Proposed legislation addresses burning of "recycled" oil.More than 90 percent of all "recycled" used oil -- 784 million gallons each year, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution, and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and data -- is actually burned as a fuel, releasing lead and other toxic metals such as arsenic, cadmium and chromium. Lead emissions from burning used oil are greater than any other industrial source reporting to the EPA EPA eicosapentaenoic acid. EPA abbr. eicosapentaenoic acid EPA, n.pr See acid, eicosapentaenoic. EPA, n. . Rep. Cardiss Collins Cardiss H. Collins, originally Cardiss Robertson, (b. September 24, 1931) is a Democratic politician from Illinois who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1973 to 1997. She was the first African American woman to represent the Midwest in Congress. (D-Ill.) has addressed this concern by introducing the Oil Recycling and Safe Handling Act, H.R. 131. This bill, identical to legislation introduced last year by Collins, tightens regulations regarding the recycling and management of used oil. For example, Collins' legislation would require toxins to be removed from used oil before it could be burned. Such a law is needed because EPA regulations are too lenient, allowing high levels of toxic metal contamination in used=oil fuels, said Dan Weiss, the director of the Sierra Club's Environmental Quality Program. The burning of used oil has significant health and environmental impacts, Weiss said. Current EPA standards permit school, apartment and hospital boilers to burn used oil with a lead content 10 times higher than allow for industrial facilities. Children and urban residents are the most affected by the burning of used oil because the contaminated contaminated, v 1. made radioactive by the addition of small quantities of radioactive material. 2. made contaminated by adding infective or radiographic materials. 3. an infective surface or object. oil is burned inside their homes and schools. Airborne lead has been linked to brain damage, neurological disorders and learning disabilities in children. The EPA projects that more than 3,000 cancer cases will eventually result because of the present level of used-oil burning. In addition, 63 used-oil facilities have been placed on the Superfund list of hazardous waste Hazardous waste Any solid, liquid, or gaseous waste materials that, if improperly managed or disposed of, may pose substantial hazards to human health and the environment. Every industrial country in the world has had problems with managing hazardous wastes. sties sties 1 n. Plural of sty1. v. Third person singular present tense of sty1. , with a cleanup cost estimated at $2.1 billion. Used oil recycling received a boost during last fall's election campaign when both George Bush and Al Gore, on separate occasions, visited the Evergreen Oil recycling facility in Newark, California, and hailed it as a model of environmental economics. But Evergreen, which removes toxics from used oil before re-refining it into a clean, safe lubricant, is the exception in the oil recycling business. The EPA estimates that only about five percent of used oil is recycled back into oil products. |
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