Industry urges EPA to reconsider air toxics rule
Cement industry officials in the US are urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reconsider its air toxics rule for the sector to resolve what they say is a major ambiguity over whether many cement facilities are subject to another recent emissions rule for incinerators rather than the air toxics rule, according to a report by Inside EPA.
The industry has also filed suit over the Portland cement maximum achievable control technology (MACT) air toxics standard, and a federal appeals court recently issued a briefing schedule for that litigation. Whether cement facilities should be subject to the MACT or the EPA’s new source performance standard (NSPS) for commercial and industrial solid waste incinerators (CISWI) continues to be a key issue of uncertainty for industry.
In response to two petitions from the Portland cement industry and two from environmental groups, the EPA will reconsider the cement MACT and a NSPS setting criteria pollutant emission limits for the cement sector, issued simultaneously alongside the MACT. The EPA will issue a proposed response within 12 months but does not expect to change the stringency of the standard. Published under Cement News
