AWFS supports the proposed amendments to the EPA rule for better alignment with the CARB ATCM. It will make it easier for suppliers and customers alike to comply with both rules and will enhance enforcement of suppliers (off shore imports) who do not comply, or worse yet, falsify compliance.
By Pat Rizzuto | November 1, 2018 5:30PM ET
The EPA is proposing changes to a rule on formaldehyde emissions from composite wood products, such as particle board, that aligns federal and California standards.
Companies that make and use composite wood could more easily meet California and federal formaldehyde emissions limits under a rule the EPA proposed Nov. 1, trade association representatives said.
“These are important technical amendments that we’ve supported,” Jackson Morrill, president of the Composite Panel Association, told Bloomberg Environment Nov. 1.
The Environmental Protection Agency proposed minor tweaks that would make the requirements in its rules better align with California’s, Steve Orlowski, senior director of standards and technical activities for the Window and Door Manufacturers Association, said.
The EPA’s proposed rule (RIN:2070–AK47) would revise another regulation (RIN:2070–AJ44) the agency adopted in December 2016 to reduce formaldehyde emissions from composite—or engineered—wood products.
These products include hardwood plywood, medium-density fiberboard, and particleboard. Companies such as Weyerhaeuser and Georgia-Pacific Chemicals LLC make these materials by binding wood strands, fibers, particles, and other components together with adhesives to create a product that is denser, stronger, and heavier than wood alone.
Composite wood is used in home construction, flooring, plywood, furniture, kitchen cabinets, and recreational vehicles.
The 2017 North America market for structural panels, a subset of the broader category of composite woods, was about $15 billion, Joshua Zaret, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, told Bloomberg Environment Nov. 1. Those panels are made with glues of varying concentrations of formaldehyde including those that release low and ultralow emissions or none at all, he said.
The glues used in some composite woods, though, can include levels of formaldehyde that can irritate the skin, eyes, nose, and throat. High levels of exposure may cause some types of cancers.
Consistency
Lumber Liquidators agreed in 2017 to settle a $36 million class action over its sale of Chinese-made laminate flooring that exceeded California’s standards. The EPA’s limits were not yet in effect at that time.
In 2010, Congress required the EPA to set emissions limits for formaldehyde from composite wood. The agency’s standards were to be consistent with those California set in 2008 and since updated.
The goal is to have EPA’s and California’s regulations as aligned as possible, Morrill said.
The EPA’s proposal would help panel producers, for example, by allowing them to use one laboratory test method to demonstrate compliance with both California’s limits and the national standards, he said.
“It’s a big help to have that consistency,” Morrill said. “We fully support that.”
North American lumber mills are accustomed to meeting California’s requirements, and that state’s procedures have a proven track record, he said.
“Consistency makes a a lot of sense from enforcement and technical perspective,” Morrill said.
Supply Chain Requirements
The EPA’s proposed rule also would clarify supply chain questions that have arisen since the EPA’s rule was issued, Mark Duvall, a principal at Beveridge & Diamond PC in Washington told Bloomberg Environment Oct. 31.
The proposal, for example, clarifies the responsibilities of various companies in the supply chain if a lot of composite wood fails to meet EPA’s emission limits after it already has been shipped, said Duvall. He has advised the Retail Industry Leaders Association, whose members include companies such as Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Walmart, about the federal formaldehyde standards.
The agency’s proposal also will codify guidance it already has issued through answers to frequently asked questions that are posted on a formaldehyde webpage, Duvall said. Codifying those questions is helpful to the regulated community, he said.