRC expressly provides that if an NRC licensee is using respiratory protection to protect workers against nonradiological hazards, the OSHA requirements apply. NRC Regulatory Guide 8.15, Acceptable Programs for Respiratory Protection, Rev. 1, Oct. 1999. Thus, we conclude that the Cr(VI) standard is fully compatible with NRC's ALARA requirement. With regard to coal-fired power plants, EEI argues that OSHA failed to rectify the Cr(VI) standard with its existing standard for inorganic arsenic, another toxin present in coal fly ash. EEI points to language in the preamble of the arsenic standard by which OSHA responded to EEI's argument that coal plants should be exempt because exposure from cleaning boilers is intermittent. Occupational Exposure to Inorganic Arsenic, 48 Fed. Reg. 1,864, 1,895 (Jan. 14, 1983). OSHA found no basis to exclude the plants from the standard, but stated [i]f it is a maintenance operation with intermittent exposures, the arsenic standard indicates that a good respirator program with sign posting, training, and hygiene facilities ... may be an appropriate control strategy. If exposures are continuous, additional control strategies would be appropriate. Id. at 1985. EEI contends that, by this language, OSHA excluded coal power plants from the arsenic standard's requirement to maintain regulated areas and to comply with certain housekeeping standards. See 29 C.F.R. §§ 1910.1018(f), (g). In view of OSHA's alleged past practice regarding toxins in fly ash, EEI contends that it was therefore inexplicable and arbitrary for the Agency to include maintenance and repair activities in electric plants in the general industry provisions of the Cr(VI) standard. EEI contends that the construction provisions of the Cr(VI) standard, which do not include regulated area and housekeeping requirements, would have been more appropriate. OSHA flatly denies that the arsenic regulations contain any exemption for electric utilities with regard to maintenance and repair work. We note that both the arsenic standard and the general industry provisions of the Cr(VI) standard contain virtually identical requirements for regulated areas and housekeeping. Compare 29 C.F.R. §§ 1910.1018(f), (g) with §§ 1910.1026(e), (j). Nothing in the text of the arsenic regulations indicates that electric utilities are subject to an exemption, and we find EEI's reliance on the language in the preamble to be unconvincing. Moreover, even if electric plants were required to do more to control fly ash under the Cr(VI) standard, EEI identifies no legal basis for this Court to disturb a standard merely because two disparately regulated toxins happen to exist in a single substance found in a workplace. Each standard was written to mitigate the risks of a different hazardous substance, and we fail to see why it would be at all improper for OSHA to expect an employer to comply with the more restrictive standard.