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April 1-7, 2023
In this week's issue:
- EPA Proposes More Stringent HAP Requirements for Power Plants Under MATS (April 5, 2023)
- EPA Proposes Rules for Chemical and Polymers Facilities to Reduce Ethylene Oxide and Other HAPs (April 6, 2023)
- EPA Proposes Amendments to Four Air Toxics Rules (April 5, 2023)
- EPA Releases Updated National Emissions Inventory and Emissions Trends Information (March 31, 2023)
- EPA Announces Public Comment Period for Draft ISA for Lead NAAQS Review; CASAC to Meet April 11 and June 13-14 (March 31, 2023)
- NOAA Reports GHGs Continued to Rise Rapidly in 2022 (April 5, 2023)
- Fifth Circuit Dismisses States’ Challenge of Administration’s Social Cost of GHGs (April 5, 2023)
- EPA Publishes Action Granting Waivers for Four California Heavy-Duty Vehicle and Engine Regulations (April 6, 2023)
This Week in Review
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EPA proposed to update and strengthen the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units (EGUs), also known as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS). The proposal is pursuant to the agency’s obligation to review hazardous air pollution (HAP) standards for control technology improvements every eight years after the implementation of Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards, and also reflects EPA’s review of the residual risk and technology review (RTR) standards issued on May 22, 2020. The proposed amendments to MATS call for the following:
- a two-thirds reduction in the filterable particulate matter (fPM) standard, which is intended to control non-mercury HAP metals from existing coal-fired power plants (EPA has stated that 91 percent of coal-fired capacity without known retirement plans have already demonstrated a fPM emissions rate at or below the proposed level);
- removal of the low-emitting EGU provisions for fPM and non-mercury HAP metals;
- tightening of the emission limit for mercury for existing lignite-fired power plants by 70 percent, to a level that is aligned with the mercury standard that other coal-fired power plants have currently been achieving under MATS;
- compliance with the fPM standard using PM continuous emission monitoring systems (CEMS); and
• revision of startup requirements to assure better emissions performance during startup.
EPA’s reevaluation of the May 2020 risk review showed that residual risk is at an acceptable level due to the reductions that have already been achieved. EPA estimates that the net benefits of the rule from 2028 to 2037 are $2.4 billion to $3.0 billion, which includes $1.2 billion to $1.9 billion in health benefits, $1.4 billion in climate benefits, and compliance costs of $230 million to $330 million. The estimated calculations do not include benefits from reducing mercury and non-mercury HAP metals. On February 17, 2023, EPA issued a final rule that reaffirmed the finding that it is appropriate and necessary to regulate HAPs from power plants under the Clean Air Act, which is the underpinning for MATS. This latest MATS proposal will be published in the Federal Register shortly, followed by a 60-day public comment period. A virtual public hearing will be held 15 days after publication.
For further information:
https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/mercury-and-air-toxics-standards
EPA proposed revisions to six National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) and four New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for volatile organic compounds in an effort to reduce emissions of ethylene oxide (EtO), chloroprene and other substances. Four of the NESHAPs compose what is commonly referred to as the Hazardous Organic NESHAP (HON) and apply to chemical manufacturing plants. The other two NESHAPs are the Group I and II Polymers and Resins rules. The four NSPS apply to certain equipment and processes at plants that manufacture synthetic organic chemicals. Among the provisions of the proposal are requirements for sources to conduct fenceline monitoring for six HAPs – EtO, chloroprene, benzene, 1,3-butadiene, ethylene dichloride and vinyl chloride – and to take action if results are above a certain level. Results of the fenceline monitoring must be publicly available. The proposal includes new requirements to improve the efficiency of flares; stronger standards for process vents, heat exchange systems, equipment leaks and storage tanks; new emission limits for dioxins and furans; and removal of startup, shutdown and malfunction exemptions. In developing the rules, EPA conducted a community risk assessment in which the agency considered the impacts of the proposal on risks from all large facilities in communities within six miles of affected plants (including nearby sources not covered by the rules). According to EPA, the largest risk reductions from the proposals would stem from reductions in EtO emissions from eight facilities in Texas and Louisiana. The agency estimates nationwide emission reductions of 63 percent in EtO and 74 percent in chloroprene. There will be a 60-day public comment period following publication in the Federal Register. A virtual public hearing will be held 21 days after publication.
For further information:
EPA proposed amendments to four air toxics rules: the Petroleum Refineries National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP); the Ethylene Production NESHAP (EMACT); the Miscellaneous Organic Chemical Manufacturing NESHAP (MON); and the Organic Liquids Distribution NESHAP (OLD). This action is in response to several petitions for reconsideration that EPA received. In the measure, EPA proposes to reconsider certain elements of similar provisions that are in the four NESHAPs, including the work-practice standards for pressure relief devices and emergency flaring and the work-practice standards for degassing of floating roof storage vessels. In addition, the proposal includes other technical corrections and clarifications for each of the rules. EPA has announced that it plans to address other clarifications and technical amendments that were requested in the petitions for reconsideration for each of the four rules prior to the July 2023 compliance dates and that it also plans to propose allowing the use of pressure-assisted flares for petroleum refineries to fully align standards with current operational practices. There will be a 45-day public comment period on the proposed amendments, which will begin upon publication in the Federal Register (expected shortly). EPA will convene a virtual public hearing if one is requested within five days following publication.
For further information:
EPA released the complete National Emissions Inventory for 2020, which includes all the data the agency collected for that year. In January 2023, EPA provided the data for the point, onroad mobile and nonroad mobile data categories. This latest release also includes the remaining nonpoint data source category. EPA is also making available current emissions trends information, providing 1970-2022 data. This shows trends for Tier 1 categories, which distinguish pollutant emission contributions among major source types. The trends are for criteria pollutants and precursors, with the exception of lead. National- and state-level criteria pollutant emission trends have been revised from 2002 forward, and the 2022 information has been added. EPA is also providing criteria pollutant state trends at the Emissions Inventory System sector level. All the trends data from 2002 forward will also include black carbon and organic carbon emissions estimates.
For further information:
https://www.epa.gov/air-emissions-inventories/2020-national-emissions-inventory-nei-data
https://www.epa.gov/air-emissions-inventories/air-pollutant-emissions-trends-data
EPA published in the Federal Register (88 Fed. Reg 19,302) a notice announcing a 60-day comment period on the agency staff’s “Integrated Science Assessment (ISA) for the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Lead (External Review Draft).” EPA staff will brief the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) Lead Panel on the Draft ISA on April 11, 2023, and the CASAC Lead Panel will meet June 13 and 14, to peer review the Draft ISA and also provide a “consultation” on the “Integrated Review Plan (IRP) for Review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Lead, Volume 3: Planning for Quantitative Exposure/Risk Analyses (External Review Draft).” EPA will accept public comments on the Draft ISA through May 30.
For further information:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-03-31/pdf/2023-05740.pdf
https://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/isa/recordisplay.cfm?deid=357282
https://casac.epa.gov/ords/sab/f?p=113:19:13537095119023:::19:P19_ID:992
https://casac.epa.gov/ords/sab/f?p=113:19:13402399755980:::19:P19_ID:993
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that anthropogenic levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide – the three greenhouse gases (GHGs) that contribute most significantly to climate change – continued to rise at historically high rates during 2022. For CO2, the global surface average rose by 2.13 parts per million (ppm) to 417.06 ppm making atmospheric levels 50 percent higher than pre-industrial levels. Last year was the eleventh consecutive year in which CO2 increased by more than 2 ppm; this marks the highest sustained rate of CO2 rises in the 65-year period since monitoring began. Methane rose by 14 parts per billion (ppb) in 2022 to an average of 1,911.9 ppb. This annual increase is the fourth largest recorded since NOAA began systematic measurements in 1983 and comes on the heels of record growth in 2020 and 2021. Methane emissions are now more than two and a half times their pre-industrial level. Nitrous oxide rose to 335.7 ppm in 2022 – a 1.24-ppb increase over 2021, which ties with 2014 as the third-largest jump since 2000. Nitrous oxide levels are now 24 percent greater than pre-industrial levels. Announcing these measurements, Stephen Montzka, NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory Senior Scientist, said, “Our latest measurements confirm that the most important greenhouse gases continue to increase rapidly in the atmosphere. It’s a clear sign that much more effort will be required if we hope to stabilize levels of gases in the next few decades.”
For further information:
https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/greenhouse-gases-continued-to-increase-rapidly-in-2022
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit dismissed a case in which 10 states, led by Louisiana, alleged that the Administration improperly estimated the social cost of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and, because estimated costs may be used to monetize the adverse impacts of climate change, the states face increased regulatory responsibilities and costs. On behalf of the three-judge panel, U.S. Circuit Judge Jacques L. Wiener, Jr., wrote that the panel unanimously dismissed the action “because Plaintiffs have failed to meet their burden to prove standing. Plaintiffs’ allegations of ‘injury in fact’ rely on a chain of hypotheticals: federal agencies may (or may not) premise their actions on the Interim Estimates in a manner that may (or may not) burden the States. Such injuries do not flow from the Interim Estimates but instead from potential future regulations, i.e., final rules that are subject to their own legislated avenues of scrutiny, dialogue, and judicial review on an appropriately developed record.” The nine other state plaintiffs joining Louisiana are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming.
For further information:
EPA published in the Federal Register (88 Fed. Reg. 20,688) a notice of its decision – announced last week – to grant in full, under Clean Air Act section 209, the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) requests for waivers of preemption for the following CARB regulations for heavy-duty vehicles and engines: 1) the Advanced Clean Trucks Regulation; 2) the Zero Emission Airport Shuttle Regulation; 3) the Zero-Emission Power Train Certification Regulation; and 4) the Heavy-Duty Vehicle and Engine Emission Warranty Regulations and Maintenance Provisions.
For further information:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-04-06/pdf/2023-07184.pdf