Electric Co-op Today

In an action that could affect co-ops across the country, the Environmental Protection Agency is considering whether utilities should accelerate the removal of equipment, such as transformers, that contains concentrations of PCBs.

EPA is considering whether to speed up removal of old transformers and equipment with PCBs. (Photo By: CW Beckett)

The agency has not made a final determination, and is still in the information-gathering stage, according to Jim Stine, senior principal for environmental policy at NRECA.

But he said EPA clearly intends revisiting an issue that has been around for more than 30 years.

Under an advance notice of proposed rulemaking issued April 7, EPA said it might seek a total phase out by 2025 of equipment that contains PCBs at levels of more than 50 parts per million.

“Many co-ops have already gone a long way toward meeting this objective, but there is apparently some older equipment still in use with PCB levels above the 50 ppm threshold,” Stine said.

The agency also is considering whether it should require distribution systems to locate and label, or remove, equipment in their systems that have PCBs.

Stine said that could represent added expense, especially for small co-ops, since current law authorizes the use of liquid-filled PCB equipment in a non-totally enclosed manner for transformers, switches, capacitors and circuit breakers, among other items.

PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were widely used as cooling and insulating fluids in equipment such as transformers and capacitors through the 1970s. Citing health concerns, Congress banned their production in 1979.

EPA said it is concerned that equipment made in the 1970s is near the end of its life, increasing the possibility of hazardous seepage and the cost of liability insurance for PCB equipment owners.

Stine said NRECA is developing a detailed questionnaire for co-ops as a way of collecting information that will form the basis for comments and suggestions on the phase-out initiative.

The agency has several public meetings planned and will receive comments on its proposal through July 6.

Tags: Environmental Protection Agency, Obama Administration, Transformer