The EPA is currently defending its process for establishing standards for emissions of hazardous air pollutants from solid waste incinerators before the D.C. Court of Appeals.[1] Historically, EPA takes a pollutant-by-pollutant approach when determining maximum achievable control technology (MACT) standards for commercial and industrial solid waste incineration units. Industry groups have attacked the EPA’s approach which resulted in standards that cannot actually be achieved by existing industrial incinerators. These groups argue that the Clean Air Act requires EPA to set MACT standards based on average overall industry emissions, rather than selecting the best performing units for each individual pollutant. Conversely,… Read more
Tag: air pollutants
Industry and Environmental Groups Challenge New Rules for Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incinerators
Petitions have been filed in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, challenging EPA rules, finalized in December, for control of emission of hazardous air pollutants from commercial and industrial solid waste incinerators (CISWI). The petitions, filed by industry and environmental groups, also challenge a companion EPA rule defining non-hazardous secondary materials (NHSM), under which EPA determines whether materials used as fuels cause a facility to be governed by the maximum achievable control technology rule for emissions from boilers (Boiler MACT) or the CISWI rule. The new petitions join already pending challenges to EPA’s Boiler MACT rule…. Read more