Short Takes – 9-30-24

Helene deadliest hurricane in years. LinkedIn.com news summary. Pull quote: “Helene, now a post-tropical cyclone hovering over the Tennessee Valley, has left more than 50 dead across five states, making it the deadliest hurricane to strike the continental U.S. since 2022’s Ian, Bloomberg reports. Helene made landfall as a Category 4 in Florida’s Big Bend region late Thursday, the third hurricane to pummel the area in 13 months. It brought some of the worst flooding the South has seen in 100 years, and has cut off power to millions, strained dams and isolated mountain communities during its push along the Southeast and into Appalachia.”

Chemical Data Reporting; Extension of the 2024 Submission Period. Federal Register EPA direct final rule. Summary: “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is amending the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) regulations to extend the submission deadline for 2024 reports to November 22, 2024. This extension is for the 2024 submission period only. The TSCA CDR regulations require manufacturers (including importers) of certain chemical substances included on the TSCA Chemical Substance Inventory (TSCA Inventory) to report data on the manufacturing, processing, and use of the chemical substances.”

Warplanes: Where Have All the Maintainers Gone. StrategyPage.com article. Pull quote: “The current surge in retirements of experienced maintainers and a dearth of new air force recruits has left military aviation units with a growing shortage of both veteran and recently trained maintainers. The shortage meant lots of overtime for these maintainers. There is no time and a half pay for military personnel. That means no financial incentive to put up with extended periods of overtime. That led to more maintainers not re-enlisting or, if they were career maintainers, they retired early and went to work for commercial aviation. As civilian maintainers the working conditions are better, the pay higher, and you can stay in one place as long as you like. You also get 50 percent more per hour when you work over 40 hours a week.”

As storms strengthen, fears about chemical plant spills rise. WBUR.com article. Pull quote: “While EPA records for the three New Bedford plants reported that the loss of “cooling, heating, electricity [or] instrument air” would be a major hazard, none of them listed having “emergency power” in their safety plans.”

Certain Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Risk Management Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); Request for Comment. Federal Register EPA notice. Summary: “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is seeking public comment on the manufacture of certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA), during the fluorination of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and other plastic containers to inform regulations as appropriate under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). This request for public comment follows the Agency's grant on July 10, 2024, of a TSCA petition received on April 11, 2024, which requested that EPA address via TSCA the regulation of PFOA, PFNA, and PFDA formed during the fluorination of plastic containers used for a variety of household consumer, pesticide, fuel, automotive, and other industrial products.”