EPA Issues Proposed and Final Rules for Powerplant, Industrial Upgrades
The Environmental Protection Agency has issued final rules and proposed others that it says will reduce air pollution from paper mills, powerplants and other industrial facilities and also make them more efficient by clarifying when plant upgrades also require new pollution control equipment.
The regulations, announced Nov. 22, deal with "New Source Review" requirements under the Clean Air Act. Much of the long NSR debate has centered on coal-fired powerplants. For that industry, by far the more important of EPA's two actions is its proposal to change the definition of "maintenance, repair and replacement" work. EPA is proposing to exempt from NSR requirements maintenance work that falls below a dollar threshold. The benchmark would vary by industry, and range from 0.5% to 20% of plant replacement cost. EPA isn't specifying in its rule which percentage would apply to individual industries.