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Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act: Section 313,
What is meant by the terms “manufacture,”
“process,”or “otherwise use”?
• Manufacture – means to produce, prepare, import, or compound one of the
EPCRA section 313 chemicals on the list. For example, if you make a dye for
clothing by taking raw materials and reacting them, you are manufacturing the
dye. You would also be covered if you were a textile manufacturer who imported a
dye on the list for purposes of applying it to fabric produced at your plant.
• Process – means the incorporation of an EPCRA section 313 chemical into
a product for further distribution into commerce. This definition includes
making mixtures, repackaging, or using a chemical as a feed-stock, raw material,
or starting material for making another chemical. Examples of processing
include:
– Adding a solvent as a dilutant when making a paint, coating, or other mixture;
– Using a chemical as a reactant in the manufacture of a pesticide (e.g., using
chemical A to make chemical B).
• Otherwise Use – applies to any use of an EPCRA section 313 chemical at
a covered facility that is not covered by the terms “manufacture” or “process”
and includes use of an EPCRA section 313 chemical contained in a mixture or
trade name product. An EPCRA section 313 chemical that is otherwise used by a
facility typically is not intentionally incorporated into a product distributed
in commerce. The otherwise use definition also includes EPCRA section 313
chemicals disposed, stabilized, or treated for destruction if the facility that
conducted these activities received the EPCRA section 313 chemical from off-site
for purposes of waste management.
Examples include:
– Using a metal cutting fluid that contains diethanolamine;
– Using a heat transfer fluid containing biphenyl;
– Using trichloroethylene to degrease tools; 7
– Using chlorine in waste water treatment;
– Using Freon 113 as a refrigerant to cool process streams;
– Stabilizing boiler ash that contains nickel compounds received from another
facility.
Section 313 requires suppliers of mixtures and trade name products to notify
customers of the presence of EPCRA section 313 chemicals in their products above
certain de minimis concentrations (these cutoffs are discussed under
“Exemptions”). This supplier notification requirement has been in effect since
January 1, 1989.
PERSISTENT, BIOACCUMULATIVE AND TOXIC CHEMICALS (with lower thresholds)
Chemical Name or Chemical Category Name
Aldrin
Benzo(g,h,i)perylene*
Chlordane
Dioxin and dioxin-like
compounds*
Heptachlor
Hexachlorobenzene
Isodrin
Mercury
Mercury compounds
Methoxychlor
Octachlorostyrene*
Pendimethalin
Pentachlorobenzene*
Polycyclic aromatic
compounds*=
Polychlorinated biphenyl
PCBs)
Tetrabromobisphenol A
TBBPA)*
Toxaphene
Trifluralin
EXEMPTIONS
Under certain circumstances, some or all of the
reporting requirements under EPCRA Section 313 may not apply to an EPCRA Section
313 chemical at a facility. The following are the major exemptions:
• De minimis. The de minimis exemption allows facilities to disregard
certain minimal concentrations of non-PBT chemicals in mixtures or other trade
name products they process or otherwise use when making threshold determinations
and release and other waste management calculations. In determining whether the
amount of an EPCRA section 313 chemical used at your facility exceeds the
reporting threshold listed on page 4, in certain cases you are not required to
count the amount of EPCRA section 313 chemical present in a mixture if its
concentration is less than 1 percent of the mixture, or its concentration is
less than 0.1 percent of the mixture when the chemical is defined by the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as carcinogenic. The de
minimis exemption does not apply to PBT chemicals. The chemical list beginning
on page 20 identifies the de minimis levels for the non-PBT chemicals.
• Articles. In considering whether a reporting threshold has been
exceeded, you are not required to count toxic chemicals present in articles
processed or used at your facility. An “article” is a manufactured item which:
(1) is formed to a specific shape or design during manufacture;
(2) has end use functions dependent in whole or in part upon its shape or design
during end use; and
(3) does not release an EPCRA section 313 chemical under normal conditions of
processing or use of that item at the facility or establishments.
• Specified Uses. In considering whether a reporting threshold has been
exceeded, you are not required to count EPCRA section 313 chemicals that are
used at your facility for any of the following purposes:
As a structural component of the facility;
In routine janitorial or facility grounds maintenance;
In foods, drugs, cosmetics, or other items for personal use, including
supplies of such items;
In motor vehicle maintenance (including motor fuel); or
In process water and non-contact cooling water as drawn from the environment
or from municipal sources, or in air used either as compressed air or as part of
combustion.
• Laboratory Activities. In considering whether a reporting threshold has
been exceeded, you are not required to count EPCRA section 313 chemicals that
are manufactured, processed, or otherwise used for research or quality control
in a laboratory at a covered facility under the supervision of a technically
qualified individual. This exemption does not apply to production, processing,
or the use of EPCRA section 313 chemicals in laboratories for distribution in
commerce or in pilot plant scale operations.
• Owners of Leased Property. The owner of a covered facility is not subject to
reporting under Section 313 if the owner’s only interest in the facility is
ownership of the real estate upon which the facility is operated. However, the
operator of the facility must report if the reporting criteria are met.