(VCCEP) Tier 1 Pilot Submission for BENZENE - Tera

4.0 Regulatory Overview
This section provides an overview of the extensive federal environmental, health and safety,
and related regulations controlling benzene exposures.
Benzene is broadly regulated by many federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Given the number, and in some cases,
the complexity of these regulations, this overview necessarily is not an exhaustive survey of all
regulations relating to benzene.
4.1 EPA Regulation
EPA regulates benzene under numerous statutes, including the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C.
§§ 7401 et seq.; the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. §§ 1251 et seq.; the Safe Drinking Water Act,
42 U.S.C. §§ 300f et seq. (SDWA); the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, 42 U.S.C.
§§ 321 et seq. (RCRA); the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 9601 et seq. (CERCLA, or Superfund); the Superfund Amendments
and Reauthorization Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 9601 et seq. (SARA); the Emergency Planning &
Community Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 11011 et seq.; the Pollution Prevention
Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 13101 et seq. (PPA); and the Toxic Substances Control Act, 15 U.S.C.
§§ 2601 et seq. (TSCA).
4.1.1 Clean Air Act
The Clean Air Act regulates benzene emissions from stationary sources (e.g., factories,
refineries, and power plants) and mobile sources (e.g., trucks, cars, motorcycles) and as volatile
organic compounds in products. Under the Clean Air Act, benzene is variously referred to as a
Hazardous Air Pollutant (HAP), a volatile organic compound (VOC), or a Mobile Source Air
Toxic (MSAT).
4.1.1.1 Hazardous Air Pollutant Regulation
Section 112 of the Clean Air Act establishes a two-step process for protecting the public and the
environment from the effects of toxic air pollutant emissions from stationary sources. First, EPA
promulgates extensive National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs),
better known as Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards, as required by
section 112(d) of the Act. These technology-based MACT standards are imposed on specific
manufacturing sectors on a category-by-category basis. (See generally 40 C.F.R. Parts 61, 63.)
Second, within the eight years following the promulgation of each technology-based MACT
standard, EPA has to regulate any remaining (or “residual”) risk with an “ample margin of safety”
[CAA § 112(f), 42 U.S.C. § 7412(f)]. In this second phase, EPA applies a risk-based approach
to assess whether the MACT technology-based emission limits sufficiently reduce health and
environmental risks.
Thus, benzene emissions from stationary sources are subject to both stringent, manufacturingsector-specific
MACT-based standards and any further regulation that EPA determines is
necessary to ensure an ample margin of safety. Virtually all of the MACT standards have been
Benzene VCCEP Submission
March 2006
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