In a meeting with White House officials, representatives from Southern Co. informed the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Council on Environmental Quality that a quarter of the most efficient, natural gas-fired power plants built over the past five years would not meet the proposed carbon dioxide emission standards. Materials presented to the OMB in the August 21 meeting showed that 15 of the 59 new natural gas power plants built since 2008 would not be able to comply with the proposed new source performance standard. The EPA and OMB have been meeting regularly with industry representatives and environmental… Read more
Tag: emission
EPA Proposes Alternative Approach for Greenhouse Gas Emission Reporting for 24 Industries
On September 3, the EPA released a proposed rule which would require the use of an electronic verification tool by companies in 24 industry classifications to report emissions of greenhouse gas. The purpose of the proposed rule is to allow those industries to protect sensitive information that it considers confidential business information. The tool will be used to verify any inputs into emissions equations data that are deemed as sensitive business information without disclosing that data to the public. Companies require the new tool to begin reporting their emissions inputs data beginning March 31, 2015. EPA’s proposed rule would apply… Read more
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
EPA to Drop Stricter Controls in Final Paper Air Rule
In a major win for paper companies, the EPA has dropped proposed tightening of emission controls for kraft pulp mills in its new, revised air toxic rule. The EPA had originally proposed to make an “incremental” tightening of its emission standards for condensates produced during the kraft pulping process. Industry representatives successfully argued that the technology used to control these emissions hasn’t changed since the promulgation of the original emission standards for hazardous air pollutants, such as methanol and formaldehyde, which are byproducts of the paper mill process. For more information, contact Phillip Hoover.