EQ Chemical Inventory Fuels Toxic Concerns

More than 1,800 containers of ignitable waste such as oil-based paint and fuels. Some 300 containers of powerful industrial acids. More than 160 containers of spent solvents. At least 79 containers of lead, 38 of mercury, another 25 of arsenic. Banned pesticides including DDT. Vinyl chloride and other plastics that emit deadly dioxins when burned.

Those were just some of the materials onsite at Environmental Quality's hazmat handling facility in Apex. N.C. when fire erupted last Thursday. The blaze, which led to a mandatory evacuation of neighborhoods near the plant, burned through Saturday morning.

"A number of them are carcinogens," Greenpeace spokesperson Jane Kochersperger says of the chemicals involved. "There are a lot of heavy metals. If you have children or are pregnant -- I would have a concern, personally."

Indeed, the International Chemical Safety Card (ICSC) for some of the materials onsite -- such as the fungicide thiram, of which EQ reportedly had three barrels -- specifically states, "AVOID ALL CONTACT! AVOID EXPOSURE OF (PREGNANT) WOMEN!" Greenpeace has called for additional environmental testing to ensure public safety.

Earlier this week, the Michigan-based EQ gave public officials involved in the ongoing investigation an inventory of materials by code, which Greenpeace obtained. Apex has hired Earth Tech, a California-based firm, to help it understand how the incident may have affected the town, according to news reports.

To create the list below, I matched the chemical code from the company's inventory with the name and/or description of the substance, and hotlinked wherever possible to health information from either federal agencies or the ICSC. Following the chemical code in parentheses is the number of containers the company reported onsite. Because Greenpeace's copy of the inventory is unreadable in a few spots, the final count of containers for some materials will be higher. I'll post the corrected numbers as soon as possible.

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Code (no. of containers) - chemical name/description:

D001 (1,867) - Ignitable waste: A solid waste that meets any of the following criteria: 1. A liquid that has a flash point of less than 140 degrees F as determined by a Pensky-Martens closed cup tester using ASTM method D-93-70 or D-93-80; 2. A solid, under standard temperature and pressure, that can cause fire through friction, absorption of moisture, or spontaneous chemical changes and burn vigorously and persistently that it creates a hazard; 3. An ignitable compressed gas as defined by the Department of Transportation in 49 CFR 173.300; or, 4. An oxidizer as defined by the Department of Transportation in 49 CFR 173.151. Examples include oil-based paints, mineral spirits and fuels.

D002 (341) - Corrosive waste: A solid waste that meets any of the following criteria: 1. An aqueous liquid that has a pH of 2 or less or 12.5 or more; or, 2. A liquid that corrodes steel at a rate of 6.35 mm or more per year as determined by the National Association of Corrosion Engineers. Examples include muriatic acid, sulfuric acid and solutions of sodium hydroxide.

D003 (25) - Reactive waste: A solid waste that meets any of the following criteria: 1. Instability and readiness to under go violent change; 2. Violent reactions when mixed with water; 3. Formation of potentially explosive mixtures when mixed with water; 4. Generation of toxic fumes in quantities sufficient to present a danger to human health or the environment when mixed with water; 5. Cyanide or sulfide waste which generate toxic fumes when exposed to acidic conditions; 6. Ease of detonation or explosive reaction when exposed to pressure or heat; 7. Ease of detonation or explosive decomposition or reaction at standard temperature and pressure; or, 8. Defined as a forbidden explosive by the Department of Transportation. Examples include fireworks and gunpowder.

D004 (25) - Arsenic
D005 (8) - Barium
D006 (13) - Cadmium
D007 (39) - Chromium
D008 (79) - Lead
D009 (38) - Mercury
D010 (2) - Selenium
D011 (1) - Silver
D012 (7) - Endrin
D016 (2) - 2,4-D
D018 (8) - Benzene
D019 (2) - Carbon tetrachloride
D020 (1) - Chlordane
D022 (4) - Chloroform
D035 (1) - Methyl ethyl ketone
D037 (2) - Pentachlorophenol
D039 (7) - Tetrachloroethylene
D040 (2) - Trichlorethylene
D043 (2) - Vinyl chloride

F001 (28) - The following spent halogenated solvents used in degreasing: Tetrachloroethylene, trichlorethylene, methylene chloride, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, carbon tetrachloride and chlorinated fluorocarbons; all spent solvent mixtures/blends used in degreasing containing, before use, a total of ten percent or more (by volume) of one or more of the above halogenated solvents or those solvents listed in F002, F004, and F005; and still bottoms from the recovery of these spent solvents and spent solvent mixtures.

F002 (60) - The following spent halogenated solvents: Tetrachloroethylene, methylene chloride, trichlorethylene, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, chlorobenzene, 1,1,2-trichloro-1,2,2-trifluoroethane, ortho-dichlorobenzene, trichlorofluoromethane, and 1,1,2-trichloroethane; all spent solvent mixtures/blends containing, before use, a total of ten percent or more (by volume) of one or more of the above halogenated solvents or those solvents listed in F001, F004, and F005; and still bottoms from the recovery of these spent solvents and spent solvent mixtures.

F003 (102) - The following spent non-halogenated solvents: Xylene, acetone, ethyl acetate, ethyl benzene, ethyl ether, methyl isobutyl ketone, n-butyl alcohol, cyclohexanone, and methanol; all spent solvent mixtures/blends containing, before use, only the above spent non-halogenated solvents; and all spent solvent mixtures/blends containing, before use, one or more of the above non-halogenated solvents, and, a total of ten percent or more (by volume) of one or more of those solvents listed in F001, F002, F004, and f005; and still bottoms from the recovery of these spent solvents and spent solvent mixtures.

F005 (5) - The following spent non-halogenated solvents: Toluene, methyl ethyl ketone, carbon disulfide, isobutanol, pyridine, benzene, 2-ethoxyethanol, and 2-nitropropane; all spent solvent mixtures/blends containing, before use, a total of ten percent or more (by volume) of one or more of the above non-halogenated solvents or those solvents listed in F001, F002, or F004; and still bottoms from the recovery of these spent solvents and spent solvent mixtures.

F006 (6) - Wastewater treatment sludge from electroplating operations except from the following processes: (1) Sulfuric acid anodizing of aluminum; (2) tin plating on carbon steel; (3) zinc plating (segregated basis) on carbon steel; (4) aluminum or zinc-aluminum plating on carbon steel; (5) cleaning/stripping associated with tin, zinc and aluminum plating on carbon steel; and etching and milling of aluminum.

F007 (1) - Spent cyanide plating bath solutions from electroplating operations.

F027 (1) - Discarded unused formulations containing tri-, tetra-, or pentachlorophenol or discarded unused formulations containing compounds derived from these chlorophenols. (This listing does not include formulations containing Hexachlorophene synthesized from prepurified 2,4,5-trichlorophenol as the sole component.)

F035 (25) - Wastewater treatment sludges generated in the production of creosote.

P012 (1) - Arsenic trioxide
P022 (2) - Carbon disulfide
P029 (1) - Copper cyanide
P042 (2) - Epinephrine
P075 (4) - Nicotine, & salts
P098 (4) - Potassium cyanide
P106 (1) - Sodium cyanide
U036 (1) - Chlordane, alpha & gamma isomers
U051 (1) - Creosote
U061 (2) - DDT
U067 (2) - Ethylene dibromide
U069 (1) - Dibutyl phthalate
U080 (1) - Methylene chloride
U112 (2) - Ethyl acetate
U122 (1) - Formaldehyde
U133 (2) - Hydrazine
U160 (1) - Methyl ethyl ketone peroxide
U166 (1) - 1,4-Naphthalenedione
U188 (3) - Phenol
U226 (2) - 1,1,1-Trichloroethane
U244 (3) - Thiram
U279 (2) - Carbaryl