8 January 1996
Re: PRO-ACT Technical Inquiry 7784 - JP-8 Spill
Dear PRO-ACT User:
This letter is in response to your 27 December 1995 request for information
on a JP-8 jet fuel spill. Specifically, you wanted to know if uncontaminated JP-8 jet fuel was spilled and cleaned up with clean cotton absorbent pads, are the pads considered a hazardous waste. You also wanted to know if spilled JP-8 is reportable under Federal Laws.
PRO-ACT contacted Ms. Kathy Hotovac, Customer Technical Assistance,
Hazardous Material and Waste Management Division, Colorado Department of
Health and Environment, (303) 692-3320. Ms. Hotovac stated you must
analyze the pads, using approved procedures, to determine if they exhibit
any hazardous waste characteristics. Since JP-8 fuel is flammable and may
contain benzene, you must analyze them to determine if they possess the
hazardous waste characteristic of toxicity due to benzene. If testing
discloses the pads do not exhibit the toxicity or ignitability characteristic, they are considered a special waste and you must coordinate with the receiving landfill before shipping the waste.
There are two laws which assign reportable quantities (RQs) to materials
and which require reporting if a material spill exceeds the RQ: the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
(CERCLA) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act
(EPCRA).
Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 302, "Designation,
Reportable Quantities, and Notification" contains the list of CERCLA
hazardous substances and their RQs. It also requires reporting the release
of a CERCLA hazardous substance which is equal to or greater than the RQ to the National Response Center, (800) 424-8802, within 24 hours of the
incident. There are no RQs for aircraft fuels given in 40 CFR 302. To
determine the reason, PRO-ACT contacted Mr. Dana Stalcup, Oil Pollution and Abatement Branch, Emergency Response Division, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), (703) 603-8735. He stated since fuels are considered a petroleum product, they are exempt from definition as a hazardous substance under Section 101(14) of CERCLA (enclosed) and therefore, exempt from all reporting requirements.
There is, however, a CERCLA RQ for benzene (enclosed), which is a
constituent of most fuels. To determine the reporting requirements for
benzene in fuel, we spoke with Ms. Gerain Perry, Response Standards and
Criteria Branch, Emergency Response Division, Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), (703) 603-8732. Ms. Perry stated if the chemical is part of
the typical formulation of the fuel, it is exempt from CERCLA reporting
requirements.
Title 40 CFR, Part 355, "Emergency Planning and Notification" contains
EPCRA reporting requirements which also affect CERCLA hazardous substances.
It requires reporting the release of a CERCLA hazardous substance which is
equal to or greater than the RQ to the State Emergency Response Commission
(SERC) and to the Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) as soon as
possible.
40 CFR 355 also contains a list of extremely hazardous substances and their
RQs. Neither fuels nor benzene are on the extremely hazardous substance
list.
To determine the status of fuels and their benzene content for EPCRA
reporting purposes we contacted the EPCRA\CERCLA\RCRA Hotline, (800)
535-0202. The hotline representative stated petroleum products are not
exempt under EPCRA. Therefore, if a fuel spill results in the release of a
quantity of benzene equal to or greater than its RQ, the spill must be
reported to the SERC and the LEPC. Please note the quantity is not the
total amount of fuel spilled but the pounds of benzene contained in the
spilled fuel. This will depend on the specific gravity of the fuel and its
benzene percentage.
We also spoke with a representative of New Pig Corporation, (800) 468-4647,
to determine if they manufacture any products which facilitate reuse or
recycling of absorbent pads. She stated they manufacture both reusable
pads and units to extract the liquids from these pads. We have enclosed
the pages from New Pig catalog which describe these products. Use of these
products would reduce your hazardous waste stream by fostering reuse of the
pads and recycling of the fuel for energy recovery.
In summary, fuels and their benzene content are exempted from CERCLA but
not from EPCRA reporting. There is no specific RQ for fuels but there is
for benzene which is reportable under EPCRA. The Community Right-to-Know
Manual, Thompson Publishing Group, December 1995, states the RQ for benzene
is 10 pounds.
Information provided was current on the date it was prepared; however, it
may not represent the most up-to-date information at this time. Therefore,
PRO-ACT is readily available to provide the necessary research to obtain
the most current information on this subject, or on any environmental
topic, upon your request.
We appreciate your interest in PRO-ACT. If you have any questions or if we
may be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me or
PRO-ACT Project Manager, C.E."Skip" Sowards, at DSN 240-4214 or (800)
233-4356.
Sincerely,
(Original Signed)
Linda M. Hensell
PRO-ACT Researcher
:7784
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