[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 105 (Wednesday, August 3, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 3, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                       MEDICAL WASTE INCINERATORS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to alert my colleagues to 
regulations that will be proposed shortly by the Environmental 
Protection Agency. These new regulations will greatly impact hospitals 
that operate medical waste incinerators by mandating strict emission 
levels that are unattainable by currently technology. The EPA admits 
that this regulation will close down 80 percent of the medical waste 
incinerators located in a large majority of hospitals nationwide, 
including veteran's hospitals.
  Presently, 70 percent of hospitals operate incinerators as a cost-
effective means of reducing their medical waste to a manageable 
capacity, and, equally importantly, transforming highly toxic waste 
into safe and inert material for transport to dumping sites. By 
mandating unreasonable emission levels, many hospitals will be forced 
to find alternative methods of disposing of their ``Red Bag'' medical 
waste. This waste includes needles, bandages, dialysis waste, and a 
variety of biomedical wastes.
  Mr. President, the release of these regulations is to coincide with 
the release of a study on dioxin. It is my understanding that the EPA 
study will demonstrate that a multitude of combustion sources, 
including cars and trucks, are responsible for dioxin output. But, to 
my knowledge, this study has not been reviewed by anybody outside the 
EPA.
  Mr. President, I am afraid that the EPA is putting the cart before 
the horse in this case. It has come to my attention that an official 
within the EPA has admitted this information is faulty, yet the EPA has 
decided to go ahead with issuing the regulations, hoping to correct 
them later. This is precisely the sort of action that riles taxpayers 
and business owners.
  It is my understanding that the soon-to-be-released regulations are 
also inconsistent with sections 111 and 129 of the Clean Air Act 
Amendments passed by Congress in 1991. I have been informed that the 
EPA seeks to establish emission levels that are based on optimal 
performance levels which are not achievable in actual practice.
  Mr. President, we need to consider the impact these regulations will 
have. They will not reduce the total amount of medical waste. Instead, 
hospitals will be forced to send possibly contaminated blood and tissue 
waste across town or across the country to a landfill or other type of 
waste incinerator.
  I have received numerous studies indicating that many waste 
incinerators operate within very strict health and environmental 
standards already implemented by 40 States. In fact, Kentucky 
promulgated strict regulations the same year Congress approved the 
Clean Air Act Amendments of 1991.
  For the past 4 years, Kentucky hospitals have safely operated 
incinerators that meet or exceed the standards set.
  Technological advances have greatly reduced the level of harmful 
emissions. For instance, technology has helped reduce emissions of 
metal, lead and cadmium by 2,500 times. In fact, independent stack 
emission tests show that modern incinerations fall within U.S. EPA 
health risk guidelines.
  In addition to dioxin levels, the EPA also strictly monitors other 
pollutants. Incinerators already on the market significantly limit the 
emissions of other pollutants to well within safe limits. For example, 
carbon monoxide emissions from small medical waste incinerators are 
roughly a quarter of the emissions from a diesel truck and almost two-
thirds lower than a wood burning fire. Studies also show that diesel 
truck emissions of nitrogen is roughly 2 times more than that of an 
incinerator.
  Currently, 70 percent of all hospitals maintain incinerators because 
waste incineration is the most cost-effective means of disposal. 
Hospitals can dispose of one ton of waste for between $200 to $1,200 
per ton. The EPA estimates that new regulations will drive the cost as 
high as $2,500 per ton.
  Hospitals can't afford to double their costs for waste disposal. 
These new regulations will certainly not contribute to reducing the 
cost of health care. In addition, the EPA estimates that at a minimum, 
7,000 jobs will be lost.
  Of course, there are alternatives. One is to ship waste across State 
lines to a regional waste facility where it will be burned. Ironically, 
the dioxin emitted from two heavy diesel trucks used to haul the waste 
is the same as that emitted from a modern medical waste incinerator 
itself. Also in many cases, waste haulers are not as cheap and will add 
to hospitals' disposal costs.
  Another method is to decontaminate the waste and put it into a 
landfill. However, pollution and a public perception problem continue 
to be associated with landfills.
  I also might point out that New York State requires that medical 
waste must be unrecognizable at the point of disposal, thus limiting 
disposal options.
  Mr. President, I cannot help thinking that the EPA has not done its 
homework nor does it seem to have a clear plan in mind. Does the EPA 
intend to eliminate incinerators because it believes that waste hauling 
is environmentally sound; or would it prefer to bury the waste?
  What about the added cost, Mr. President? A number of environmental 
experts believe this policy will boost costs, thus, contributing to the 
illegal dumping of medical waste, which I believe everyone in this body 
would agree is undesirable.
  Mr. President, I want to stress that I support regulations to require 
reasonable safeguards for all incinerators. However, these regulations 
are not required to be promulgated until April 1996. Although I do not 
suggest that EPA wait that long to adopt final regulations, clearly EPA 
does have time under the schedule we set to re-evaluate its own faulty 
data to solicit opinions from industry officials and the scientific 
experts before implementing these regulations. EPA needs to get it 
right the first time.
  Therefore, I respectfully urge Administrator Browner to postpone the 
promulgation of these regulations and review the relevant material that 
will help her formulate environmentally and health conscious 
regulations, while keeping in mind the economic impact.
  I hope Administrator Browner will seek out experts and experienced 
state administrators to formulate a feasible plan that will allow 
hospitals to dispose of their waste in a cost-effective but 
environmentally safe manner. After all, our decisions today will impact 
our environment in the future.

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