Environmental Protection Agency August 24, 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Research and Development (ORD), gives notice of a virtual meeting of the Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) Safe and Sustainable Water Resources (SSWR) Subcommittee to review the initial progress on implementation of the FY 19-22 SSWR Strategic Research Action Plan (StRAP).

On January 31, 2013, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized amendments to the national emission standards (NESHAP) for the control of hazardous air pollutants (HAP) at major sources from new and existing industrial, commercial, and institutional (ICI) boilers and process heaters. Subsequently, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit), in a decision issued in July 2016, remanded several of the emission standards to the EPA based on the court's review of the EPA's approach to setting those standards. In response to these remands, this action proposes to amend several numeric emission limits for new and existing boilers and process heaters consistent with the court's opinion and set compliance dates for these new emission limits. The court also remanded for further explanation the Agency's use of carbon monoxide (CO) as a surrogate for organic HAP and, in a subsequent decision in March 2018, remanded for further explanation the Agency's use of a CO threshold to represent the application of the maximum achievable control technology (MACT) for organic HAP. The proposed changes to the emissions limits will protect air quality and promote public health by reducing emissions of the HAP listed in the Clean Air Act (CAA). This action also addresses the two issues remanded to the EPA for further explanation. We are also proposing several technical clarifications and corrections.