EPA's New Boiler MACT Rules Cut Implementation Costs by 50%

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In response to a September 2009 court order, EPA first issued the proposed rules in April 2010. Then in December 2010, it requested additional time to review and assess public input the proposal generated and accordingly revise it. The court granted a 30-day extension, resulting in this past week's issuance.

EPA reports that it received more than 4,800 comments from businesses and communities across the country in response to the proposed rules, adding that "public input included a significant amount of information that industry had not provided prior to the proposal." Based on this feedback, and in keeping with President Obama's executive order on regulatory review, EPA notes that it revised the draft standards "to provide additional flexibility and cost-effective techniques – achieving significant pollution reduction and important health benefits, while lowering the cost of pollution control installation and maintenance by about 50%, or $1.8 billion.

Because the final standards differ significantly from the proposals, EPA says it believes further public review is required. Thus it will reconsider the final standards under a Clean Air Act process that allows additional public review and comment "to ensure full transparency." The reconsideration will cover emissions standards for large and small boilers and for solid waste incinerators. EPA says it will release additional details on the reconsideration process in the near future "to ensure the public, industry, and stakeholders have an opportunity to participate."

About 200,000 boilers are located at small and large sources of air toxic emissions across the U.S. The final standards require many types of boilers to follow practical, cost-effective work practice standards to reduce emissions. To ensure smooth implementation, EPA is working with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide technical assistance to these facilities. DOE will work with large coal and oil-burning sources to help them identify clean energy strategies, while USDA will reach out to small sources to help owners and operators better understand and comply with the standards.

The types of boilers and incinerators covered by these updated standards include:

• Boilers at large sources of air toxics emissions. There are about 13,800 boilers located at large sources of air pollutants, such as refineries, chemical plants, and other industrial facilities (including pulp and paper). These standards will reduce emissions of pollutants including mercury, organic air toxics, and dioxins. EPA estimates that the costs of implementation have been reduced by $1.5 billion from the proposed standard.
• Boilers located at small sources of air toxics emissions. There are about 187,000 boilers located at small sources of air pollutants, including universities, hospitals, hotels, and commercial buildings that may be covered by these standards. EPA has limited the impact of the final rule making on these entities considering their small amount of emissions. The original standards for these have been updated to ensure maximum flexibility, including for some sources, revising the requirement from maximum achievable control technology to generally available control technology. The cost reduction from the proposed standard to the final is estimated to be $209 million.
• Solid waste incinerators. There are 88 solid waste incinerators that burn waste at a commercial or an industrial facility, including cement manufacturing facilities. These standards, which facilities will need to meet by 2016 at the latest, will reduce emissions of pollutants including mercury, lead, cadmium, nitrogen dioxide, and particle pollution. The cost reduction from the proposed standard to the final is estimated to be $12 million.

EPA has also identified which non-hazardous secondary materials are considered solid waste when burned in combustion units. This distinction determines which Clean Air Act standard is applied when the material is burned. The non-hazardous secondary materials that can be burned as non-waste fuel include scrap tires managed under established tire collection programs. This step simplifies the rules and provides additional clarity and direction for facilities. To determine that materials are non-hazardous secondary materials when burned under the updated rules, materials must not have been discarded and must be legitimately used as a fuel.