Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

Use of the Combined Index, a hazard screening tool, to target for pollution prevention in the State of Oregon

Public Deposited

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/nv935530b

Descriptions

Attribute NameValues
Creator
Abstract
  • The purpose of this study was to apply the Combined Index (Con, a hazard screening tool, developed by Dr. Debra Forman of EPA Region III Office of Air Radiation and Toxics Division, to the 1994 and 1995 Oregon Toxic Chemical Release Inventory (TRI) for pollution prevention and facility targeting analysis. This tool adds a chemical-specific, quantitatively derived toxicity factor to the mass (pounds per year -lbs./yr) of each chemical released on-site by TRI facilities. The mass and Col rankings were compared within chemical, facility, and industrial sector sections. In 1994, an estimated 18,926,399lbs of chemicals were released onsite (air, water, and land) in Oregon by 229 TRI facilities. The top ranking chemical by total mass was methanol with 6,873,392 lbs released; in contrast, by Col, methanol ranked 12th. The top Col ranking chemical was certain glycol ethers (represented by 2- methoxyethanol), it ranked 15th by mass with 233, 174lbs released on-site. There was an estimated 21, 194, 711 lbs of chemical released on-site in Oregon by 208 TRI facilities in 1995. Methanol was the chemical released by all facilities in Oregon in the highest quantity; its rank dropped to 13th with the application of the Col. The top ranking Col chemical was polychlorinated alkanes, not listed in 1994 releases. IN contrast, by total mass, polychlorinated alkanes ranked 43rd, with 7,345lbs released. In 1994, the facility that released the largest mass of chemicals (2,650,637 lbs) into the environment in Oregon was a paper company. The chemical that contributed the most to this facility's rank (known as the mass trigger chemical) was methanol with 1, 748,200 lbs released. In contrast, following ranking using the Col, the top facility was an instruments manufacturer that reported a total mass release of 9,975 lbs of ethylene oxide. In 1995, the same paper facility ranked first by mass; its total estimated releases were 2,650,637lbs, 68.3% (1,810,900 lbs) of that release was methanol. The top ranking facility following Col ranking was a transportation equipment facility with a total mass of 95,880 lbs of chemicals released into the environment. The Col trigger chemical for this facility was polychlorinated alkanes with 7,345lbs released. There were 18 and 19 industrial sectors reporting to the 1994 and 1995 Oregon TRI respectively. The industrial sector that ranked highest by mass in 1994 was the paper industry (SIC 26xx) contributing 48% or 9,269,309 lbs of the total TRI chemical releases. The paper industry also ranked highest following Col ranking. In 1995, the paper industry again ranked highest by mass with 44% of the total reported releases (9,55,976lbs). In contrast, using the Col, the transportation equipment industry (SIC 37xx) ranked first with 1,157,412lbs released. The vast majority of TRI chemicals released in Oregon were into the air. In 1994, stack gas releases contributed 71% (13,515,276 lbs) to the total on-site releases in Oregon. Stack gases also ranked highest based on Col ranking for all media releases. Likewise, in 1995, 69% (6,931,057 lbs) of all chemical releases in Oregon were from stack gases. Stack gas emissions also placed first following Col ranking. Based on Col ranking, the TRI chemicals released in Oregon in 1994 and 1995 of highest concern include certain glycol ethers, polychlorinated alkanes, ethylene oxide and trichloroethylene. In contrast, relying on mass alone methanol, ammonia, toluene and formaldehyde were identified as top chemicals of concern. The transportation equipment and instruments sectors (SIC 38xx) were identified using Col as being the sectors of highest potential public health concern for their releases in Oregon. While the paper sector, ranked first based on totallbs released in Oregon, but was of diminished public health concern relative to the other two sectors. This trend was sll.own both by the overall industrial sector analysis as well as the industrial sector-specific media analyses.
Resource Type
Date Available
Date Issued
Degree Level
Degree Name
Degree Field
Degree Grantor
Commencement Year
Advisor
Committee Member
Academic Affiliation
Non-Academic Affiliation
Subject
Rights Statement
Publisher
Peer Reviewed
Language
Digitization Specifications
  • File scanned at 300 ppi (Monochrome, 24-bit Color) using Capture Perfect 3.0.82 on a Canon DR-9080C in PDF format. CVista PdfCompressor 4.0 was used for pdf compression and textual OCR.
Replaces

Relationships

Parents:

This work has no parents.

In Collection:

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details CodeAimee2000.pdf 2017-08-03 Public Download