To: Dr. Dennis McBride, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services,  Division of Public Health

From: Janet Marsh Zeller and Louis Zeller

Re: Draft Sampling and Analysis Plans for Soil, Sediment, and Air Modeling Near Solite  Corporation in Stanly County And Summary of Residential Well Sampling Near Solite  Corporation March 10, 2000

Date: May 8, 2000

Comments on Carolina Solite Sampling Plans and Air Modeling

The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League cannot, in good conscience, support the environmental sampling or current toxic air pollution modeling at Carolina Solite in Stanly County while the facility continues to operate.  The people of Stanly, Anson, and Union counties deserve a complete aggressive plan of action to protect their health and to safeguard the area's environmental quality.  The numbers of arsenic samples in the testing program are so small that they cannot even begin to offset the major flaws in both the toxic air pollutant modeling and the incremental AAL standard (acceptable ambient levels).  The modeling and interpretation problems require that we at BREDL oppose so limited a testing program unless and until Carolina Solite is prohibited from hazardous waste incineration.

The natural occurrence of arsenic and the agricultural application of defoliants containing arsenic are factors which go beyond complication to possible distortion of test results, given the modeling weaknesses.  If the facility is prohibited from any current or future hazardous waste incineration, our organization would support with enthusiasm additional arsenic testing.

Arsenic Dispersion Modeling Flaws

The air dispersion model used by the Division of Air Quality to predict maximum potential contaminant levels in the study area, the Industrial Source Complex Short Term model (ISCST3),
may not be the best method of determining the areas of highest toxic deposition.  Fifty-four arsenic emission sources at Solite were modeled by the Division of Air Quality, most of which are fugitive rather than smokestack sources.

North Carolina's method of estimating fugitive emissions underwent a series of challenges in the last few years, but the methods which the state uses to predict the amounts of fugitive emissions may still underestimate the actual level.  The use of the ISCST3 dispersion model to determine emissions in the boundary layer is a fundamental weakness.  In testimony Dr. Ravindra Nadkarni, a national expert on air pollution, discussed the shortcomings of both ISCST and SCREEN models saying,  "[I]t is important to note that these screening models are for stack emissions and not for low-altitude emissions, close to the ground."  [Pre-filed testimony of Dr. Ravindra M. Nadkarni, In the Matter of Todesca Equipment Co., Docket No. 96-005, Massachusetts].  In a recent case regarding toxic emissions from asphalt plants in North Carolina, Dr. Nadkarni elaborated,  "The use of the SCREEN3 model is troublesome since all such dispersion models do not apply within the atmospheric boundary layer, a distance of 30 feet (10 meters) from the ground where frictional effects predominate." (emphasis added) [Affidavit of Ravindra Nadkarni, Office of Administrative Hearings, North Carolina, 99 EHR 0157].  The effect of this flaw is that such models will predict higher than normal dispersion of air pollution when applied to fugitive emission sources.  Therefore, the use of the ISCST3 computer model by the NC Division of Air Quality may misrepresent patterns of actual concentration of arsenic near the Solite plant.  The significance of this inaccuracy may be overcome by the testing protocols, but more extensive testing is the only meaningful way of determining the actual dispersion of toxics.

North Carolina's Air Toxics Program Misinterprets the AAL Standard

The NC Air Toxics Program document developed by Lori Cherry and distributed at the Solite stakeholders meeting on March 1, 2000 attempts to draw a false distinction between "acceptable ambient levels" and "measured air concentrations."  Contrary to what was published in this document and said by Ms. Cherry on March 1, there is a North Carolina ambient standard for air toxics.  This standard is explicitly stated throughout the state rules in NCAC 15A 2D.1100 and in the statutory authority which established the toxic air pollutant (TAP) program.  The TAP program applies to all permitted facilities that emit toxic air pollutants and sets rules for the protection of public health. [2D.1101]  The maximum ambient pollutant levels for 105 toxins are based on the best available scientific evidence and are listed in the rule.

The rule prohibits the emission of pollutants which cause or raise the level of toxic pollution above a standard which adversely affects human health.  This standard is explicit in the AALs. The rule could not be stated more clearly:

"A facility shall not emit any of the following toxic air pollutants in such quantities that may cause or contribute beyond the premises (adjacent property boundary) to any significant ambient air concentration that may adversely affect human health.  In determining these significant ambient air concentrations, the Division shall be guided by the following list of acceptable ambient levels in milligrams per cubic meter at 77 degrees-F and 29.92 inches of mercury pressure."   [NCAC 15A 2D. 1104]

At the March 1 meeting Lori Cherry explained the Division's distinction saying that the AALs were a "modeling increment" to be used by the toxics program as a "risk indicator" which would provide a measure of the "acceptable additional increment" of  toxic pollution.  None of these terms appear in the rule or the underlying statutes.

Even though some toxic air pollutants can be attributed to natural causes, even though some toxic air pollutants occur because of mobile pollution sources and non-point discharges, it would be irresponsible to suggest or infer that the permitting of facilities which emit these poisons does not have a significant contribution on ambient air toxics levels.  An incremental standard which allows each permittee to emit toxic air pollutants which meet or approach AALs poses significant threats to human health.  A parallel situation has occurred in the permitting of facilities which emit radionuclides.  Human activities--including Nuclear Regulatory Commission permitting of nuclear power plants and other facilities--have significantly raised the level of background radiation over the last fifty years.  This dangerous interpretation by the federal government allows new facilities to be permitted provided that they do not exceed certain emission levels above background.  The state of North Carolina cannot repeat such a huge mistake.  An incremental standard applied over a period of time is no standard at all.

Double Standard for Permitting and Enforcement

The Division of Air Quality's program for limiting air pollution suffers from a schizophrenic approach.  Permits are granted to facilities as if no other pollution sources exist.  Local and regional sources of pollution are routinely ignored by permitting officials, even though EPA modeling protocols contain this warning: "Remember to include background concentrations."
The Air Toxics Program's March 1 synopsis of AALs accurately depicts existing practice within the DAQ:  "If the air dispersion model results show that the toxic air pollution emission is below
the AAL, a conclusion is made that the facility has not added concentrations of toxic air pollutants to the air that are harmful to human health." (emphasis in the original)

However, DAQ does include other pollution sources when it monitors pollution. Enforcement is typically hamstrung by the comparison of a particular facility's emissions with existing levels of pollution.  For example, in the DAQ's ambient air pollution survey at the BMWNC medical incinerator in Matthews (ATAST #99007), toxic emissions were assessed relative to existing levels of pollution.  The DAQ compared results with an earlier study of volatile organics in Charlotte and EPA Reference Concentrations.  The ATAST report states that for metals there were "no large excursions past the referenced values."  The report concluded, "This means that the sample metals concentrations in the survey area were within the referenced values for ambient air concentrations and that there were no unusual excursions from this range to indicate a problem." [page 17] (emphases added) Formaldehyde levels were explained away as a "natural variation in the ambient air concentrations of formaldehyde from all sources of formaldehyde." [page 89]  For VOC the report states,  "In summary, none of the maximum concentration values exceeded available comparison values, thus indicating that all of the values obtained in these analyses do not represent the need for an increased level of concern." [page 46]

The NC Departments of Health and Human Services and Environment and Natural Resources have the clear and present obligation to protect human health.  The extended example of Biomedical underlines the fatal flaw of permitting emissions based on AALs modeling as if in a vacuum and the failure to protect human health through a reliance on a competing witch's brew of natural and man-made toxic sources.  The people of Stanly, Anson, and Union counties deserve more: a complete community-wide health survey, an expanded toxics testing program for all media, and, most important, a prohibition on hazardous waste incineration at Solite.  A flawed arsenic model, a handful of actual arsenic tests, and a dangerous limitation on the health-based TAP rules cannot serve the people of Stanly, Anson, and Union.  If any permitted facility in North Carolina has deserved shut-down based on public health protection, it is Carolina Solite. If North Carolina's air quality permits mean anything, this action must be taken now.


Note: The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League is a statewide environmental organization with a long history of work on incineration, hazardous waste, and air quality.  Anson County CACTUS has been a BREDL chapter for a decade; our Union County chapter is now inactive, but we have active at-large members throughout the county.  Our members live within the fallout zone of Carolina Solite.