After celebrating Thanksgiving with our families, we now approach the end of a challenging year.
Miguel RodasWe foresee 2024 to be equally challenging from many regulatory fronts, from the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA) to emerging legislative constraints on the handling, storing, and transporting hazardous wastes. With that in mind, the L.A. City Sanitation and Environment (LASAN) Industrial Waste Management Division (IWMD) Metal Finishing Sector Champions Group (MFSCG) wants to wrap up this year with a recap of some past events and updates that will affect metal finishers.
First, as the field/technical arm of the LA Industry Program, the MFSCG appreciates the metal finishers and stakeholders who attended our Compliance and Science gathering in June 2023. Held at IWMD's Media Center headquarters, metal finishers were re-educated on changing regulatory requirements, the science of metal finishing and wastewater treatment, the best practical and available technologies (BPTs and BATs), and the importance of collaboration in meeting our shared responsibilities. Working directly with each other not only fulfills our regulatory responsibilities but further changes the adversarial confrontations of the past into beneficial cooperative relationships.
Six Shops Receive Awards
In September, IWMD granted three awards to six SIUs (significant industrial users or dischargers subject to Federal Categorical Pretreatment Standards) during a Los Angeles City Hall ceremony.
- The Compliance History Award was granted to Burbank Plating, California Metal Processing, Electromatic, and Pacific Plating for demonstrating compliance with permit conditions.
- The Special LA Industry Award was granted to Brite Plating for building collaborative partnerships with IWMD.
- The Special Green Award was granted to Accurate Engineering for substituting their processes to reduce the use of harmful chemicals, adopting water and energy conservation, improving their pretreatment systems, and investing in cleaner and more sustainable operations.
These awards originated from the LA Industry Program, created in 2016 to advance green chemistry across all industrial sectors, and from the Sector Champions Program, organized in 2018 to implement the LA Industry's goals of regulatory compliance, economic sustainability, Environmental Justice, and the mainstreaming of green chemistry principles.
Since not all metal finishers are members of the Metal Finishing Association of Southern California (MFASC), the MFSCG aims to communicate important updates. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has already set the dates for eliminating hexavalent chromium from plating and chromic acid anodizing. This ruling is expected to pass legislation early next year, and many metal finishers have expressed their frustration as this may cause smaller shops to go out of business.
The National Association of Surface Finishing (NASF) reports that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was approved to collect data regarding PFAS in effluents from metal finishing operations. A survey is being prepared to support later rulings regarding the proposed effluent limitations for PFAS. Considering its length and detail, the EPA is releasing the survey after this year's holidays.
Although the City of Los Angeles is home to 98 facilities engaged in metal finishing, not all will be required to complete the survey. The NASF indicated that the survey will be served to IUs using chromium-based processes such as functional (hard) and decorative chrome. Some metal finishers do use hexavalent chromium, PFAS, and other chemicals of concern in their surfactants, fume suppressants, and conversion coatings, so their processes may produce rinses containing chromate salts and PFAS above the screening level of 12 parts per trillion. Conversely, this relieves some metal finishers: those electroplating other common metals (e.g., nickel, copper, cadmium, and zinc) may not receive the survey.
End on a Positive Note
The NASF did meet with President Biden's administration in November to address upcoming regulatory challenges, workforce issues, market competition, and trade with other countries. The NASF highlighted the importance of metal finishers to the American economy. At the same time, the White House declared its support for “a more resilient, secure, and sustainable auto supply chain,” leading to a commitment to “providing immediate and targeted relief” to businesses in this industrial sector. So, while the road ahead is an uphill battle for metal finishers, and the future may seem to hold only bad news, we can end the year on a positive note of support from many levels, from the President to our City.
We hope to see you at the next Compliance and Science gathering early in 2024 so we can continue supporting you through our discussion of those above, emerging, and other relevant topics. Until then, we wish you and all of you Good Holidays, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.
Miguel Rodas is Senior Environmental Compliance Inspector for the Los Angeles Sanitation, Industrial Waste Management Division, Metal Finishing Sector Champions Group; Edward Calleros (Leader), Greg Lester (Emeritus), Ernesto Lozano, and Jan Marte (Editor).
