March 12, 2003

Sent via Certified U.S. Mail

J. P. Suarez, Assistant Administrator

Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

1200 Pennsylvania Ave NW

Washington, DC 20004

John Iani, Regional Administrator

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10

1200 Sixth Avenue

Seattle, WA 98101

Brian C. Monson, Manager, Hazardous Waste Program

Idaho Department of Environmental Quality

1410 N. Hilton

Boise, ID 83706-1255

Greetings,

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION TO PETITION TO EPA:

1.) TO REOPEN TITLE V AIR PERMIT PUBLIC HEARING AND COMMENT PERIOD FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY’S (DOE) IDAHO NATIONAL ENGINEERING AND ENVIRONMENTAL LABORATORY (INEEL) AND

2.)TO INVESTIGATE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY UNDER REPORTING OF INEEL EMISSIONS, FAILURE TO LIST WASTE CODES AND FAILURE TO IMPLEMENT MAXIMUM ACHIEVABLE CONTROL TECHNOLOGY (MACT) CONTROLS UNDER THE CLEAN AIR ACT.

Petitioners Environmental Defense Institute, Inc., Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free, Inc., and David B. McCoy (collectively “Petitioners”) filed a Petition with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) February 28, 2003 to reopen the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) Title V Permit. The Petition requested that EPA investigate the apparent practice of the Department of Energy (DOE) to under report hazardous waste volumes and emissions at the INEEL. The Petition is also a request for the EPA to take immediate steps to require DOE to install emission controls required by the Clean Air Act to protect the public health and safety.

Since February 28, 2003, INEEL emission information previously unknown to Petitioners came to our attention. Therefore, we are submitting this supplemental information to our original Petition. This “new” information further documents significantly more federal environmental law violations that were not previously shown by Petitioners in our original Petition or shown in official DOE reports to EPA regulators via NESHAP annual reports.

We are providing in Attachments 1 and 2, which compare INEEL emissions of volatile organic compounds and show that RCRA standards are exceeded for hourly standards by 6,971%, annual standards by 2,008 %. Clean Air Act standards are exceeded by 274%.

Attachment 3 shows significant under-reporting by three orders of magnitude for radioactive emissions reported to EPA by DOE in its annual NESHAP reports as compared to other DOE documents, i.e, the 1995 PEIS, the HLW/EIS, and other DOE internal reports. Petitioners acknowledge that although this particular data for radioactive emissions is in official reports, the data is probably significantly understated because it is largely based on INEEL contractor “process knowledge” and not based on direct monitoring hard data required in the regulations. (40 CFR 63.8 and 40 CFR 264.602) The data reported for curies of radioactive emissions shows a large margin of discrepancy during the same reporting years and different reporting years.

Sincerely,

__________________

Chuck Broscious, EDI Executive Director

on behalf of

Environmental Defense Institute, Inc.

Troy, Idaho 83871-0220

V 208-836-6152; F 208-835-5407

edinst@tds.net

and

Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free, Inc.

Box 4838, Jackson, WY 83001

V 307-732-2040; F 307-732-0129

and

____________________________

David B. McCoy

2940 Redbarn Lane, Idaho Falls, ID 83404

V 208-542-1449; F 208-552-0565

CC: (sent via email)

Kwai Chan, EPA/Office of Inspector General (OIG), WDC

Jeff Hunt, EPA Region X, Seattle, WA

Darrel Early, ID Deputy Attorney General

Gregory Fried, EPA/OECA, WDC

Michael Owen, EPA/OIG Seattle

Kathleen Trever, Idaho INEEL Over Site Program

Attachment Number 1

Table 1

Revision # 7 (3/12/03)

Comparison of INEEL Emissions to RCRA Standards ^f
	1995^a Max. Hourly kg/hr	1995 ^h Annual Aver. kg/yr	1996 ^b Max. Hourly kg/hr	1996^b Annual Aver. kg/yr	1997^b Max. Hourly kg/hr	1997^b Annual Aver. kg/yr	1998 ^g Actual Annual kg/yr	1999 ^g Actual Annual kg/yr	2000 ⁱ Actual Annual kg/yr
Total INEEL Organic Toxic * Emissions	97.6	14,239	59	16,000	37	27,000	56,234	36,417	23,190
RCRA^c Total Organic Standard not to be Exceeded	1.4	2,800	1.4	2,800	1.4	2,800	2,800	2,800	2,800
Number of times Exceeding RCRA Standard	69.71	5.08	42.14	5.71	26.42	9.64	20.08	13.0	8.28
INEEL Exceeded RCRA Standard As % of RCRA Standard	6,971	508	4,214	571	2,642	964	2,008	1300	828

* Total Organic Toxic Emissions = Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC); Total Organic Compounds (TOC); Volatile Organic Compounds reported as methane (VOCM); and Volatile Organic Compounds non methane (VOCNM), as defined in DOE documents. Benzene (a known carcinogen) hourly 1995 emissions (16 kg/hr) exceeded the 1.4 kg/hr standard and the 720 kg/yr Benzene release when combined with other toxic emission exceed the annual standard.

Table 2

Comparison of INEEL Emissions to Clean Air Act (CAA) Hazardous Air Pollutant (HAP) Standards ^f
	1993 ^h Actual Annual kg/yr	1995 ^h Annual Average kg/yr	1996^b Annual Average kg/yr	1997ⁱ Annual Average kg/yr	1998 g Actual Annual kg/yr	1999 ^g Actual Annual kg/yr	2000 i Actual Annual kg/yr
Total INEEL HAP ^d Emissions	31,546	30,895	3,724	40,145	62,928	62,162	23,190
CAA ^e HAP Standard. not to be exceeded	22,675	22,675	22,675	22,675	22,675	22,675	22,675
Number of times Exceeding CAA Standards	1.39	1.36	0.164	1.77	2.77	2.74	1.02
INEEL Emissions Exceeding Standards As % CAA HAP Std.	139	136	16.4	177	277	274	102

Clean Air Act (CAA) Standards are compared to the total INEEL annual toxic air emissions as the combined hazardous air pollutants (HAP) and the toxic volatile organic compounds (VOC) as shown together in DOE internal documents. In descending order, the four largest hazardous air pollutants for 1999 were; hydrochloric acid (21,950 kg/yr); carbon tetrachloride (2,468 kg/yr); hydrofluoric acid (907 kg/yr), and trichloroethane (480 kg/yr).^h Only hydrochloric acid individually exceeds the Clean Air Act Standard for individual hazardous air pollutant that is 10 tons/yr (9,070 kg/yr). The Standard for any combination of individual HAPs is 25 tons per year (22,675 kg/yr).

Notes for Tables 1 and 2 above:

a. DOE Programmatic Spent Nuclear Fuel Management and INEEL Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Programs Final Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) 1995, Volume 1, Appendix B, Table 4.7-1, p 4.7-5. Total organics is derived by adding listed organics. Total hazardous Air pollutants (HAP) is derived by adding the list of HAPs in Table 4.7-1; the table also shows benzene emissions at 16 kg/hr which alone exceeds RCRA standard of 1.4 kg/hr. See Note (h) below that shows 1995 benzine emissions at 720 kg/yr. Table 4.7-2 Comparison of baseline ambient air concentration of HAP with the regulations shows collectively the HAP exceed, as a percentage of the standard by 345%.

b. INEEL Final High-level Waste Environmental Impact Statement, September 2002, Table 4-1I page 4-34 lists Actual Site wide Volatile Organic Compounds emissions.

c. Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA) 40 CFR 264.1032(a) and 265.1032(a). Standards for Process Vents; applies to fractionators, and evaporators. “Reduce total organic emissions for all affected process vents at the facility below 1.4 kg/hr (3 lb/hr) AND 2.8 Mg/yr (3.1 tons/yr...” Contaminate units in the CFR’s are Mg/yr ( million grams/year). One Mg/yr = 1000 kg/yr. The standard in metric is 2,800 kg/yr.

d. 1995 PEIS (see #a above), Table 4.7-1 total of all Hazardous Air Pollutants. There are dozens of other regulated hazardous air pollutants emitted based on RCRA Permit Application Waste Codes, however data available only allows this incomplete summary. The PEIS states at page 4.7-4 “The INEEL is considered a major source, because facility-wide emissions of specific regulated air contaminates exceeded 227 metric tons (250 tons) per year.”

e. Clean Air Act 40 CFR 63.2 defines a major source as “any stationary source or group of stationary sources located within a contiguous area and under common control that emits or has the potential - to - emit considering controls, in the aggregate 10 tons per year (TPY) or more of any [hazardous air pollutant] HAP or 25 tpy or more of any combination of HAP.”

f. The data in the above tables is incomplete because the information gained through Freedom of Information Act and the State of Idaho’s Public Information Requests are incomplete, however partially released data show significant violation of federal and state environmental laws.

g. Air Emission Inventory for the INEEL - 1999 Emission Report, USDOE Idaho Operations, May 2000, DOE/ID-10788; Table 41 (pg. 149) lists both 1998 and 1999, and at a conversion of 2.205 pounds per kilogram = 56,234 and 36,417.23 kg respectively. Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAP) is derived from Table 1 as the sum of the listed HAPs, and again using the same conversion from pounds to kilograms for constancy with the units in the regulations.

h. Supplement Analysis of the INEEL Portion of the April 1995 Final Programmatic Environmental Impact

Statement, September 2002, USDOE/Idaho Operations Office, DOE/ID-11022, page 8-1.12.

i. EPA Envirofacts, Warehouse, Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), 1/9/03, reporting 1993 through 2000 information, TRI ID N0. 83415SDDHNLINCO, USEPA website http://www.epa.gov/tri/

Attachment Number 2

INEEL Toxic Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Emissions

Total INEEL annual toxic air emissions is the combined hazardous air pollutants (HAP) and the toxic volatile organic compounds (VOC) as shown in DOE internal documents. In descending order, the three largest hazardous air pollutants for 1999 were; hydrochloric acid (21,950 kg); carbon tetrachloride (2,468 kg); and hydrofluoric acid (907 kg).^hOnly hydrochloric acid individually exceeds the Clean Air Act Standard for individual hazardous air pollutant is 10 tons/yr (9,070 kg/yr) The CAA standard for combinations of HAP is 25 tons/yr (22,675 kg/yr).

Attachment 3

INEEL Radioactive Air Emissions (in Curies)

Air Emission Source	1995	1998	1999	2000
1998 NESHAP (note # 1)	Not Available (note # 4)	6,285	Not Available	Not Available
1995 PEIS Supp. (note # 2)	25,300	Not Available	4,800	Not Available
HLW/EIS (note # 3)	Not Available	Not Available	3,500	4,693

INEEL Iodine-129 Emissions⁵

Comparison of INEEL Iodine-129 Emissions from Official Data Sources (in Curies)

Iodine-129 Air Emission Data Source	1995	1998	1999 (note #4)	2000
1998 NESHAP (note # 1)	Not Available	0.00363	Not Avila.	Not Available
1995 PEIS Sup. Includes 1999 NESHAP (note #2)	0.190	Not Available	0.0026	Not Available
HLW/EIS Final (note # 3)	Not Available	Not Available	0.13	0.41

Notes for Above Attachment # 3 INEEL Radioactive Air Emission Tables:

1. 1998 INEEL National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants [NESHAP] - Radionuclides, Annual Report June 1999, USDOE Idaho Operations Office, DOE/ID-1010342(98), page 24.

2. Supplement Analysis of the INEEL Portion of the April 1995 Programmatic Spent Nuclear Fuel Management and INEEL Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Programs Final Environmental Impact Statement, September 2002, DOE/ID-11022, page 8-1.16.

3. Idaho High-Level Waste and Facilities Disposition Final Environmental Impact Statement, September 2002, DOE/EIS-0287, page 4-30.

4. Not available refers to Petitioners lack of access to DOE data despite Freedom of Information Act and State of Idaho Public Information Requests.

5. Iodine-129 is listed above because even the most casual observer can see that there is about three orders of magnitude Other independent analysis claim five orders of magnitude difference between what is reported to EPA via NESHAP reports and DOE documents. Additionally, the 1996 INEEL Environmental Compliance Inventory compiled by DOE’s lead Management and Operations contractor, Lockheed Martin states: “The CPP Main Stack is one of 5 sources at the INEL [sic] which have unabated potential doses in excess of 0.1 mrem/yr., thereby requiring continuous monitoring of rad releases per NESHAPs. Since I-129 has been the single largest actual dose contributor for the INEL [sic] over the past several years it should be monitored to ensure compliance. Operation of the I-129 monitor has been unfunded and has not operated for most of the last 3 years due to the fact that CPP Main Stack I-129 releases do not exceed the regulatory threshold of 10% of the unabated potential dose. An INEL [sic] policy is needed which will assure this monitor remains funded and operational so that the I-129 contribution to INEL [sic] site dose can be adequately determined and reported.”[emphasis added] [Environmental Compliance Inventory of the INEL, Volume 1 - ECI Results, December 1996, INEL-960389, page 2.1.6, Lockheed Martin]

In summary, the above data must be considered as significantly under-stated due to the lack of monitoring by DOE, which translates to a reasonable conclusion that the public health hazard is significantly higher than the reports to regulators show.