| July 9, 2009
Following U.S. EPA Toxics Report
Results of air monitoring tests from a metal processing facility in Santa
Fe Springs show that it does not pose a significant cancer risk to the
surrounding community, South Coast Air Quality Management District officials
said today.
During the last week of June, AQMD collected air samples at Heraeus Metal
Processing Inc. at 13429 Alondra Blvd. in Santa Fe Springs and in nearby
Cerritos. Samples were analyzed for the presence of hydrazine, a toxic
chemical used in rocket fuel and a wide range of industrial applications.
The analysis showed that the facility currently emits less than two
pounds per year of hydrazine. Computer modeling of these emissions shows
that they would result in a maximum lifetime cancer risk in the community of
0.5 in 1 million. That is 20 times lower than the threshold for public
notification (10 in 1 million) and 50 times lower than the threshold for
reducing toxic emissions and health risk (25 in 1 million) both required by
AQMD rules.
“These results have shown that this facility does not pose a significant
cancer risk to Cerritos or the community surrounding the plant,” said Barry
Wallerstein, AQMD’s executive officer.
The potential for toxic risk in Cerritos attracted attention after the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its National Air Toxics
Assessment (NATA) report on June 24. It found that residents in one portion
of Cerritos experienced a 1,244 in 1 million cancer risk, assuming a
lifetime of exposure, primarily due to hydrazine emissions from Heraeus.
That risk was more than 30 times the national average according to the EPA
report.
Following announcement of the report, AQMD immediately dispatched field
inspectors and engineers to the facility. They confirmed that hydrazine is
introduced into equipment in a closed system where it reacts with solution
to form harmless compounds in the metals recovery process. AQMD source
testing engineers took air samples from air-pollution-control exhaust stacks
at Heraeus and also from outdoor air downwind in Cerritos.
“We have agreed to work closely with EPA prior to the release of its next
National Air Toxics Assessment report to ensure that any facilities
identified with elevated cancer risk are verified with accurate emissions,
source testing and inspection reports,” Wallerstein said.
EPA’s NATA report appears to contain outdated information when compared to
actual facility emissions today. For example, the next three facilities in
the report causing the highest cancer risk in the region have been out of
business or have no reported emissions since at least 2001.
In addition, the report stated that Heraeus emitted 1,250 pounds of
hydrazine in 2002 when in fact the facility has not reported that amount of
annual emissions since about 1991 when it was operated by a previous owner,
PGP Industries Inc. Since calculations of emissions at that time were crude
in comparison to today’s methods, AQMD officials now are trying to determine
if the facility ever emitted that much hydrazine. Based on the facility’s
operations history, its actual emissions in 2002 and possibly as early as
1991 were likely similar to today’s emissions of less than two pounds per
year of hydrazine.
AQMD last year released the final report for its Multiple Air Toxics
Exposure Study (MATES III), a landmark study of toxic air pollution in the
South Coast Air Basin. Unlike EPA’s report, MATES III used the latest
emissions data from facilities as well as tens of thousands of air samples
collected during a 24-month period. The study found the average cancer risk
across the region is about 1,200 in 1 million during a lifetime exposure. It
also found that about 84 percent of the cancer risk is due to diesel fuel
combustion from trucks, trains and ships. (Cancer risk from diesel was not
included in EPA’s NATA report.) The highest cancer risk levels in MATES III
were found in areas of elevated diesel exhaust including near freeways, rail
yards and the ports.
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major
portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
-#-
|
