In the US, IPC recently filed comments opposing the proposed effluent guidelines outlined in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Metal Products and Machinery (MP&M) Notice of Data Availability (NODA). „The proposed guidelines will place unnecessary economic hardships on our industry with little or no realized environmental benefits,“ said Fern Abrams, IPC director of environmental policy. „They are not achievable by facilities employing BAT technology, nor are they cost effective. The proposed limits will only have a grave impact on an industry already under severe pressure from foreign competition.“
EPA’s MP&M effluent limits, which regulate pollutants in PCB facility wastewater discharges, were first proposed last year, then currently again. IPC believes that NODA still underestimates the economic impact of the proposed guidelines on the PCB industry, and overstates the environmental benefits. It is claimed that the cost-effectiveness of this rule far exceeds EPA’s historical benchmark of $155 per pound equivalent removed. In the past, proposed rules that have exceeded this benchmark are either seriously revised or abandoned altogether. „IPC continues to support the development of cost-effective, technically achievable effluent limitations,“ thinks Abrams. „As the (US) PCB industry is already fully regulated, we believe that no further regulation may be the appropriate regulatory option at this time.“ From the perspective of „foreign competition“, it seems important to have a further careful look into this ongoing conflict between these two public bodies in the States.
ww.ipc.org
Share:
