Regulations impact California rubber firms

CERRITOS, Calif.—There's little doubt that what irks rubber company executives in California more than anything else is the state's regulatory environment.

Officials who attended a Rubber & Plastics News roundtable, hosted at R.D. Abbott Co. Inc.'s site in Cerritos, covered many areas they feel put an unfair burden on rubber firms. But they acknowledged that some of the rules over the years actually have helped improve conditions, though they believe the regulatory agencies are now taking things too far.

In addition, they said it behooves rubber companies to be proactive and involved in the process—sometimes writing standards where they have expertise—rather than waiting for the regulation to be written and forced into a reactionary stance. Finally, they said that having to raise their game to a higher level than companies located in areas not facing the same regulatory landscape makes them sound companies with a level of sophistication not found elsewhere.

Tom Martin, vice president of operations for R.D. Abbott, said one perception that upsets manufacturers is when agencies seek new revenue streams—with permits and fees—rather than trying to improve the situation.

He cited a study by the South Coast Air Quality Management District measuring the release of gases when a press opened. “Unfortunately, they picked a company that was making the dirtiest, oiliest, worst parts available,” Martin said. “Of course, they found tremendous amounts of (volatile organic compounds) that were being let into the atmosphere.”

After some haggling, the solution was to require a permit for every press making parts over a certain size. A molder could be making a two-pound part or a 400-pound one, and the permit fee was identical.

“This doesn't fix anything,” he said. “In fact, you could put collection equipment over your press and collect all the solvents off of there. It doesn't matter. You have to pay a permit fee, which is just a revenue source.”

In this situation, R.D. Abbott President Keith Thomas said it appeared the regulators were seeking someone making a highly oil-filled rubber compound so the agency could justify the fee structure. “Because there has been no regulation to reduce the emissions, it is simply a fee structure,” he said. “If you've been to the SCAQMD in Diamond Bar, it is the Taj Mahal. It is an incredible facility, much nicer than any industrial or privately funded facility I'm aware of in the entire basin.”

It also is one of the most influential agencies because rules that start there often migrate elsewhere.

“The South Coast is the first domino,” Thomas said. “All other dominoes follow South Coast. If you look at air regulations around the country—the wording, the patterning, the categorization—it's all in South Coast Air Quality Management speak.”

Howard Vipperman, Vip Rubber Co. Inc. president, said he used to be in government, so he has been at the agency's headquarters in Diamond Bar and heard discussions of “generally green-leaning people” talking about what they would regulate next. “They've got the low-hanging fruit, but now they're trying to justify their existence by going after the next level and the next level after that.”

He told of the time a regulator came in years ago and took note of a dust collector the firm used occasionally to eliminate nuisance dust. “The inspector said you're not required to have a dust collector, but if you're going to have it, then you have to have a permit,” Vipperman said. “I said, "Pull the plug. We'll just not run that dust collector.' “

Company officials particularly don't like how rules and regulations are quite different, depending on a facility's location.

Chris Mazelin, marketing manager for Specialty Silicone Fabricators Inc., said his firm has operations in Tustin and Paso Robles. When it added a clean room in Tustin that utilized a dipping process, it was required to install an incinerator outside the building. “The dipping operations are significantly larger in Paso Robles than in Tustin,” he said. “We utilize basically the same chemicals, but we don't have to have a burner on the outside of the Paso Robles building.”

Martin said the SCAQMD ends at the mountains, so firms on the other side of the line, even though they're in Los Angeles County, don't have to follow the same regulations. But as rules spread outward to other parts of the country, “it makes California more in line competitively.”

Other sticking points include agencies and departments issuing conflicting orders, as well as inspectors seeming to come in without proper knowledge, just figuring they'll find something to act upon.

“The real trick is having enough time to speak to these folks, to work with them and to make the changes that are necessary to meet their requirements,” Vipperman said. “You have to spend a lot of time with non-productive aspects.”

He added that one time a Cal-OSHA inspector came in for a random inspection. After talking with her, Vipperman discovered she had a degree in chemistry, but she had told him she had an irrational fear of chemicals and left her prior job because of it. Because it was a random inspection, there was no requirement he let her do the inspection, so after hearing her history, he declined her admittance.

Thomas said there definitely appears to be some incompetence with those writing the rules, sometimes wanting to ban a chemical but not specifying detection limits. “It's really hard to comply with laws that don't have pre-thought in it,” he said. “It leads to all kinds of litigation and regulation misunderstanding.”

His real beef, though, is with the inspectors. “They start writing things, and once it gets onto that triplicate thing in the pad, it's very hard to erase,” he said. “I would say 99 percent of the time, they start out not knowing the rules and writing the wrong things down. Getting it undone is very difficult.”

Thomas said the state's government has been so focused on air issues and the California Environmental Quality Act—or CEQA for short—that other needs have been neglected. “Our transportation structure is abysmal,” he said. “Think of the productivity hours lost in traffic. When they do an expansion, they work eight hours and do it during the working day, as opposed to doing all the work at night or working 24 hours a day until it's done.”

He added that CEQA makes it extremely difficult to break ground on new facilities as opposed to other places such as Mexico. “If you want to move within California, it's nearly impossible,” Thomas said, “because new establishments have to go through this litigious process in which every step it seems someone has a hand out.”

Being in the medical industry, Specialty Silicone Fabricators is subject to surprise inspections and audits from customers regularly. “Our system has to be ready all the time,” Mazelin said. “We try to do everything in a proactive manner, but sometimes you can't.”

He said the firm has engineers dedicated to safety, but it had to rein in one individual whose suggestions went so far the equipment wouldn't have been usable. “It's a press. There is a pinch hazard,” Mazelin said. “The people need to know that, they're trained on it, so they also know to keep their hand out of it. You can't guard everyone from everything.”

Thomas said R.D. Abbott, which acts as a distributor/supplier of rubber-related materials and equipment, looks to work with regulators when appropriate because the firm's job is to make things easier for customers.

Thomas cited numerous examples of how R.D. Abbott has been involved in either writing or re-writing SCAQM rules impacting rubber shops. “We've been involved with them in rule writing because we know that technology very well,” he said.

Recently, in fact, the agency helped change wording in a proposed rule that inadvertently would have basically eliminated Chemlok usage in the L.A. basin. R.D. Abbott has distributed the Lord Corp. adhesive in the region for decades, and the change would have impacted hundreds of manufacturers. Thomas said they brought the facts to the area's U.S. congressman and state senator, the politicians reached out to the public review board, and word filtered down to the agency.

“They reached out to us to re-write the rule around Chemlok, if you will,” Thomas said. “They wrote the rule so that our customers will be able to have unimpeded use of Chemlok within the district because they recognize its value. It was an unintended consequence of a change in the rule,” which has yet to be voted on.

When writing standards, he said it's important to be as inclusive and broad as possible. The firm also stresses to regulators “we truly are the small fish.” He said they lead the conversation in terms of magnitude, showing them how little those in the rubber industry actually use certain regulated items. “We try to use verbiage that is consistent with the body of law that will be defensible when customers have issues,” Thomas said.

William Krames, owner and CEO of Santa Fe Rubber Products Inc., said rubber firms have made great progress in terms of environmental impact over the years. “There have been tremendous strides since when I got in to where it is now,” he said. “Now it's just borderline nonsense.”

But the California exec also sees regulations as something that has boosted the technology of the region's rubber businesses to meet the standards. “It does keep the pressure on you to improve and move the bar up,” Krames said.

Thomas said regulations often are born out of the best technologies, and companies can use that as a benchmark to make improvements in their own shops. “In our business model, we're constantly looking for best practices,” he said. “I don't view regulations necessarily through that cynical lens of this is what I have to do. I look at it as what can I learn from it. ... If you step back, the reason we are so competitive in some senses is we're constantly being prodded into better behaviors by insane regulators.”