EPA Changes Not Expected to Slow Ruling

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental Engineer Warren Johnson has joined EPA Environmental Protection Specialist Kim Teal as the EPA work assignment managers while development of new air toxics rules moves into final stages. The EPA continues to target Dec. 15, 2007, as the date for final announcement (or promulgation) of the rule. The original rule promulgation was expected in August 2008 until the agency accelerated the timeframe.

The EPA recognizes that there needs to be some implementation time before the new rules can be enforced. The original timetable allowed for three years, to August 2011, before actual enforcement would start. Because the final rule date was accelerated it is assumed enforcement will be moved up, too, probably to December 2010.

Johnson emphasizes that there are no major changes in the standards that Teal's team worked on for the last several years. The EPA has combined three rules into the Automobile Refinishing Rule (Plastic Parts and Paint Stripping).

The EPA is sensitive to maintaining good relationships with collision repair trade associations, which have been providing suggestions and expertise to help with their goals, according to Lester W. Young, principal consultant, Applied Automotive Strategies LLC. Young serves on the Collision Industry Conference's Environmental Committee, which has been closely monitoring the VOC changes.

"The thrust of the new regulation bears on all HAPs [Hazardous Air Pollutants], not just VOCs, including heavy metals and others," says Young. "Public safety, especially in urbanized areas, is also a priority. The emphasis is on proper equipment and training and, possibly, certification, rather than just the usual chemistry-minded approaches by other agencies and countries."

The EPA says it is interested in getting all shops into compliance - not just large, visible ones.

With California currently moving toward lower VOC levels, waterborne paints are expected to impact the market. In 2006, air quality control regulators approved new measures with a volatile organic compound limit for all topcoats at below three pounds per gallon. Many California shops will need to implement waterborne technology by 2009 to ensure compliance.

Following California's example, it's anticipated that similar paint standards will ultimately be adopted by other states. Waterborne coatings are already used throughout Europe and in other countries.

In October 2006, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) issued revisions to Rule 1151, updating a 1998 version. The Rule 1151 standards are subject to ratification by regional pollution control agencies that regulate body shops in the state. In December 2006, the South Coast Air Quality Management District in Los Angeles, which has 1,800 collision shops under its jurisdiction, became the first to officially embrace the new rules as law.

Unless paint suppliers introduce new VOC-compliant coatings compounds, waterborne paint will be the only option that will meet the standards. CARB estimates that it will cost shops $3,000 to $100,000 to make the shift to waterborne.

The new limits are expected to reduce VOC emissions by 3.7 tons per day by 2010.

To view Rule 1151, visit www.arb.ca.gov/coatings/autorefin/scm/sreport/scmstaffreport.htm.