Regulatory Control Measures

Carrying out LCA on substances for regulatory decision-making will usually not be necessary. If direct risks to the environment or human health are imminent and high for a specific substance, then regulatory control measures will be necessary regardless of overall impacts. Lor instance, indirect contributions to eutrophication, acidification,... 

The EPA has had to consider both the benefits of PCBs as well as the availability of substitute materials balanced against the costs of regulatory control measures. It was concluded that the removal or retrofill of PCB transformers is both the most effective and the most costly measure for reducing the frequency of serious transformer fires. It was suggested that a less costly, but also less effective, alternative could be represented by providing better electrical protection of the equipment. The effectiveness of increased electrical protection is expected to approach that of phaseout/retrofill but EPA recognizes that electrical protective devices are also subject to malfunction and that PCB transformer fires can result from less common mechanisms of failure. 

For regulatory control, repeatability is of major interest. The basic-objective of regulatory control is to maintain uniform process operation. Suppose that on two different occasions, it is desired that the temperature in a vessel be 80°C. The regulatoiy control system takes appropriate actions to bring the measured variable to 80°C. The difference between the process conditions at these two times is determined by the repeatability of the measurement device. 

If a nonattainment area is classified as serious, based on ambient ozone measurements, then the state must modify its SIP to bring the area into compliance in 9 years. The CAAA90 also specify the size and, therefore, the number of sources subject to regulatory control as a function of nonattainment classification. Table 24-3 illustrates these requirements for ozone nonattainment classifications of extreme and severe the state must include... 

Regulatory control is governmental imposition of limits on emission from sources. In addition to quantitative limits on emissions from chimneys, vents, and stacks, regulations may limit the quantity or quality of fuel or raw material permitted to be used the design or size of the equipment or process in which it may be used the height of chimneys, vents, or stacks the location of sites from which emissions are or are not permitted or the times when emissions are or are not permitted. Regulations usually also specify acceptable methods of test or measurement. 

Chemical treatments for bacteria control represent significant cost and environmental liability. Because the regulatory pressure on the use of toxic biocides is increasing, more environmentally acceptable control measures are being developed. 

Regulatory officials nevertheless act on the basis of such hypothetical risks ( hypothetical definitely does not mean imaginary it means that the risk estimates are based on certain scientific hypotheses and that they have not been empirically tested). Such actions are in part based on legal requirements (Chapter 11) and in part on the prudence that is a traditional feature of public health policies. The scientific information, assumptions, and extrapolation models upon which risk assessments are based are considered sufficiently revealing on the question of human risk to prompt risk-control measures. To put off such actions until it is seen whether the hypothesized risks are real - to wait for a human body count - is considered to be an unacceptable course. 

Unlike SPC techniques, standard feedback control methods such as PID-control, do exert control upon a process, in an effort to minimize y, — yk. Control in Statistical Process Control is as such not regulatory control, but a semantic means of relating SPC to quality control—a means that often leads to the hybrid term SQC. Ogunnaike and Ray [14, Sec. 28.4] offer advice on when to use SPC and when to use standard feedback control methods When the sampling interval is much greater than the process response time, when zero-mean Gaussian measurement noise dominates process disturbances, and when the cost of regulatory control action is considerable, SPC is preferred. 

The Japanese Air Pollution Control Law dates back to 1968 and was designed to promote comprehensive air pollution control measures. Subsequent revisions have included extensions of regulatory objects, nationwide regulation and enforced standards, e.g. those for specific dust (asbestos) in 1989, vehicle fuel in 1995, harmful air pollutants in 1996 and volatile organic compounds (VOC) in 2004. Article 1 of the recent Japanese Air Pollution Control Law [16] states ... 

Levels 4 and 5 clearly affect the process economics, as both levels are directed to optimizing the process in some manner. In contrast, levels 1, 2, and 3 would appear to have no effect on process economics. Their direct effect is indeed minimal, although indirectly they can have a major effect. Basically these levels provide the foundation for all higher levels. A process cannot be optimized until it can be operated consistently at the prescribed targets. Thus, satisfactory regulatory control must be the first goal of any automation effort. In turn, the measurements and actuators provide the process interface for regulatory control. 

Regulatory chemical risk control measures can be broadly separated into four categories command and control, economic, incentive-based, and voluntary initiatives [29]. Brief explanations and examples of these various control instruments are shown in Table 1.2 and are discussed in detail in the Literature Review (Section 2.3). 

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