Welcome to e-Connections, the weekly AFS email newsletter. In this Jan. 27, 2009, edition:

• EPA Proposes New Area Source Rules for Nonferrous Facilities
• Value of the 113th Metalcasting Congress Goes Up, Accommodation Price Goes Down
• Casting Contest Submission Deadline Approaching
• Best of CastExpo Webinar to Focus on Molding
• Visit MetalcastingDesign.com Today
• AFS Offers Free Second Admission When Registering for Environmental 101 Conference, OSHA 10-Hour Industry Training Course
• CMI Offers Vertical Gating Design Course
• Safety in the Foundry Seminar XXI Coming

EPA Proposes New Area Source Rules for Nonferrous Facilities
As part of its Urban Air Toxics Strategy under the Clean Air Act and a consent decree with the Sierra Club, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to promulgate new air emissions standards for smaller, or area sources of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), from a broad range of industry sectors, including aluminum, copper and other nonferrous metalcasting facilities. On Jan. 15, EPA signed the proposed area source rule for nonferrous metalcasters.

EPA expected to publish the proposed rule in the Federal Register by the end of January. Pursuant to the terms of the court order, EPA must issue a final rule for these three metalcasting area sources by June 15.

The proposed rule establishes a set of management practices for all of the area source metalcasting facilities and emission limits for copper and other nonferrous metalcasting facilities. The proposed rule requires all aluminum, copper and other nonferrous metalcasting facilities that melt 600 tons of metal per year to meet the following management practices:

• cover or enclose each melting furnace that is equipped with a cover or enclosure during the melting operation, to the extent practicable (ie., except where access is needed, such as for charging, alloy addition, tapping);
• purchase only metal scrap that has been depleted of HAPs in the materials charged to the metal furnace (except metal scrap that is purchased specifically for its HAP metal content for use in alloying);
• prepare and operate pursuant to a written management plan that includes both of the practices listed previously and any other management practices that are implemented at the facility to minimize emissions from melting furnaces.

The comment period on the proposed rule will be 30 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register. The AFS 10-E Committee will be conducting a more thorough review of the proposed rule and preparing comments on behalf of the metalcasting industry. To view the proposed rule summary, click here. For more information, contact Jeff Hannapel, The Policy Group, at jhannapel@thepolicygroup.com or 202/457-0630.

Value of the 113^th Metalcasting Congress Goes Up, Accommodation Price Goes Down
Attendees at the 2009 Metalcasting Congress in Las Vegas will receive more for their money than ever as AFS and NADCA have negotiated lower hotel rates at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel.

Rates have been reduced from $159 per night to $135 per night. Guests who have made reservations in the AFS/NADCA block will automatically receive the lower rate. Prior to the announced change, hotel rates rooms were selling quickly. If you have not already made your reservation, now is the time to do so as the housing cut-off is March 6.

For more information, visit www.metalcastingcongress.org/hotel or call the Paris Las Vegas Hotel at 888/266-5687, identifying yourself as an attendee of the AFS/NADCA Metalcasting Congress. All reservations must be guaranteed with a deposit for the first night’s guestroom and tax charge, and will be billed immediately to the cardholder’s account.

Casting Contest Submission Deadline Approaching
Engineered Casting Solutions and the AFS Marketing Div. 14 now are accepting submissions for the 2009 Casting Competition. The deadline for submissions is Jan. 31. Each year, dozens of castings are sent in with the hopes of becoming the next Casting of the Year.

All castings submitted receive free publicity in Engineered Casting Solutions magazine and the winners are part of an end-user PR campaign. The Casting of the Year and Best in Class winners receive a free license to Magmasoft casting simulation software. Click here to download an entry form. For more information, contact Dave Krugman, AFS PR and marketing coordinator, at dkrugman@afsinc.org or 800/537-4237 x 286.

Best of CastExpo Webinar to Focus on Molding
AFS's webinar series, the Best of CastExpo, recaps the most important technical sessions of the event held last year in Atlanta.

The third webinar in the series, scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 5, at 11:00 AM EST, will focus on molding . Important topics include core gas evolution rate, the three zones that exist within cores in contact with molten metal (volatilization, condensation and initial zone production) and the development of models to predict gas pressure inside molds and cores. Presenting on these topics will be Leonard Winardi, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham.

The cost to attend this and future Best of CastExpo webinars is $50 for AFS members, $100 for non-members. For more information on the Best of CastExpo webinar series, or to register for this webinar, contact Rebecca Erickson, AFS technical assistant, at rebecca@afsinc.org or 800/537-4237 x 246.

Visit MetalcastingDesign.com Today
Have you seen all of the new features on www.metalcastingdesign.com? In addition to an ever-growing library of design and purchasing articles to help casting users get the most of their engineered metal castings, the website now offers a comprehensive metalcaster directory, an interactive too to help select the appropriate alloy and casting process for any application, blogs and audio clips. Click over there today and see what you've been missing.