{"operation":"document","citation":"08-0259","title":"Entergy Corporation — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation","source_type":"guidance","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"guidance","official":true,"published_on":"2008-12-03","effective_on":null,"summary":"08-0259 response to Entergy Corporation concerning 171.8, 172.101.","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-08-0259.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-08-0259.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-08-0259","source_url":"https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/2008/080259.pdf","body":"<<<PAGE 1>>>\n\nU.S. Department\nof Transportation\nPipeline and Hazardous Materials\nSafety Administration\n1200 New Jersey Ave., SE\nWashington, DC 20590\nDEC 0 3 2008\nMr. Bob Hayden\nEnvironmental Management\nEntergy Corporation\n2121 3gth Street\nKenner, Louisiana 70065\nRef. No. 08-0259\nDear Mr. Hayden:\nThis responds to your request for clarification of the procedures to be used when determining\nwhether a mixture or solution meets the definition of a hazardous substance under the\nHazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180). Specifically, you ask if an\nitem of oil filled electrical equipment (OFEE) that contains approximately 100 gallons of a\nnon-hazardous mineral oil and may be contaminated with up to 500 ppm of polychlorinated\nbiphenyl liquid (PCB) is regulated as a hazard substance under the HMR. The contaminated\noil weighs approximately 7 pounds per gallon.\nThe answer is no. For the purposes of the HMR, a hazardous substance is a material,\nincluding its mixtures or solutions that: (1) is listed in Appendix A to the Hazardous Materials\nTable (HMT) in 5 172.101; (2) is in a quantity in one package that meets or exceeds the\nreportable quantity (RQ) list in Appendix A; and (3) when in a mixture or solution, is in a\nconcentration by weight that equals or exceeds the concentration corresponding to the RQ of\nthe material shown in the table in 5 171.8. As indicated in Appendix A to the HMT, the\nreportable quantity for PCB material is one pound. It would take 270 gallons of a solution\nweighing 7 pounds per gallon containing 500 ppm of PCB material to meet or exceed the RQ\nof one pound (7 X 270 = 1890; 1890 X .05 % = 0.945). The maximum amount of\ncontaminated oil in the OFEE you offer for transportation is 100 gallons.\nI hope this information is helpful. Please contact us if we can be of further assistance.\nHattie L. Mitchell\nChief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention\nOffice of Hazardous Materials Standards\n\n<<<PAGE 2>>>\n\nEnvironmental Management\n2121 38th Street\nKenner, LA 70065\nOctober 15,2008\nU. S. Department of Transportation\nHazardous Material Information Center\nRe: DOT hazmat - shipping name for Oil Filled Electrical Equipment\nSir:\nEntergy Services, Inc. (Entergy) requests the Department's regulatory guidance regarding\nthe DOT hazardous materials proper shipping description relevant to untested\nmiscellaneous oil filled electrical equipment (OFEE). These devices such as electrical\ntransformers, are filled with napthenic-based mineral oil that may be contaminated with\nvarying levels of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). As noted, these OFEE units are not\ntested for PCBs by laboratory analysis, prior to shipment. The OFEE units are transported\nper USEPA's Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) regulations at 40 CFR Part 761,\nunder a Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest, and per those regulations, each device is\nassumed to contain greater than 500 parts per million PCB for TSCA purposes, unless the\ndevice is known by laboratory analytical data or manufacture data plate to contain less\nthan than 50 part per million PCB, or to have been manufactured after July 1979. The\nreceiving facility for the OFEE is an USEPNTSCA- permitted transformer metals\nreclamation facility which determines PCB classification status by laboratory analysis for\neach \"PCB\" content unknown\" device upon receipt. The Uniform Hazardous Waste\nManifest is later corrected to reflect the true PCB values for the OFEE as is allowed in\nthe 40 CFR Part 76lmanifest discrepancy resolution process. '\nEntergy's past practice regarding the transportation of OFEE has been to act under the\nDOT regulations, in accord with the same presumption of PCB content for non-tested\nOFEE. Out of an abundance of caution, and in order to provide maximum warning and\nprotection to spill or accident responders, Entergy has treated the OFEE as if the oil\ncontained in the OFEE (for which PCB status is unknown), is a \"hazardous substance\",\nunder 49 CFRl71.8* However, even assuming a concentration of 500 ppm PCB, it is\nphysically impossible for most of the OFEE transported in this manner to contain an RQ\nof PCBs (the OFEE would have to contain approximately 270 gallons of oil . whereas\nthe largest shipped in this manner by Entergy normally contains approximately 100\ngallons of oil). Under this scenario, Entergy has used the DOT shipping name\n\"RQ, UN2315, Polychlorinated Biphenyls, 9, PGIII\". Based on Entergy's operational\nknowledge of the size of the transformers and PCB content of the oil, would it be more\nappropriate and accurate to ship the OFEE units described as \"Miscellaneous Oil-Filled\nElectrical Equipment, non-DOT regulated\"? According to the attached MSDS\n(Section 14), the napthenic-based oii in the OFEE is not regulated by DOT.\n\n<<<PAGE 3>>>\n\nI would appreciate your regulatory compliance guidance on this matter.\nI request that you provide me with a hard-copy response of\nclarification/interpretation on DOT letterhead regarding this issue to be forwarded\nto me at the below address.\nThank you.\nBob Hayden\nEntergy Corporation\nEnvironmental Management\n2121 3sth Street\nK e ~ e r , Louisiana 70065\n504-463-2497\nrhavdei1~2~!enterg~.coin\n* Although PCBs in liquid are listed on the Hazardous Materials List Special Provision\n140 of 49 CFR172.102 is applicable to that listing and provides that PCBs in liquid are\nnot a \"hazardous material\" unless the liquid meets the definition of \"hazardous\nsubstance\" or \" marine pollutant\" in 49 CFR 171.8. Thus the concentration of PCBs in\nthe liquid and the applicable one pound reportable quantity of PCBs becomes a limiting\nfactor on whether the liquid is treated as a \"hazardous material\".","truncated":false,"body_characters":5652}