Congratulations to Earthjustice, Mossville Environmental Action Network (MEAN), Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN), and Sierra Club whose efforts led to EPA releasing these new air toxics regs!
“EPA estimates that the new proposed standard would reduce 'total hazardous air pollution emissions' from PVC production facilities nationwide by 3.14 million pounds annually. That emissions reduction includes 270,000 pounds of vinyl chloride, 66,000 pounds of hydrogen chloride, and 0.022 grams of CDDF."
“'The estimated reduction in total air toxic [emissions] is 45 percent,' the EPA said in an email response to Plastics News. 'That includes a 30 percent reduction in vinyl chloride, a 12 percent reduction in hydrogen chloride and a 32 percent reduction in chlorinated di-benzo dioxins and furans.'"
EPA proposes new emission standards for PVC plants
Mike Verespej
PLASTICS NEWS
April 19, 2011
WASHINGTON (April 19, 5 p.m. ET) -- The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new standards that would lower by 45 percent the amount of what it calls “total organic air toxics emissions” that can be released into the environment during the production of PVC and its copolymers products.
In addition, the proposed rule sets specific air emission limits for vinyl chloride, hydrogen chloride and chlorinated di-benzo dioxins and furans, as well as work practice standards for companies to follow.
This is a court-mandated shift in approach from the current rule. That rule was first established in 2002, vacated by the courts, and then revised in 2007. The original rule only set emission limits for vinyl chloride and used vinyl chloride, using those as “surrogates” for all air emissions from the process.
The proposed rule was announced April 18. The highly technical proposal contains specific emission limits for several individual portions of the production process, including emissions from PVC process vents, resin processing, equipment leaks, heat exchangers, and storage vessels. There are also new limits on the allowable concentrations of those chemicals into wastewater streams.
“We’re absorbing this new rule that’s been proposed by the EPA,” said Allen Blakey, vice president of industry and government affairs for the Vinyl Institute, based in Alexandria, Va. “We’re learning, as we read the 389 pages, what’s in it.
“We did a lot of testing to give the EPA data for this rule,” Blakely said. “We think the data showed we had very low emissions and we hope that’s reflected in the rule. We’ve tried to support the process all along.”
According to EPA, eight companies currently operate 17 PVC production facilities in the United States, including six in Louisiana and four in Texas. The agency said that most PVC production facilities in the U.S. manufacture PVC resins that are used to make a large number of commercial and industrial products at other manufacturing facilities. Those products include latex paints, coatings, adhesives, clear plastics, rigid plastics, and flooring.
EPA estimates that the new proposed standard would reduce “total hazardous air pollution emissions” from PVC production facilities nationwide by 3.14 million pounds annually. That emissions reduction includes 270,000 pounds of vinyl chloride, 66,000 pounds of hydrogen chloride, and 0.022 grams of CDDF.
“The estimated reduction in total air toxic [emissions] is 45 percent,” the EPA said in an email response to Plastics News. “That includes a 30 percent reduction in vinyl chloride, a 12 percent reduction in hydrogen chloride and a 32 percent reduction in chlorinated di-benzo dioxins and furans.”
EPA estimated that the total cost of compliance for the industry would be $15.6 million. The majority of that cost, $12.5 million, will be spent to comply with regulations requiring covers on process vents.
The agency estimated that annual compliance costs would be $19.7 million in 2010 dollars, or less than 0.7 percent of revenues. The vast majority of the annual compliance costs, $14.5 million, would be to comply with stripped resin emission regulations, EPA said.
The court-ordered implementation date for the new standard is Jan. 13, 2012, the aftermath of a lawsuit by the Sierra Club. There will be public hearings in Baton Rouge, La., and Houston, and a 60-day public comment period after the proposal is officially published in the Federal Register — sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Companies must be in compliance with the rules three years after the date the final rule goes into effect.
The proposed rule requires that when companies make process changes they demonstrate that any added emission points are in compliance with the applicable requirements for an existing affected source.
It also mandates that companies do continuous emission monitoring at certain points in the PVC production process to ensure that the new standards are met. No specific control technology is mandated. Instead companies will able to choose the technology they believe will best enable them to meet the standard, commonly referred as the MACT approach to meeting air emission standards.
MACT standards for existing sources must be at least as stringent as the average emissions limitation achieved by the best-performing 12 percent of existing sources or the best-performing five sources for source categories or subcategories with fewer than 30 sources.
For new sources, MACT standards must be at least as stringent as the control level achieved in practice by the best controlled similar source.
