The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a final rule on December 17 to address the risk of injury to health presented by perchloroethylene (PCE) under its conditions of use that has implications for site cleanup.
The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requires that the EPA address by rule any unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment identified in a TSCA risk evaluation and apply requirements to the extent necessary so that the chemical no longer presents unreasonable risk.
The EPA's final rule, which will be effective on January 17, 2025, among other things, will prevent serious illness associated with uncontrolled exposures to the chemical by preventing consumer access to the chemical, restricting the industrial and commercial use of the chemical while also allowing for a reasonable transition period where the industrial and commercial use of the chemical is being prohibited. It will provide a time-limited exemption for a critical or essential use of PCE for which no technically and economically feasible safer alternative is available and protect workers from the unreasonable risk of PCE while on the job.
Accordingly, to address the unreasonable risk, the EPA issued the final rule under TSCA section 6(a) to:
- Prohibit most industrial and commercial uses and the manufacture (including import), processing, and distribution in commerce of PCE for those uses
- Prohibit the manufacture (including import), processing, and distribution in commerce of PCE for all consumer use
- Prohibit the manufacture (including import), processing, distribution in commerce, and commercial use of PCE in dry cleaning through a 10-year phaseout
- Require a Workplace Chemical Protection Program (WCPP), including an inhalation exposure concentration limit, direct dermal contact controls, and related workplace exposure controls, for many occupational conditions of use of PCE not prohibited
- Require prescriptive workplace controls for use of PCE in laboratories and energized electrical cleaners
- Establish recordkeeping and downstream notification requirements, outlined in Unit IV.E.
- Provide a 10-year time limited exemption under TSCA section 6(g) for certain emergency uses of PCE in aeronautical applications,
- Identify a regulatory threshold for products containing PCE for the prohibitions and restrictions on PCE.
PCE's hazards are well established. The EPA's 2020 Risk Evaluation for PCE considered the hazards associated with exposure to PCE and determined that PCE presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health due to the significant adverse health effects associated with exposure to PCE. While some of the risks of adverse effects from PCE exposure are associated with acute single exposures, other risks are associated with long-term repeated exposures. The most sensitive health effect driving the unreasonable risk of PCE and selected as the basis for this rule is neurotoxicity from chronic exposure.
Although the EPA is prohibiting many conditions of use of the chemical where it cannot be used without continuing to present unreasonable risk, the EPA is not finalizing a complete ban on PCE. The Agency has considered the benefits of PCE for various uses as required under TSCA section 6(c)(2)(A) and (B) and recognizes that continued use of PCE for some TSCA conditions of use may provide benefits that complement the Agency's efforts to address climate-damaging hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and in some national security applications.
Commenters on the proposed rule expressed concern for ongoing releases from hazardous waste and disposal sites, in particular exposure to vapor intrusion of PCE from contaminated groundwater and soil. Releases of PCE to the environment that may migrate to groundwater will slowly hydrolyze.
Click here to read the final rule.