White Bear Area Neighborhood Concerned Citizens Group

The community is not confused regarding tDCE.

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Water Gremlin has been suggesting that the community is confused on which product they are using as there are different ‘DCE’ chemicals. (See end of post for their statement on community confusion between DCE and tDCE.)

The community is not confused. After numerous questions asked repeatedly in March, NCCG was able to find out from the MPCA which formulation of FluoSolv Water Gremlin was using. The formulation being used is FluoSolv WS and, it is one of the only FluoSolv formulations that includes tDCE. As soon as we learned that it was tDCE, we were immediately concerned. 

We were concerned because:
1) tDCE is not well studied.
2) Many of the studies that do exist raise serious health concerns.
3) There are many similarities in chemical structure between TCE and tDCE that raised concerns.  
4) tDCE is actually now on the list of products the EPA considers most concerning and wants to study more. 

NCCG has previously written a POV about tDCE compared to TCE. See link here for the POV, as well as other links to information on tDCE. 
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Excerpt Water Gremlin’s recent statement.
…We would like to address some of the misconceptions that have been stated about our company. Below are the facts based on the most recent available information.
Water Gremlin used t-DCE, not DCE. And they are not the same thing.
Prior to receiving the MPCA’s administrative order to cease our coating operations last week, Water Gremlin was using trans-1,2-Dichloroethylene, or t-DCE. The distinction is important to note as DCE typically refers to 1,1-DCE, which is listed on the EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) as a possible carcinogen, whereas t-DCE is not. 

With Minnesota and New York as the exceptions, we are unaware of any other state setting any type of chronic inhalation exposure level for t-DCE. Also, Minnesota is the only state that has set a soil intrusion rate. Both of these levels were put in place by the MPCA after Water Gremlin notified the agency of its intent to switch to t-DCE.