November 26 – December 2, 2022
In this week's issue:
- NACAA Seeks Extension of Comment Period for EPA’s Supplemental Oil and Gas Sector NSPS for Methane (November 29, 2022)
- EPA Proposes NSPS Amendments for Secondary Lead Smelters (December 1, 2022)
- Study Links Air Toxics with Early Childhood Cognitive Harms in Areas of Concentrated Poverty (November 30, 2022)
- EPA Inspector General Identifies Top Management Challenges for the Agency (November 29, 2022)
- EPA Releases Proposed RFS “Set” Rule for Public Comment (December 1, 2022)
- EPA Publishes Final, Technology-Following Aircraft PM Emission Standards and Test Procedures (November 23, 2022)
- NACAA Welcomes Wisconsin, Tennessee as New Committee Co-Chairs (December 1, 2022)
This Week in Review
NACAA has petitioned EPA for more time for its members to prepare comments in response to the November 11, 2022 supplemental proposal “Standards of Performance for New, Reconstructed, and Modified Sources and Emissions Guidelines for Existing Sources: Oil and Natural Gas Sector Climate Review”. NACAA’s letter identifies the number of EPA rulemakings undergoing comment, as well as the Requests for Information being circulated for the Inflation Reduction Act, and notes that the limited resources of the state and local agencies for analyzing and responding to these proposals means that greater time should be allocated, especially with the intervening holiday season. NACAA requested at least 30 days additional time, from February 13, 2023 to March 15, 2023, with as much lead time as possible for EPA’s decision. The supplemental proposal has yet to be published in the Federal Register.
For further information:
https://www.4cleanair.org/wp-content/uploads/NACAA-OilandGasSectorExtensionRequest-11292022.pdf
and
EPA published in the Federal Register (87 Fed. Reg. 73,708) a proposed rule to amend the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for secondary lead smelters (facilities that recycle lead-bearing scrap material, typically lead acid batteries, into elemental lead or lead alloys), following its periodic review of the standards required by the Clean Air Act. The proposed amendments includes updates to the existing NSPS subpart for the source category (subpart L), as well as a new subpart La that applies to sources that begin construction, reconstruction or modification after December 1, 2022. For the existing subpart L, EPA is proposing to revise the definitions of blast furnace, reverberatory furnace, and pot furnace to more closely align with equivalent definitions in the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for secondary lead smelting. The proposal also incorporates revised monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting requirements that are more consistent with the NESHAP. The new proposed subpart La includes updated particulate matter (PM) and opacity limits that apply at all times, including during periods of startup, shutdown and malfunction. It also includes proposed initial and periodic PM and opacity performance testing, as well as the same equipment definitions, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements proposed for the subpart L. Comments on the proposed rule are due by January 17, 2023.
For further information:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-12-01/pdf/2022-25586.pdf
A new study published in the journal Science Advances has explored what causes lower observed school performance and later adult success in areas of concentrated poverty in the U.S. and determined that early childhood exposure to ambient air toxics is a significant contributor. The study, “Concentrated poverty, ambient air pollution, and child cognitive development”, was conducted by researchers from the University of Chicago, and explored the specific causal pathways by which growing up in poor neighborhoods leads to “lower levels of educational achievement and worse economic fortunes in adulthood.” The study was able to identify issues like social, cultural, or institutional pathways, but noted that these affect children later in life, while early environmental exposures have a significant impact well before children reach school age. It determines that “neurotoxic air pollution in particular, may help to explain the effects of neighborhood poverty”, and identifies “which toxics among a large number of different organic compounds, gases, metals, and fine particulates are most closely linked with concentrated poverty.” It concludes that the strongest correlations occur with exposures to toluene, methanol, CO, and fine particulate matter, and that exposure to heavy metals emitted by industrial facilities such as lead and cadmium are also “nontrivial” in their effects in poor neighborhoods. The study compares data on school entry to neurotoxic air pollution exposure and determines that because of these exposures, “living in a high-poverty neighborhood during infancy has a negative impact on reading and math abilities measured around the time of school entry… roughly equivalent to the learning losses that would typically occur as a result of missing 1 month of elementary schooling.”
For further information:
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add0285
The EPA Inspector General (IG) has released a report identifying the most serious management and performance challenges facing EPA and assessing the agency’s progress in addressing them. The IG identified the top eight challenges for FY 2023, the first of which is “Mitigating the Causes and Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change.” Specifically, the IG reported that “climate change threatens the EPA’s ability to meet its core mission to protect human health and the environment across multiple program areas.” The other top challenges are Integrating and Leading Environmental Justice Across the Agency and Government; Providing for the Safe Use of Chemicals; Safeguarding Scientific Integrity Principles; Ensuring Agency Systems and Other Critical Infrastructure Are Protected Against Cyberthreats; Managing Business Operations and Resources; Enforcing Compliance with Environmental Laws and Regulations; and Managing Increased Investment in Infrastructure. The FY 2023 report retains all seven of the challenges identified in FY 2022, but split “managing infrastructure funding and business operations” into two separate items. All federal inspectors general are required to prepare annual statements that summarize their agency or department’s most serious challenges and progress on meeting them. This report is pursuant to that requirement.
For further information:
https://www.epa.gov/office-inspector-general/report-epas-fiscal-year-2023-top-management-challenges
Under court order to comply by November 30, 2022, EPA released for public review and comment its proposal setting forthcoming biofuel volumes under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. In the proposed RFS “Set” Rule, EPA requests public comment on volumes and percentage standards for 2023 through 2025 for cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel as well as on how to balance factors identified in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, such as costs, air quality, climate change, implementation of the program thus far, energy security, infrastructure, commodity prices and water quality and supply. In addition, EPA seeks input on how the rule “can intersect with continued viability of domestic oil refining assets, including merchant refineries, how best to support novel fuels like sustainable aviation fuels and clean hydrogen, and how to account for the new and updated incentives of the Inflation Reduction Act.” EPA also includes in the proposal new regulations on the generation of qualifying renewable electricity from renewable biomass that is used as transportation fuel for electric vehicles and seeks comment on these new regulations which, for the first time, would link electricity generation from renewable biomass into the program. EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan described the proposal as supporting low-carbon renewable fuels and seeking public input on ways to strength the program. “With this proposal, EPA seeks to provide consumers with more options while diversifying our nation’s energy mix. EPA is also focused on strengthening the economics of our critical energy infrastructure, needed to maintain and boost our energy security. We’re eager to continue the dialogue on how biofuels can bolster U.S. energy security, protect consumers from high fuel costs, strengthen the rural economy, and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” Comments on the proposal are due by February 10, 2023. EPA will hold a public hearing on January 10, 2023; the deadline for registering to testify is January 3. The proposal will be published in the Federal Register soon,
For further information:
https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2022-12/rfs-set-rule-nprm-2022-11-30.pdf,
https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2022-12/rfs-set-rule-public-hearing-notice-2022-11-30.pdf,
and
https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-takes-next-steps-renewable-fuel-standard-program-2023-25
EPA published in the Federal Register (87 Fed. Reg. 72,312) the final aircraft particular matter (PM) rule, in which the agency aligns U.S. PM emission standards and test procedures with those adopted in 2017 and 2019 by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). These final standards become effective December 23, 2022; the ICAO standards are set to take effect beginning January 1, 2023. The standards apply to new type design and in-production civil aircraft engines with rated output of greater than 26.7 kilonewtons. These engines are typically used in commercial passenger and freight aircraft and larger business jets. Since virtually all affected aircraft already meet the ICAO standards, this final rule will not result in any improvement in public health or environmental protection. In NACAA’s April 1, 2022, comments on EPA’s February 3, 2022, proposed rule the association urged, among other things, that EPA go beyond adoption of ICAO’s technology-following standards, which fall far short of what is necessary and feasible.
For further information:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-11-23/pdf/2022-25134.pdf,
and
https://www.4cleanair.org/wp-content/uploads/NACAA_Comments-EPA_Aircraft_PM_NPRM-040122lh.pdf
The NACAA Committee on Criteria Pollutants and NACAA’s Program Funding Committee are both pleased to welcome new State Co-Chairs. Gail Good, the Acting Division Administrator for Environmental Management and the Air Division Director at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) will lead as State Co-Chair of NACAA’s Criteria Pollutants Committee. Gail has been Wisconsin’s Air Director since 2015 and has been NACAA’s State Co-Chair of the Emissions and Modeling Committee since 2018. She has degrees from Central Michigan University and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Michelle Walker Owenby, the Director of the Division of Air Pollution Control at the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), will take the wheel as NACAA’s Program Funding Committee State Co-Chair. She has served as Tennessee’s Air Director since 2012 and in NACAA leadership since 2017, including as NACAA’s Co-President from 2020-2021. Michelle has degrees from Georgia Tech and Vermont Law School. We are so excited to work with these exceptional clean air leaders in their new NACAA roles!