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The Air Resources Board (ARB/Board) staff is holding a public
workshop on proposed amendments to the Airborne Toxic Control
Measure for Chromium Plating and Chromic Acid Anodizing
Facilities (Chrome Plating ATCM).  

The Chrome Plating ATCM workshop agenda and staff presentation
are now available on our website at
http://www.arb.ca.gov/toxics/chrome/chrome.htm for your review
and download.  As a reminder, this workshop will be held at the
following time and location:

	Date: 		January 10, 2013
	Time: 		10:00 am to 12:00 p.m. 
	Location:  	Conference Room 550
	Address:  	Cal/EPA Headquarters Building 
			1001 “I” Street, 5th Floor
			Sacramento, California 95814

Background:
The ARB identified hexavalent chromium as a toxic air contaminant
(TAC) in January 1986. The Board found, based on epidemiological
and animal studies, that hexavalent chromium should be considered
a human carcinogen for which there is no safe threshold exposure
level.  In 1988, an ATCM was adopted to reduce hexavalent
chromium emissions from both decorative and hard chrome plating
facilities, as well as chromic acid anodizing operations (Chrome
Plating ATCM).  This measure reduced overall emissions from these
facilities by 97 percent.  In 1998, the Chrome Plating ATCM was
amended to establish equivalency with United States Environmental
Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) standards.  In an effort to further
protect the public, amendments to the Chrome Plating ATCM were
presented and approved by the Board on December 7, 2006.  These
amendments were subsequently adopted on August 9, 2007, and
became legally effective on October 24, 2007.  The adopted
amendments set forth the most stringent emission control
requirements in the nation. 

On September 19, 2012, the U.S. EPA published amendments to the
National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants – Hard
and Decorative Chromium Electroplating and Chromium Anodizing
Tanks.  Information about these amendments can be found in the
Federal Register at the following website: 
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-09-19/pdf/2012-20642.pdf. 
U.S. EPA actions amended the emission limits, surface tension
requirements, and phased out the use of perfluorinated octane
sulfonate (PFOS) in fume suppressants.  As a result, ARB is
proposing to make amendments to the Chrome Plating ATCM to align
with U.S. EPA’s amended rule.  The primary changes we are
proposing are to revise the surface tension limits and phase out
the use of PFOS in fume suppressants.

If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Michelle Komlenic,
Air Pollution Specialist at (919) 322-3926 or via e-mail at
mkomleni@arb.ca.gov.