Transcript Title Goes Here

Year in Review: Clean
Air Act
Things Are Getting Really Complicated
Presented by:
Tom Wood
Stoel Rives LLP
October 8, 2010
1
Clean Air Act & GHGs
• That was this morning
2
Boiler MACT & CISWI
• NESHAPs (aka MACT) = hazardous air pollutant
(HAP) standards
– Typically apply to major sources of HAP (10/25)
• Section 129 incinerator standards
– Apply to sources regardless of emission rate
– Regulate much more than just HAP
• By statute, same unit cannot be subject to both 129
standard and NESHAP
• Boiler MACT issued in 2005
3
Boiler MACT & CISWI
• Boiler MACT issued in 2005
• CISWI definitions rule also issued in 2005
• Sierra Club challenged both rules
– Claimed that EPA exceeded authority when it defined solid
waste as material combusted at a facility that does not
recover thermal energy for a useful purpose
• DC Circuit agreed that solid waste definition too
narrow
– Vacated both rules in 2007
4
Boiler MACT & CISWI
• June 4, 2010 EPA proposed new CISWI and Boiler
MACT rules
– Proposed boiler standards for area and major sources
• Area source standards referred to as GACT
– Sources burning any solid waste subject to CISWI
• EPA also proposed definition of solid waste rule
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Subcategorized by fuel/boiler type
MACT regulates five different pollutants
CISWI regulates nine pollutants
Some (e.g., CO) serve as surrogates
Boiler MACT & CISWI
• Bottom line:
– Standards are extraordinarily strict
• Will be very expensive to comply with
– Particularly brutal to biomass industry
• Many manufacturers cannot produce a unit that complies with
standards
• Makes small units cost-prohibitive
– Huge amount of testing required
• Sad Irony: Biomass boilers savaged by standards
and yet biomass boilers emit low levels of HAPs
6
Boiler MACT & CISWI
• Lisa Jackson stated in September 28, 2010 letter to
U.S. Senators concerned about impact on biomass:
– “the final standards will most assuredly differ from the
proposed ones”
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EPA must sign final rules by January 16, 2011
Typically published 3 to 6 weeks later
MACT/GACT compliance date: 3 years later
CISWI compliance date: Up to 5 years later
Other NESHAPs
• Portland Cement MACT
– Issued September 9, 2010
– EPA anticipated that Hg standards in rule could close
Durkee, OR plant even though it is acknowledged as the
best controlled plant in world
– Litigation to start in early November
• Utility MACT
– EPA had issued mercury trading program (CAMR)
– D.C. Circuit struck down
– EPA now developing HAP standard for utility boilers
• Separate and distinct from Boiler MACT
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Other NESHAPs
• Area Source NESHAPs
– Huge proliferation over past 18 months
– Very poorly written
– Very confusing as to applicability
• DEQ declining to adopt RICE NESHAP and returning
RICE NSPS to EPA
– Unprecedented move by DEQ
– Will do nothing to help Oregon sources determine
applicability
• SSM provisions
9
New NAAQS
• NO2
– Issued February 9, 2010
– New standard:
• 1 hour: 100 ppb
– 3 year average of annual 98th percentile of 1-hour daily maximum
concentrations
– EPA retaining annual NO2 standard
• 53 ppb
• PM2.5
10
New NAAQS
• SO2
– Issued June 22, 2010
– New standard:
• 1 hour: 75 ppb
– 3 year average of annual 99th percentile of 1-hour daily maximum
concentrations
– EPA revoking:
• 24 hour SO2 standard
• Annual SO2 standard
11
New NAAQS
• PM2.5
– 1997: EPA established annual and 24-hour NAAQS for
PM2.5 for the first time
– 2006: EPA revised the 24-hour NAAQS for PM2.5
– Very difficult to implement
– EPA issued PM10 surrogate policy
• Allowed states to regulate PM2.5 by regulating PM10
– EPA now indicating that it will withdraw surrogate policy
• Will require formal evaluation of PM2.5
• Problematic due to lack of data and difficulty testing
• EQC adopted temporary rules regulating PM2.5 at August
meeting
12
Regional Haze
• Statutory mandate to decrease visibility impacts to
natural conditions by 2064
• First phase: BART
– Applies to sources that pre-dated PSD
• Only source in state subject to BART is Boardman
– Initial BART requirements established by rule on June 19,
2009
– Comment period just closed on DEQ rework of Boardman
BART requirements
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Regional Haze After BART
• Reasonable Progress Goals
– Visibility conditions expected to be achieved at the required
milestone dates
– First key milestone date is 2018
– BART gets State to 2018
– More controls may be required beyond that
• EPA guidance: control requirements extend beyond
BART sources
14
Hell’s Canyon Trend Analysis
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