“You have to be prepared to take a spill.” — Shaun White
Not long ago, a friend and I were watching a movie where one of the characters, despondent and bereft, stumbled down the street while clutching a bottle of spirits. As the character unlocked the door to his home, the bottle slipped from his hand and shattered on the pavement. My friend said what I was thinking: “What a waste.”
In more ways than they realized.
The Evolution of Citations for Spilt Whiskey
There have been several significant releases of whiskey. In 1996, at the Heaven Hill distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky, a lightning strike ignited a fire that eventually burned down seven rickhouses and destroyed over 100,000 barrels of bourbon. No one was killed or seriously injured, although the release to the Kentucky River resulted in a massive fish kill. There was no citation or fine, but the bluegrass band, The Galoots, wrote and released a song, “Heaven Hill’s On Fire”.
Four years later, regulatory agencies upped the ante. A rickhouse, one of twelve at the Wild Turkey distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, caught fire, destroying 17,200 barrels of bourbon and discharging a 66-mile plume of whiskey to the Kentucky River. The company paid $256,000 to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, not as a fine, but to underwrite efforts to re-aerate the river.
Then, in 2018, at the Barton 1792 distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky, a rickhouse collapsed, releasing 9,000 barrels of bourbon. The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet cited the distiller for failing to report the spill in a timely manner and for the pollution itself.
So, what is “timely?” How much whiskey must be spilled to require reporting, and how quickly must it be reported?
Reportable Quantities
The EPA requires immediate notification of spills that exceed the reportable quantity (RQ). The EPA points out that while “there is no statutory or regulatory definition of the term ‘immediate’ within CERCLA [Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act] or EPCRA [Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act]” the EPA expects that “ordinarily, delays in making the required notifications should not exceed 15 minutes after the person in charge has knowledge of the release.”
What is the RQ for whiskey? Or more technically, for ethanol? There are many lists of hazardous substances and their associated RQs. The lists are not identical, but one thing they have in common is that ethanol is not on any of them – not the CERCLA list in 40 CFR 302.4, not the EPCRA list 40 CFR 355 Appendix A , not the Clean Water Act list in 40 CFR 117.3, and not the Oil Pollution Prevention RQs required in 40 CFR 112.4a.
Something to keep in mind, however, is that while ethanol is not specifically listed, the CERCLA list includes several categories of “unlisted hazardous wastes”:
- Unlisted Hazardous Wastes Characteristic of Corrosivity
RQ = 100 pounds - Unlisted Hazardous Wastes Characteristic of Ignitability
RQ = 100 pounds - Unlisted Hazardous Wastes Characteristic of Reactivity
RQ = 100 pounds - Unlisted Hazardous Wastes Characteristic of Toxicity
RQ varies from 1 to 5000 pounds, depending on which of 40 specific toxic chemicals are present
The definition of a reactive waste is complicated, but regardless, ethanol is not a reactive waste. The definition of corrosive waste is not complicated—pH less than 2 or greater than 12.5 or corrodes mild steel faster 0.25 inches per year—but again, ethanol is not a corrosive waste. The definition of ignitable waste is also not complicated. Liquid waste with a flashpoint less than 140°F (60 C) is an unlisted hazardous waste with an RQ of 100 pounds.
There is an exception to the definition of ignitability in terms of flashpoint. In 40 CFR 261.21(a)(1), it states that solutions containing less than 24 percent alcohol by volume (% ABV), or 48 proof, and at least 50 percent water by weight are not characteristic of ignitability. The minimum legal concentration of bourbon, however, is 40% ABV (80 proof), so it is.
With a specific gravity of 0.95, 12.63 gallons of 80 proof spirits is enough to exceed 100 pounds. This is considerably less than the contents of a standard 53-gallon oak barrel.
The flash point of 80 proof spirits is 79°F (26 C). Clearly 80 proof spirits meet the definition of ignitable.
But are they waste?
When Do Spirits Become Waste?
Spirits aging in an oak barrel are not waste. Spirits in a bottle are not waste. When spirits spill, however, the liquid becomes waste as soon as it hits the ground because it cannot be recovered or reclaimed.
Reporting Spills
Spilling good whiskey in any amount is a waste. Worse, it’s a hazardous waste. Dropping a bottle shouldn’t prompt a report but spilling more than a few gallons (12.63 gallons to be exact) must be reported. Within 15 minutes.
The same goes for any other substance that meets one of the characteristics of hazardous waste, even if it is not specifically listed.
By the way, the release of an RQ of whiskey, or any other hazardous substance, listed or unlisted, should be to the National Response Center, at 1-800-424-8802.
