From the EPA:

Sanders Wood Products Company in Liberal, Oregon was found to have a series of PCB leaks and other violations of federal PCB laws at its lumber mill, according to a settlement reached with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The company will pay over $108,000 in penalties.

“There are clear standards for how to manage toxic chemicals like PCBs so they don’t harm people or the environment,” said Scott Downey, Manager of the Pesticides and PCBs Unit in EPA’s Seattle office. “This dangerous family of chemicals accumulates in the body and can be extremely difficult and expensive to clean up.”

During an inspection in 2009, an EPA inspector identified leaks in three PCB-containing transformers. Federal law requires repair, containment or replacement of leaking transformers containing polychlorinated biphenyls, commonly known as PCBs. In addition, the transformers were not properly maintained and lacked necessary labels.

PCBs are known carcinogens and can harm the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems. Congress banned PCBs in 1979, but they may be present in products and materials produced before the ban including electrical transformers, capacitors, oil used in motors, oil-based paint, plastics and insulation.

As part of the settlement, the company confirmed it has removed the leaking transformers from the facility. The areas where the PCBs leaked have also been cleaned up. The company has also certified it is currently in compliance with all applicable requirements under the Toxic Substances Control Act at each of its facilities.

More information on PCBs can be found here.

From: EPA

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that SSH Management, LLC and 1500 Walnut Enterprises, LLC have signed a consent agreement with EPA resolving alleged violations of federal regulations for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in an office building located at 1500 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Pa.

The consent agreement resolves alleged Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) regulatory violations discovered when EPA inspectors conducted a compliance evaluation inspection at the building on May 6, 2009. The alleged violations include storage of combustible materials within each of two PCB transformer enclosures; failure to prepare and maintain annual visual inspection and maintenance history records for three PCB transformers; and failure to develop and maintain annual written document logs of the PCBs located onsite for 2006, 2007 and 2008.

PCBs, a probable human carcinogen, were commonly used as a nonflammable coolant for transformers and other electrical equipment until the 1970s, when Congress strictly limited the manufacture and use of this toxic substance.

Click on the links for more information.

From: Fair Warning

The Environmental Protection Agency has hit the owner of a rural Central California toxic waste dump with penalties of roughly $300,000 for mishandling carcinogenic polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.

The Kettleman toxic waste plant, which belongs to Chemical Waste Management Inc., was ordered to clean up soil next to the plant in July to reduce the PCB content to 50 parts per million or less. However, followup tests revealed that the PCB level remained at roughly 440 parts per million, which places the company in violation of the Toxic Substances Control Act…Exposure to PCBs can cause cancer, provoke liver damage and harm the nervous system.

The plant is the only one in California authorized by the federal government to handle PCBs, and last year treated more than 4,000 tons of waste loaded with the chemical. Despite the fine, the Kettleman plant is still allowed to handle PCBs. EPA officials said the company has paid the $300,000 fine, cleaned up the contamination and modified its practices.

Click on the links for more information.

From: Insurance Auto

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today fined US Ecology $497,982 for 18 counts of hazardous waste violations.

EPA inspectors found numerous violations at a hazardous waste unit designed to thermally treat contaminated materials, like soils, to remove the hazardous components.  On two occasions, US Ecology reports showed that the unit was “smoking,” releasing hazardous components to the air.   The treatment unit has been permanently shut down by US Ecology.

In addition, EPA inspectors found PCBs were improperly labeled, stored and handled.  EPA sampling results detected PCBs at elevated levels both in and outside the PCB storage building (43,500 ppm and 900 ppm, respectively).  Inspectors determined that between 2006 and 2008 six spills, leaks or other uncontrolled PCB discharges occurred and were not reported as required by law.

Click on the links for more information.

Relevant Nexreg Compliance Links: CPSC compliance, OSHA MSDS authoring, MSDS authoring

From the London Daily Telegraph – Why boys are turning into girls:

…[The State of Denmark] government yesterday unveiled official research showing that two-year-old children are at risk from a bewildering array of gender-bending chemicals in such everyday items as waterproof clothes, rubber boots, bed linen, food, nappies, sunscreen lotion and moisturising cream. The 326-page report, published by the environment protection agency, is the latest piece in an increasingly alarming jigsaw. A picture is emerging of ubiquitous chemical contamination driving down sperm counts and feminising male children all over the developed world. And anti-pollution measures and regulations are falling far short of getting to grips with it.

Prominent among them are dioxins, PVC, flame retardants, phthalates (extensively used to soften plastics) and the now largely banned PCBs, one and a half million tons of which were used in countless products from paints to electrical equipment.

Yet gender-benders are largely exempt from new EU regulations controlling hazardous chemicals. Britain, then under Tony Blair’s premiership, was largely responsible for this – restricting their inclusion in the first draft of the legislation, and then causing even what was included to be watered down. Confidential documents show that it did so after pressure from George W Bush’s administration, which protested that US exports “could be impacted”.

Now the Danish government is planning to lobby to have the rules toughened up. It is particularly concerned by other studies which show that gender-bending chemicals acting together have far worse effects than the expected sum of their individual impacts…

Click on the links for more information.

Relevant Nexreg Compliance Links: REACH compliance, EU SDS authoring, SDS authoring

From the Environmental Protection Agency:

Advertising old electrical equipment on eBay that contained PCBs turned out to be a losing proposition for Railside LLC, a factory surplus liquidator, after the sale was discovered by the U.S. EPA and the company fined. The Caledonia, New York based company advertised an old capacitor for sale without having it properly marked or stored as required under the federal regulations governing toxic substances…

PCB-containing electrical equipment must be marked so that it is easily recognizable and not disposed of improperly…the Agency settled for a penalty of $250 and an enforceable agreement to properly dispose of the PCB-containing equipment. This disposal cost the seller $1,200…

Federal regulations require that transformers and capacitors containing three pounds or more of fluids containing PCBs be identified by specific PCB marks to be placed on the equipment by the owner or user if they contain 500 parts per million of PCBs.

Click on the links for more information.

Relevant Nexreg Compliance Links: CPSC compliance, OSHA MSDS authoring, MSDS authoring