On July 26, 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed revisions that would allow an operating facility to be reclassified from a major source of hazardous air pollutants under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act to an area source, thus removing the policy commonly known as “once in, always in”. This revision could take a lot of pressure for capital investments and permitting off of facilities that are eligible.
Category: Boiler MACT
On January 31, 2013, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized amendments to the national emission standards (NESHAP) for the control of hazardous air pollutants (HAP) at major sources from new and existing industrial, commercial, and institutional (ICI) boilers and process heaters (Boiler MACT). Subsequently, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit), in a decision issued in July 2016, remanded several of the emission standards to the EPA based on the court’s review of the EPA’s approach to setting those standards. In response to these remands, this action proposes to amend several numeric emission limits for new and existing boilers and process heaters consistent with the court’s opinion and set compliance dates for these new emission limits. Continue reading “EPA’s Proposed Revisions to Emission Limits for Boiler MACT”
On July 26, 2019, the U.S. Federal Register published the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed amendments to the provisions in the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP). The primary purpose of the proposed amendments is to withdraw the “Once In, Always In” (OIAI) policy regarding the classification of facilities as major sources of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) subject to Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards. A major source is defined as any facility which emits at least 10 tons per year of any HAP or at least 25 tons per year of any combination of HAPs. A facility that is not classified as a major source is considered an area source. The OIAI policy, issued in 1995, required major source facilities that are subject to a MACT standard to permanently comply with that standard even if a facility reduces its HAP emissions below major source thresholds. The withdrawal of the OIAI policy was also previously discussed in EPA’s guidance memorandum issued on January 25, 2018. Continue reading “EPA Proposes NESHAP Amendments to Withdraw “Once In, Always In” Policy for MACT Standards”
EPA is working on the Information Collection Request (ICR) for Plywood and Composite Wood Products (PCWP) National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP). The comment period for preparing the ICR ended on November 7, 2016. This is the MACT standard commonly referred to as the Kiln MACT as it will apply to lumber drying kilns in some fashion, in addition to plywood and composite wood products. Continue reading “EPA Information Request for Kiln MACT Standard (40 CFR 63 Subpart DDDD)”
If you have elected to comply with the Boiler MACT regulation through performance testing, the deadline for the broad majority of existing boilers to complete the performance testing was July 29th, 2016. For the sake of this blog entry, we’ll assume you have done this. (If not, you should contact us immediately and we can get you up to speed!) Continue reading “Submitting Results of Boiler MACT Performance Tests”
On July 29, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled on the lawsuits over EPA’s Boiler MACT (40 CFR Part 63, Subpart DDDDD) and Boiler GACT (40 CFR Part 63, Subpart JJJJJJ) regulations. The lawsuit was the consolidation of multiple suits from industry and environmental groups. The split of the suits from industry versus environmental groups was stated by the court to be approximately 50/50. In summary, the court rejected all the industry petitions and granted some of the petitions from environmental groups. The most significant aspects of this ruling pertain to vacating portions of the standard and remanding additional portions of the standard to EPA to provide further explanation.
Under the Boiler MACT regulation, boilers are divided into subcategories based on the type of fuel utilized and the configuration of the combustion unit. Continue reading “Court Rules on Lawsuit over EPA’s Boiler MACT Regulation”
Under the previous EPA Non-Hazardous Secondary Materials (NHSM) rule, treated wood was prohibited from being used as boiler fuel; however, EPA recently issued an amendment permitting creosote-treated wood to be used as boiler fuel under special conditions.
Read the rest of our article in Waste Advantage Magazine online (http://goo.gl/8idkTR) or in the April 2016 digital edition (http://www.mazdigital.com/webreader/38250?page=35).
If you missed our free webinar on Boiler MACT Compliance, you can stream it online now on your own time. To view the webinar visit http://ehsdailyadvisor.blr.com/2015/12/6761/ and register to view (or enter your email if already registered).
If you wanted to have the presentation slides from the webinar, we have made them available here: 2016 Boiler MACT Webinar Slides.
The Q/A for the webinar is available here: QA Boiler MACT Webinar.
If you have any questions or comments about Boiler MACT Compliance or the webinar, feel free to contact us at 770-263-6330 or cti@conversiontechnology.com
Sponsored by: Hurst Boiler and Conversion Technology Inc.
Title: Boiler MACT Deadline is here. Are you in Compliance?
Date: Thursday, January 21, 2016
Time: 02:00 PM Eastern Standard Time
Duration: 1 hour
Register: https://goo.gl/qnlHhr
If your facility is covered under the Boiler MACT rule, the compliance deadline is January 31, 2016 ! Continue reading “Free Webinar: Boiler MACT Deadline is here. Are you in Compliance?”
Boiler Area Source applies to a boiler in a facility with actual emissions of Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAP) less than 10 tons per year of any single HAP or less than 25 tons per year of all HAPs combined. EPA allows Boiler Area Source facilities the use of Generally Available Control Technologies (GACT) or management practices to reduce emissions of hazardous air pollutant (as compared to Boiler MACT facilities explained later requiring stricter practices). If your facility is an Area Source, you should have submitted the Initial Notification Report and Notification of Compliance Status to the State and US EPA by May 31, 2013. Continue reading “Meeting Compliance Schedule and Requirements for Boiler MACT”