Curbing of 1st Cancer-Causing Air Toxin OKd

In what was described as a milestone in efforts to limit emissions of air pollutants, the California Air Resources Board on Thursday for the first time placed controls on an air pollutant not because it causes smog but solely because it causes cancer.

The board voted 7 to 0 in Sacramento to approve a regulation requiring service stations in smog-free rural areas to limit emissions of benzene, a carcinogenic component of gasoline, by installing vapor recovery systems on their pumps within two years.

“Today’s action is significant because it is the first control measure that the state has taken to control air toxic carcinogens. Up until now, our controls have been basically to look at things like smog. While these are obviously health-related problems, this is the first control measure that looks at controls to minimize carcinogens on human health,� board Chairwoman Jananne Sharpless said.

Until now, the vapor recovery systems--long familiar to Southland motorists--have been limited to the state’s major metropolitan areas on grounds that the gasoline vapors contribute to the formation of photochemical smog. About 90% of California’s 15,000 service stations now have the systems. The remaining 10% serve 3.2 million people in smog-free rural areas, mainly in Northern and Central California.

Local air pollution control districts in affected areas will have six months to adopt rules incorporating the Air Resources Board directive. Service stations in those districts would then have two years to comply after local rules are approved.

The regulation’s chief significance, officials said Thursday, was that it marked the first time rules had been put into effect controlling an air pollutant on grounds that it causes cancer in humans. Benzene is considered only a minor contributor to smog.

“We’ve always controlled these chemicals to some degree in our efforts to reduce smog. But now we have the ability to isolate them and regulate them even more because of their ability to cause cancer. It moves us into a new era in air pollution control,� ARB spokesman Bill Sessa said in an interview.

The board said the new regulation will apply to all gas stations that pump more than 480,000 gallons a year. Earlier, the staff had recommended that the rule apply to stations that pumped more than 240,000 gallons a year. But the board called for more study on the impact on smaller stations and delayed a decision on them for three months.

Crude Oil

Benzene is a natural component of crude oil and is also formed in the production of gasoline. Benzene can cause leukemia and other chronic blood disorders in humans.

Motorists who fill their own tanks at self-service stations without vapor recovery systems are most at risk from exposure to benzene, the ARB said. But residents living near uncontrolled service stations, as well as the general population, are also at risk.

“The greatest risk from service station benzene emissions is due to direct exposure during vehicle fueling and is estimated to affect over 1 million persons. The lifetime cancer risk associated with this exposure is seven to 51 cancer cases per million persons,� the ARB staff report said.

The risk could be reduced by 85% with the installation of a vapor recovery system, the staff said.

Service Stations

Comparable reductions in risk were reported for people living near uncontrolled service stations and for the general population.

Earlier this week, the South Coast Air Quality Management District released a report that said that of 20 air toxins studied, benzene and chromium from metal-plating operations posed the greatest cancer risk from air toxins.

Thursday’s vote by the ARB was the culmination of a process that began in 1977 when the board appointed an independent panel of experts to review what was known about cancer-causing air pollutants. Then, in 1983, the Legislature approved a bill by Assemblywoman Sally Tanner (D-El Monte) that directed the ARB to identify and control air toxins, even if the emissions did not produce smog.

Tanner, who heads the Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials, said in an interview Thursday that she was “delighted� with the ARB action.

Emission Levels

‘We have some serious problems with toxic contaminants being emitted into the air. There wasn’t much being done about it. I really believe that it’s critical that we find those chemicals, determine how they should be regulated and what levels of emissions are safe.�