Project XL

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
REGION 6
1445 ROSS AVENUE, SUITE 1200
DALLAS, TX 75202-2733


11/8/96


CERTIFIED MAIL - RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED

Mr. David W. Graham
Manager, Environmental Department
DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY
2301 N. Brazosport Blvd.
Freeport, Texas 77541-3257

Ref: Request for Information pursuant to Section 3007 of RCRA regarding operations at Dow Chemical Company; EPA ID No. TXD008092793

Dear Mr. Graham:

Region 6 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is conducting a review of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Part B permit application for Dow Chemical Company, Freeport, Texas, as it applies to Dow Chemical Company's Boiler Industrial Furnace (BIF) Units (B-901, B-902, B-903, F-820A/B, FTB-400, FTB-401, FTB-402, R-30, B1900, F-210, F-11, B-824, B-839).

EPA has determined that Dow Chemical Company's permit application lacks specific information needed to determine whether the boilers can be operated in a manner that is protective of human health and the environment. Furthermore, without the information needed to perform an accurate assessment of risk from your facility, EPA is are unable to determine whether a permit may be issued to your facility that is protective of human health and the environment.

Pursuant to the authority of Section 3007 of the RCRA, 42 U.S.C. Section 6927, and 40 C.F.R. Section 270.10(k), you are hereby requested to respond to the Information Request set forth in Attachments A and B.

Compliance with the Information Request set forth in Attachments A and B is mandatory. Failure to respond fully and truthfully to the Information Request by December 8, 1996, or to adequately justify such failure to respond, can result in an enforcement action by EPA pursuant to Section 3008 of RCRA and/or denial of your request for a permit to burn hazardous waste in your boilers. Please be further advised that provision of false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or representations may subject you to criminal penalties under Section 3008(d) of RCRA. Finally, EPA reserves the right to issue an Order pursuant to Section 3013 of RCRA, to compel you to monitor or test your stack emissions for volatile organic compounds, semi-volatile organic compounds, dioxin/furan compounds, metals, and total organic carbon.

This Information Request is not subject to the approval requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, 44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.

Your response to this Information Request should be mailed to:

William Gallagher, Chief
Oklahoma/Texas RCRA Permits Section (6PD-O)
Multimedia Planning & Permitting Division
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6
1445 Ross Avenue
Dallas, Texas 75202
ATTN: David Weeks

Due to the serious legal ramifications that may occur if you fail to respond properly, EPA strongly encourages you to give this matter your immediate attention and to respond to this Information Request within the above-noted specified time. If you have any legal or technical questions relating to this Information Request, you may consult with EPA prior to the time specified above. Please direct legal questions to Bruce Jones of the Office of Regional Counsel at (214) 665-2122. Technical questions should be directed to David Weeks at the above address, or at (214) 665-6768.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Sincerely yours,



Allyn M. Davis, Director
Multimedia Planning and Permitting Division


Enclosures

cc: Minor Hibbs, Texas Natural Resource
Conservation Commission




ATTACHMENT A

Dow Chemical Company
2301 N. Brazosport Blvd.
Freeport, Texas 77541-3257

FIRST INFORMATION REQUEST

General

Pursuant to Section 3007 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA), as amended, 42 U.S.C. Section 6927, any person who generates, stores, treats, transports or otherwise handles, or has handled, hazardous wastes shall, upon request of any officer or employee of EPA, furnish information relating to such wastes. Pursuant to 40 C.F.R. Section 270.10 (k), the Regional Administrator may require a permittee or an applicant to submit information in order to establish permit conditions under 40 C.F.R. §§270.32(b)(2) and 270.50(d).

Compliance with this Information Request is mandatory. Failure to respond fully and truthfully to the Information Request, or to adequately justify each failure to respond, can result in enforcement action by EPA pursuant to Section 3008 of RCRA. This statute permits EPA to seek the imposition of penalties of up to $25,000 for each day of non-compliance. You are further advised that submittal of false, fictitious, or fraudulent information, or the knowing omission of pertinent information may subject you to additional penalties under Section 3008(d)(3) of RCRA, 42 U.S.C. Section 6928(d)(3).

This Information Request is not subject to the approval requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, 44 U.S.C. Section 3501, et seq.

Definitions
The following definitions shall apply to the following words as they appear in Attachment A:

1. The term "you" or "respondent" shall mean the addressee of this Request, its officers, managers, employees, contractors, trustees, partners, successors, U.S. parent company, assigns, agents, and representatives.

2. The term "person" shall have the same definition as in Section 1004 (15) of RCRA meaning an individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, corporation (including a government corporation), partnership, association, State, municipality, commission, political subdivision of a State, or any interstate body.

3. The term "hazardous waste" shall have the same definition as that contained in Section 1004 (5) of RCRA and 40 CFR Section 261.3.
4. The term "solid waste" shall have the same definition as that contained in Section 1004 (27) of RCRA and 40 CFR Section 261.2.

5. The term "identify" means provide:

a. with respect to a natural person, that person's name, job title, business address and telephone number, home address and telephone number.

b. with respect to a corporation, partnership, business trust or other association or business entity (including a sole proprietorship) its full name, address, legal status, and form (e.g. corporation, partnership, etc.) and a brief description of its business.

c. with respect to a document, its customary business description, date, number if any (invoice of purchase order number), author's identity, addressor, addressee and/or recipient, and the subject matter.

d. with respect to a hazardous waste shipment, the State Manifest Document Number and the Manifest Document Number in Block 1 from the manifest accompanying the shipment.

6. The terms "document" and "documents" shall mean any object that records, stores, or presents information, and includes writings of any kind, formal or informal, whether or not wholly or partially in handwriting, including by way of illustration and not by way of limitation, any invoice, manifest, bill of lading, receipt, endorsement, check, bank draft, canceled check, deposit slip, withdrawal slip, order, correspondence, record book, minutes, memorandum of telephone and other conversations including meetings, agreements and the like, diary, calendar, desk pad, scrapbook, notebook, bulletin, circular, form, pamphlet, statement, journal, postcard, letter, telegram, telex, report, notice, message, analysis, comparison, graph, chart, interoffice or intra office communications, photostat or other copy of any documents, microfilm or other film record, any photograph, sound recording on any type of device, any punch card, disc or disc pack, any tape or other type of memory generally associated with computers and data processing (together with the programming instructions and other written material necessary to use such punch card, disc, or disc pack, tape or other type of memory and together with printouts of such punch card, disc, or disc pack, tape or other type of memory); and (a) every copy of each document which is not an exact duplicate of a document which is produced, (b) every copy which has any writing, figure or notation, annotation or the like on it, (c) drafts of each document, (d) attachments to or enclosures with any document and (e) every document referred to in any other document.

7. The terms "and" and "or" shall be construed either disjunctively or conjunctively as necessary to bring within the scope of this Information Request any information which might otherwise be construed to be outside its scope.

8. The term "arrangement" means every separate contract or other agreement between two or more persons.

9. The term "sample" means the contents of any container which are analyzed by generally accepted analytical methods, whether in the field or in a laboratory, for chemical content. The sample can be effluent, surface water, ground water, other liquid, sludge, sediment, soil, air, etc.

10. Words in the masculine shall be construed in the feminine, and vice versa, and words in the singular shall be construed in the plural, and vice versa, where appropriate in the context of a particular question or questions.

11. All terms not defined herein shall have their ordinary meaning, unless such terms are defined in the RCRA or 40 CFR Parts 260 - 268, in which case the statutory or regulatory definitions shall apply.

12. The terms "BIFs" and "BIF Units" shall mean the B-901, B-902, B-903, F-820A/B, FTB-400, FTB-401, FTB-402, R-30, B1900, F-210, F-11, B-824, and B-839 process equipment, unless otherwise specifically stated.
Instructions
1. Please provide a separate narrative response to each and every question and parts within a question set forth in this Information Request.

2. Precede each answer with the text and the number of the question to which it corresponds.

3. Identify the person(s) answering these questions on behalf of respondent.

4. For each and every question contained herein, identify all documents consulted, examined, of referred to in the preparation of the answer of that contain information responsive to the question and provide true and accurate copies of all such documents.

5. For each and every question contained herein, identify all documents consulted, examined, or referred to in the preparation of the answer of that contain information responsive to the question and provide true and accurate copies of all such documents.

6. If information or documents not known or not available to you as of the date of submission of a response to this Information Request should later become known or available to you, you must supplement your response to EPA. Moreover, should you find, at any time after the submission of your response that any portion of the submitted information is false or misrepresents the truth, you must notify EPA of this fact as soon as possible and provide EPA with a corrected response.

7. For each document produced in response to this Information Request indicate on the document, or in some other reasonable manner, the number of the Question to which it responds.

8. In accordance with Section 3007 of RCRA, 42 U.S.C. Section 6927, the information requested herein must be provided even though the Respondent may contend that it includes possibly confidential information or trade secrets. You may, if you desire, assert a confidentiality claim covering part of all of the information submitted in accordance with 40 CFR, Part 2, Subpart B [originally published in the Federal Register at 41 Fed. Reg. 36902 (September 1, 1976), and amended at 43 Fed. Reg. 40000 (September 8, 1978), and 50 Fed. Reg. 51661 (December 18, 1985)]. Unless you make a claim at the time that you submit the information, it may be made available to the public by EPA without further notice to you. If you wish to assert a business confidentiality claim, you must clearly mark each page of each document included in your claim with a legend such as "trade secret", "proprietary", or "company confidential".

If you claim information submitted in response to this request as confidential, you must also provide a redacted version of the information with all confidential business information deleted.
Questions
Pursuant to the authority of Section 3007 of RCRA, 42 U.S.C. Section 6927, and to 40 C.F.R. Section 270.10(k), the following information/data is required in order for EPA to complete a screening risk assessment of the Dow Chemical Company, Freeport facility relative to establishing permit conditions under 40 C.F.R. Sections 270.32(b)(2) and 270.50(d).

1. Provide copies of air quality permits for all major sources of air emissions from processes at Dow Chemical Company, Freeport facility which are subject to the Clean Air Act (CAA) or Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) regulations. If a permit has been revised, please indicate the most recent emissions and any offsets which may have taken place.

2. A) Provide a plot plan of the Dow Chemical Company, Freeport site indicating the location of all major production processes. B) Indicate all processes which provide feed to the B-901, B-902, B-903, F-820A/B, FTB-400, FTB-401, FTB-402, R-30, B1900, F-210, F-11, B-824, and B-839 process equipment. C) Indicate those sources which emit fugitives.

3. A) Provide a process and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) indicating fuel inputs to the B-901, B-902, B-903, F-820A/B, FTB-400, FTB-401, FTB-402, R-30, B1900, F-210, F-11, B-824, and B-839 process equipment and indicating locations(s) of all monitors for feed inputs. B) Show sources and amounts of waste to be burned. C) Indicate sampling locations for all input streams to each BIF. Provide a description of sampling methods. D) Identify Principle Organic Hazardous Constituents (POHCs) for each BIF.

4. A) Provide linear dimensions for the B-901, B-902, B-903, F-820A/B, FTB-400, FTB-401, FTB-402, R-30, B1900, F-210, F-11, B-824, and B-839 process equipment as a description of feed nozzles and atomization of fuels. B) Provide details of the prime mover capacity and fan curve showing normal operating range (static pressure, rpm, horsepower, volumetric flow). C) Provide the following information for each BIF: stack gas flow rates, temperatures, emissions data.

5. A) provide a detailed description of the operating conditions for the B-901, B-902, B-903, F-820A/B, FTB-400, FTB-401, FTB-402, R-30, B1900, F-210, F-11, B-824, and B-839 process equipment. Include any expected variabilities for each parameter (waste feed composition/rate, air feed rate, auxiliary fuel/rate, temperature, scrubber liquid flow rate, exhaust gas flow rate). Please address worst case conditions (i.e., maximum air flow rate with minimum O2 and high HCL removal). B) Describe scrubber liquid flow rate as well as pH and pressure drop. Detail the analytical methods for scrubber liquids which are generated. Specify exhaust gas flow rate of the scrubber.

6. A) Provide a detailed description of Automatic shutdown and alarm systems for
the B-901, B-902, B-903, F-820A/B, FTB-400, FTB-401, FTB-402, R-30, B1900, F-210, F-11, B-824, and B-839 process equipment. Please describe each BIF Unit Automatic Feed Cutoff System as manual, electronic, or computer driven. Detail all sensing devices or action mechanisms. B) Describe calibration and testing schedules for all automatic feed cutoff systems. C) Provide a description for each of the following parameters: fan failure, scrubber failure, low temperature, low oxygen, and low atomizing fluid pressure. D) Specify minimum BIF temperatures as well as the point where it is monitored. Provide a description of protective measures employed. E) Detail Automatic Waste Feed Cutoff System set points for both trial burn and normal operation.

7. A) Describe in detail, for the B-901, B-902, B-903, F-820A/B, FTB-400, FTB-401, FTB-402, R-30, B1900, F-210, F-11, B-824, and B-839 process equipment all trial burn operating conditions including expected variabilities for each operating parameter. Waste feed composition (for waste streams most difficult to incinerate) should be included (i.e.,
high moisture, low BTU, high solids, viscosity, and chlorine content). Include data for
waste feed containing PCBs and metals. B) Include a description of air feed rates, as well as auxiliary fuel types and rates.

8. Provide the manufacturers name, model number, description of the operating principle,
location, measurement range(s), calibration methods and frequencies for the following
monitors:

Natural Gas Flow
Hydrogen Gal Flow
Temperature(s)
Pressure(s)
Waste Feed(s)
Waste Atomization Pressures(s)
Combustion Air Flow
Auxiliary Fuel Flow
Scrubber Liquid Flow
Scrubber Liquid pH
Carbon Monoxide
Kiln Speed
Process Steam Production rate
Process Steam Temperature
Process Steam Pressure
Flue Gas CO
Flue Gas O2

9. Provide a copy of the latest Facility Process Waste Minimization Assessment. Describe all processes where waste minimization has been implemented, particularly those processes which generate waste feed to the BIF units. Describe the waste minimizations technique(s) employed, waste reductions achieved and the economic impact felt. Describe other environmental media affected by waste minimization techniques employed. Describe potential waste minimization projects, related processes (particularly those processes which may have a significant impact upon or provide waste feed to the BIF Units), anticipated waste reduction, expected implementation, and anticipated economic impact.

10. Provide any results, findings, or additional information dealing with stack testing which
updates or completes the 1992 Certificate of Compliance to include building height.
stack height, angle difference between true North and Plant North, number of sampling
ports, sampling port location, type and arrangement of all scaffolding in place, specific
safety requirements for stack sampling, stack gas flow rates, temperatures, and emissions
data for each stack.