UNITED
STATESENVIRONMENTALPROTECTION
AGENCY
WASHINGTON,
D
.C
.
20460
JUL
2 9
2009
OFFICE
OF
RESEARCH
AND
DEVELOPMENT
The
Honorable Lloyd Doggett
U
.S
.
House
of
Representatives
Washington,
DC
20515
Dear
Congressman
Doggett
:
Thank
you
for
yourJune
17,
2009
letter
to
the
U
.S
.
Environmental
Protection
Agency(EPA)
regarding the
potential
health
and
ecological
impacts
of
a
group of
chemicals
called
polycyclic
aromatic
hydrocarbons
(PAHs)
.
I
am
responding
to
inform
you
of
recent
research
in
EPA's
Office
of Research
andDevelopment
(ORD)
dealing
with
the
impacts
of
PAHs
derived
from
storm-induced
parking
lot
runoff
and
related
work
on
PAHs
.
Contaminants
in
storm
waterrunoff
from
parking
lots
may
be derived
from
materials
leached
from
various
sealants,
including
coal
tar
products,
and
are
likely
to
include other
contributing
sources
(e
.g
.,
automobiles,
air
deposition)
.
Becauseof
the
complexity
of
the
mixtures
that
can
occur
in
parking
lot
storm water
runoff,
initial
laboratory
studies are
beingdesigned
to
focus
on
research
to
assess
environmental
concentrations
and
evaluate
the
acute
impacts
of
leached
PAHs
and
co-occurring
compounds
on
the
potential
toxicity
to
receiving
waters
and
aquatic
life
.
Specific
to
coal
tar-based
sealants,
the
ORD
facility
in
Edison,
NJ
has
completed
the
planning
for
experiments
involving
both
bench-scale
and
full-scale
applications
of
parking
lot
sealants,
including
the
fate
and
bioavailability
of
PAHs
.
Based
on
the
monitoring
findings,
appropriate
toxicitystudies
will
be
conducted
.
Laboratory
studies
to
address
chemical
releases
and
potentialtoxicity
from
volatilized
and
leached
compounds
from
coal
tar
and
latexsealant
materials
will
begin
in
late
2009
.
We
expect
preliminary
results
in
approximately
18
months
from
the
commencement
of
the
studies
.
ORD-Edison
has
along
history
of
providing
leadership
in
storm
water
research,
specifically
identifyingpollutant
loading
in
storm water
runoff
.
Related
to
this
work,
two
full-scale
facilities
are
also
being
developed
at
the
Edison
facility
.
One
is
a
new
parking
lot
that
is
being
constructed
to
test
the
use
of porous
pavementsand
theother
is
an
existingasphalt
parking
lot
that
can
be used
forsealant
and
run-off
studies
.
In
addition,
EPA
has developed a
human
health
assessment
for
PAHs,
as
recommended
in
the
FY
2008
House
Full
Committee
Appropriations
Report
.
The
assessment
includes
an
approach
for
assessing
the
carcinogenicity
of
PAH
mixtures
and
is
being
developed
by
EPA's
Integrated
RiskInformation
System
(IRIS)
Program
.
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