Shoptalk

Spray efficiency training with practical application

Join us for a hands-on workshop designed to help painters refine technique, gain efficiency, and improve quality. Participants will receive a certificate of completion showing compliance with 6H air emissions standards for a five-year period.

Feb. 7, 2018 (two identical sessions)

Workshop #A, 1-4 p.m.
Workshop #B, 5-8 p.m.
At Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency,
3104 East Augusta Ave., Spokane, 99207
Register for this event
$25, includes dinner
Call 206-352-2050 or email kgrimm@pprc.org for more info.

Who should attend?

Any workers that apply paint or coating to metal, plastic, or wood: auto body shops, parts manufacturers, or cabinet manufacturers.

Why attend?

• Reduce costs.

• Increase worker efficiency.

• Fine tune skills.

• Increase worker safety.

• Learn about local and federal surface coating requirements.

• Improve air quality.

• Receive training certification required by EPA.

 

Proposed legislation

As of Jan. 1, 2018, Washington law bans the sale of new boats with copper-based antifouling paint. However, we proposed legislation that would delay the ban until Jan. 1, 2021.

The proposed legislation is under consideration in the 2018 legislative session. While the Legislature considers the bill, we won’t dedicate resources to enforcement. If the Legislature chooses to leave the ban in place, we'll reprioritize and start enforcing the ban as needed and as resources permit.

The problem

Antifouling paints for boat bottoms prevent marine organisms from growing on hulls. These organisms can reduce vessel performance and potentially damage the hull. Most current bottom paints use copper-based biocides and are a significant source of copper pollution at Washington marinas. A 2011 law required these paints be phased out by 2020 for recreational boats. However, an Ecology review found that available alternatives to copper paints could actually do more harm to the environment.

The solution

Delaying the implementation date for the copper-based antifouling paint ban until 2021 will give Ecology time to review the safety of antifouling paints and develop a proposal that will improve water quality at Washington’s marinas, protect our environment, and allow boat owners access to effective antifouling treatments.

How it will benefit Washington

We identified new research showing that many of the alternative biocides have the potential to cause greater harm to the environment than copper-based biocides, and may actually reduce water quality at Washington marinas. By giving Ecology more time to study alternative biocides and develop alternative strategies to preserve water quality at our state’s marinas, we will ensure we are fulfilling our mission to protect Washington’s environment.

Ecology’s proposal

Under the proposal, Ecology will determine how antifouling paints affect the environment (specific to Washington’s water conditions and marina designs) by using models. Ecology will also examine alternative methods of regulating antifouling paints, such as establishing a leach rate for copper or other biocides used in the paints.

Why it matters

Copper-based antifouling paints are a significant source of copper pollution at Washington’s marinas and these paints were due to be phased out by 2020. If copper paint is banned, however, boaters will look to products that use a range of alternative biocides as the active ingredient. Some of these biocides could cause more environmental damage than copper, threatening water quality and damaging Washington’s environment.

Contact

Please contact Kimberly Goetz at 360-407-6754 or kimberly.goetz@ecy.wa.gov if you have questions about the proposed legislation, the existing ban, or other related issues.

What are PFAS compounds?

PFAS are synthetic chemicals used in many consumer products, including food wrappers, fabrics, and carpets, to make them resistant to water, oil, grease, stains, heat, UV, and corrosion. PFAS is an acronym for “per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances.”

PFAS are of special concern because some of them:

• Are linked to health problems in people and animals.
• Remain in the environment for a long time without breaking down.
• Build up in people and the environment.

Some PFAS chemicals have been associated with health problems in people. However, there is a lack of publicly available information about the toxicity of most of the hundreds of PFAS in use.

Protecting Washington from PFAS chemicals

The Washington State departments of Ecology and Health are developing a chemical action plan on PFAS chemicals that will identify the potential health and environmental effects, and recommend strategies to reduce or eliminate those impacts.

Why are we concerned about PFAS?

• Everyone is exposed to PFAS. Some forms (PFOS, PFOA, and a few others) have known toxic effects. Although PFOS and PFOA have largely been replaced by newer PFAS, there is limited data on the safety of those replacements.
• In recent years, PFAS contamination above EPA's Health Advisory level has been found in drinking water wells in Airway Heights, North Whidbey Island, and at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
• Many PFAS are water soluble and highly mobile, meaning they can easily contaminate groundwater and can be hard to filter out.
• Many PFAS chemicals degrade in the environment to highly persistent perfluorinated substances. There are no natural processes that can break these substances down. This heightens concerns about any potential toxicity, because exposures from these chemicals could continue for hundreds or thousands of years.

Draft recommendations

Because of urgent concerns about drinking water contamination, Ecology and Health plan to release draft recommendations to address this contamination in early 2018. Following this, the agencies will evaluate uses and impacts of PFAS chemicals, and release additional recommendations in 2019.

Ensure drinking water is safe from harmful PFAS contamination

Ecology and Health recommend setting a state drinking water standard or advisory level for PFAS. Currently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has an advisory level of 70 parts per trillion for PFOS and PFOA, two forms of PFAS that have documented health risks.

Ecology and Health also recommend expanding water testing for PFAS near other potential sources of contamination, such as airports and fire training centers.

Develop cleanup levels for PFAS

Ecology and Health recommend developing cleanup levels for PFAS, and investigating effective methods to clean up contaminated soils, surface water, and groundwater. Currently, there is no regulatory standard to determine whether a site is contaminated by PFAS to the point it requires cleanup, nor are there best practices for conducting such a cleanup.

Evaluate uses and impacts of firefighting foam

Ecology and Health recommend working with firefighting foam users to:

• Implement best management practices to prevent foam from contaminating groundwater.
• Replace legacy firefighting foam stored in stockpiles.
• Dispose of legacy foam in a way that prevents additional contamination.