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EPA Approves Two Phoenix PCB Waste Storage Facilities

Release Date: 3/10/2003
Contact Information: Wendy L. Chavez (415) 947-4248

Includes Additional Conditions to Further Protect Public Health and Environment

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today approved two PCB waste storage facilities in Phoenix, Ariz. on condition that the two facilities meet conditions beyond federal requirements to ensure that the community's health and the environment are protected.

Lighting Resources, Inc. at 1522 E. Victory St. and Earth Protection Services, Inc. at 10 S. 48th Ave. have met federal requirements to store more than 500 gallons of PCB waste at any time.

"The public process was instrumental in developing these two approvals,"said Enrique Manzanilla, the EPA Cross Media Division director for the Pacific Southwest office. "We heard the public loud and clear. We've included conditions in the approval to ensure that the surrounding neighborhoods and the environment are protected."

As a result of the community's involvement and participation during the comment period, the EPA has added two additional requirements into the approvals that address potential hazards posed by accidental fires and other unintentional releases to the environment. Each facility is required to submit plans to the EPA that ensure PCBs are not swept, diffused, or blown outside the facility and LRI is required to install a sprinkler system on-site.

The two companies are also required to hire a third party contractor to monitor indoor and outdoor air to ensure employees and the public are adequately protected. Both facilities must also make available for public review annual environmental reports and spill reports, and include public notice requirements for major changes to the original approval.

LRI is allowed to store 70 55-gallon drums and 20 1 cubic-yard boxes and EPSI is allowed to store 300 55-gallon drums and 48 1 cubic-yard boxes of PCB waste. Both facilities recycle fluorescent light ballasts some of which were manufactured before 1978 and contain PCBs in capacitors and potting material. The capacitors and potting material are disposed of as hazardous waste at EPA-approved facilities and the metal is decontaminated and recycled. EPSI is cleaning up an area behind its facility that was contaminated with PCBs in September 2000.

If the facilities fail to comply with the plan or any other condition of the approval, the EPA may suspend or terminate the approval, or deny the application for renewal.

The EPA issued PCB approvals to Lighting Resources, Inc. and Earth Protection Services, Inc. using the authority of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the regulations promulgated by the EPA to implement the Act. Those regulations impose specific conditions that storage facilities must meet. In addition, the regulations include an "omnibus" provision that allows the EPA to add conditions which we deem necessary to ensure that the operations of the PCB storage facility will not pose an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment. The approval conditions mentioned in the press release are within the federal authority of TSCA and were imposed to ensure that the facilities do not pose an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment