EPA

1 Part I Integrated pollution control and air pollution control 

This section deals largely with the administration of the Act outlining the authorisation of the bodies for enforcing it and the powers vested in them. It considers enforcement in two parts  

The Environmental Protection (Prescribed Processes and Substances) Regulations 1991 allocate the enforcement of standards between the Environment Agency and the local authorities. 

The conditions in an IPC authorisation cover emissions to water, land and air and extend to the prevention of persistent offensive odours at or beyond the boundary of the premises. The standards demanded by the authorisation include the application of the best available techniques not entailing excessive costs (BATNEEC). This is a new enforcement concept seen as equivalent to so far as is reasonably practicable of the Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974 (HSWA). The Environment Agency has produced numerous process- and sector-specific guidance notes on Part A Processes.  

By contrast, APC deals only with emissions into the atmosphere. The local authorities who enforce it are required to seek and abide by the decisions of the Health and Safety Executive on matters affecting human health and, where there is a possibility of discharges to water courses, of the Environment Agency. APC is a more limited approach than IPC and relates to processes having a supposedly lower pollution potential. Such processes are known as Part B Processes. 

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CHEMblST " The CHEMLlS l Pile contains chemical substances on national inventories, registered by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), TTie dala in GPdHMLIS l arc from 1979 to the present, there arc more than 228 380 records (September, 2002). CHHMLlS l is updated weekly with more than 50 addilions to eUsling records or new subslances. 

ECOTOX database (excerpt from search, October 21, 2002) (hllp //u ii u, epa.goy/... 

Dating approximately from the creation of the U S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970... 

Mass spectra are reproduced with permis Sion from EPA/NIH Mass Spectral Data Base Supplement I S R Heller and G W A l lne National Bureau of Stan dards 1980... 

Chart showing hierarchical relationship among a technique, methods using that technique, and procedures and protocols for one method. (Abbreviations APHA = American Public Health Association, ASTM = American Society for Testing Materials, EPA = Environmental Protection Agency)... 

A good example of a prescriptive approach to quality assessment is the protocol outlined in Figure 15.2, published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for laboratories involved in monitoring studies of water and wastewater. Independent samples A and B are collected simultaneously at the sample site. Sample A is split into two equal-volume samples, and labeled Ai and A2. Sample B is also split into two equal-volume samples, one of which, Bsf, is spiked with a known amount of analyte. A field blank. Dp, also is spiked with the same amount of analyte. All five samples (Ai, A2, B, Bsf, and Dp) are preserved if necessary and transported to the laboratory for analysis. 

Complex environmental samples originate from diverse matrices (the predominant material of which the sample to be analyzed is composed). These matrices, usually either water or soil/sediment, can contain as many as 50 to 100 organic components at widely varying concentrations. The EPA approach to the analysis of these samples involves the analysis of specific (or target) compounds and the use of authentic standards for quality control. The current number of standards in the EPA repository is about 1500, and their analysis is covered by various approved methods. 

The EPA Contract Laboratory Program (CLP) has responsibility for managing the analysis programs required under the U.S. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The approved analytical methods are designed to analyze water, soil, and sediment from potentially hazardous waste sites to determine the presence or absence of certain environmentally harmful organic compounds. The methods described here all require the use of GC/MS. 

Certain laboratories can, after a contract has been awarded, register under the Contract Laboratory Program (CLP) of the EPA. To earn a contract, one or more specifically prepared samples must be analyzed under very similar conditions to those used in standard protocols. Only if the data are deemed satisfactory will a contract be awarded. Further evaluation samples must be analyzed at three-month intervals afterward to ensure that performance is being maintained. 

The EPA publishes Series Methods that describe the exact procedures to be followed with respect to sample receipt and handling, analytical methods, data reporting, and document control. These guidelines must be followed closely to ensure accuracy, reproducibility, and reliability within and among the contract laboratories. 

Chromatographic peak areas are calculated automatically by the data system by reference to the response obtained from certain specified, compound-dependent ions. From the peak areas of the target compounds, quantification is achieved by comparison with the internal standards, which are present in known concentration. The laboratory responsible for the analysis must report the target compounds and all tentatively identified (nontarget) compounds. Standard EPA forms must be completed and submitted. A laboratory is said to be in compliance when it has satisfied all aspects of its CLP contract. 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authorizes control over hazardous and potentially hazardous substances and validates appropriate methods of analysis, many of which require GC/MS. 

The analysis programs of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) are managed through the EPA s Contract Laboratory Program (CLP). 

A laboratory wishing to register under the CLP must perform certain analytical test procedures to the EPA s satisfaction. 

The EPA s protocols, published in the official Series Methods, describe the exact procedures that must be followed when handling, preparing, and analyzing samples and reporting the results. 

The National Institutes of Health-EPA mass spectral library is used to identify analyzed components of a sample by comparing their mass spectra with those of authentic specimens held in the library. 

EPA. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. agency responsible for many methods of analysis used by mass spectrometrists)... 

Tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol is a solvent and coupling agent for a phosphate-type insecticide used to control the gypsy moth. Esters of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol are used in preparations employed as insect repeUents. Tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol is also used as a solvent—carrier for an EPA-approved paper sHmicide formulation. In this appHcation, the exceptional solvent action of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol prevents separation of the... 

EranMin Associates Limited, "Characterization of Municipal SoHd Waste in the United States, 1994 Update," Report No. EPA 530-94-042, Nov. 1994. 

G. Russwurm and J. W. Childers, FTIR Open Path Monitoring, Guidance Document, EPA Contract 68-D5-0049, ManTech Environmental Technology Inc., Research Park, N.C., 1996. 

B. McClenny, Compendium Method TO-16, U.S. EPA, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Research Triangle Park, N.C., 1996. 

L. N. Davis, P. R. Durkin, P. H. Howard, andj. Saxena, Investigation of Selected Potential Environmental Contaminants Jicrylamides-, EPA Report No. 560/2-76-008,1976. 

Environmental and Health Nspects ofJicrylamide, Ji Comprehensive Bibliography of Published Eiterature 1930 toJipril 1980, EPA Report No. 560/7-81-006,... 

J. Going and K. Thomas, SamplingandJinalysis of SelectedToxic Substances Task INcrylamide, EPA ReportNo. 560/13-79-013,1979. 

Anionic and nonionic polyacrylamides effectively remove suspended soHds such as silt and clay from potable water. SuppHers provide special grades which meet EPA/FDA regulations for residual acrylamides. A recent pubHcation (102) states that hydrolyzed polyacrylamides with narrow interchain charge distributions provide better performance in flocculation of clay. These polymers were prepared by alkaline hydrolysis. (See Flocculating agents.)... 

EPA.INIH Mass Spectral Data Base, Vol. 1, U.S. National Bureau of Standards, Wasliiagton, D.C., 1978, p. 5. 

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