What is Toxic Use?

For the purposes of Maine's Toxic and Hazardous Waste Reduction Law (Toxics Law), Toxic Use is the use of an Extremely Hazardous Substance (EHS) that is reportable to the Maine Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), under the federal Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), Title III, Section 312.

EHS's are chemicals that readily become airborne gases, vapors, mists or dusts and are toxic to humans in relatively low concentrations. Facilities are required to report their use of an EHS if they have quantities of 500 pounds or less, depending on the EHS. Toxics use from facilities that do not meet these threshold requirements are not reported to the THWRP Program.

Approximately 356 chemicals have been identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as EHS's. Of these, 47 were used in Maine in 2005.

Facilities in Maine that have EHS chemicals may be classified as:

Consumptive: meaning that the EHS is actually consumed or used up in a process.

Non-Consumptive: meaning that the EHS is contained in an essentially closed looped unit (such as ammonia in a refrigeration system, or sulfuric acid in a sealed battery). In non-consumptive uses, the EHS is used to perform a function, but it is not consumed.

The most common EHS's in Maine are chlorine, ammonia, and sulfuric acid.

Links:

EPA list of EHS chemicals

EPA Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office (CEPPO) website

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry website (searchable information on specific chemicals)

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What is Toxic Use?

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