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Client Alert: TCE and PCE Are Out!

Final EPA Rules Impose Ban on All Uses of TCE, and All Consumer Uses and Many Commercial Uses of PCE; Impose Requirement for Workers

A set of new Environmental Protection Agency rules have been promulgated to ban and restrict the usage of certain chemicals: trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE). TCE is used as a solvent in products, including those for cleaning and furniture care, degreasers, brake cleaners, sealants, lubricants, adhesives, paints and coatings, arts and crafts spray coatings, and is also used in the manufacture of some refrigerants. Safer alternatives are readily available for the majority of these uses. PCE is a solvent that is used in consumer uses for brake cleaners and adhesives, in commercial uses (most famously, in dry cleaning), and in many industrial settings. Safer alternatives are readily available for the majority of these uses.

The EPA’s rule regarding TCE will effectuate a ban of all uses of TCE over time (with the majority of uses eliminated within one year), and safer alternatives will be phased in over that time. The PCE rule will ban manufacture, processing, and distribution in commerce of PCE for all consumer uses, and many commercial uses, but some limited workplace uses may continue where safety controls can be implemented to protect the workforce.

TCE

EPA’s rule prohibits all uses of TCE, most of which will be prohibited within one year, including TCE manufacture and processing for most commercial and all consumer products. This rule is designed to protect most of those who are likely to be exposed to TCE from uses covered by the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), including (i) all consumers and (ii) workers in many sectors and many communities.

A limited number of uses of TCE in the workplace will be phased out over a longer period, but such uses are only permitted to continue with additional required worker protections to be implemented, including without limitation the requirement for a Workplace Chemical Protection Plan that includes an inhalation exposure limit. Note that many TCE uses that are allowed to continue for longer than one year are tied to settings that are industrialized and able to adopt the EPA’s new worker protection requirements; for instance, using TCE to manufacture refrigerants and battery separators as well as cleaning certain parts used in aircrafts and medical devices, and other transportation, security, and defense systems. All of these uses ultimately will be prohibited, but some of the exemptions associated with longer timeframes are necessary to avoid impacts to national security or critical infrastructure.

Further, to support cleanup activities at sites of past TCE contamination (e.g., Superfund sites), EPA is allowing essential laboratory use and proper disposal of TCE wastewater to continue for 50 years provided worker protections are in place, including the inhalation exposure limit set by the new rule.

PCE

EPA is implementing a 10-year phaseout for the use of PCE in dry cleaning. Use of PCE in newly acquired dry-cleaning machines will be prohibited after six months, and deadlines for compliance with respect to machines that are already owned will vary, depending on the type of machine. Older machines are to be phased out sooner than newer ones.

EPA’s rule also requires companies to phase out manufacturing, processing and distribution of PCE for all consumer use and many uses at industrial and commercial workplaces, most of which will be fully phased out in less than three years.

Similar to the TCE rule, the EPA rule on PCE also finalizes controls for continuing uses of PCE under a Workplace Chemical Protection Program in the following situations:

• Use in the production of other chemicals, including refrigerant chemicals that may complement efforts to phase down climate-damaging hydrofluorocarbons under the bipartisan American Innovation and Manufacturing Act.
• Use in petrochemical manufacturing.
• Use in agricultural chemical manufacturing (originally proposed to be prohibited).
• Use for cold cleaning of tanker vessels (originally proposed to be prohibited).
• Use as maskant for chemical milling.
• Use as a vapor degreasing solvent.
• Use in adhesives and sealants.
• Use in energized electrical cleaning (originally proposed to be prohibited).
• Processing into formulation, mixture or reaction products.
• Import, recycling, disposal, processing by repackaging and domestic manufacturing of PCE.

Most workplaces have 30 months to fully implement this new required Workplace Chemical Protection Program.