Quantity: TRI/TUR Pollutants
Of the chemicals listed above, the majority are from USGEN – Salem Harbor Power Station. The other major contributor to a variety of air pollutants in the three communities is Univar/Vopak/Van Waters & Brown – contributing hexane, triethylamine, toluene, N,N- Dimethyformamide, N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone, and PACs.
Of the remaining chemicals – phosphoric acid, sodium hydroxide, and sulfuric acid are all contributed by CP Clare of Beverly, and are simply listed as releases from the site on the state TUR and thus may not be air emissions, but could be wastewater discharges. Finally, this chart includes the estimated emissions based on the MA DEP ERP data provided for drycleaners as discussed in Air Pollution Sources: Drycleaners.
Overall, there is not a great similarity between the recent 2003 data and the 1999 EPA data for chemical specific emissions from Major Sources. While hydrochloric acid and hydrogen fluoride are still the two largest contributors from typical Major sources, the quantity of hydrochloric acid released in 2003 is a mere 73,000 pounds versus over 1 million pounds in 1999, whereas hydrogen fluoride emissions doubled from approximately 30,000 to more than 60,000 pounds reported released in 2003. And where nickel compounds were fairly high in 1999, they were not even reported in 2003 emission figures.
While this review provides the quantities of each individual chemical that is reported or estimated, it does not provide information as to which chemicals should be reduced. It is too simplistic to assume that the largest quantities should be reduced first, when the possibility exists that there is a higher risk posed to community health or the environment for other chemicals emitted at smaller quantities. |
