In response to a court deadline, today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the first-ever national standards for mercury, arsenic and other toxic air pollution from power plants.
The proposed rule provides up to 4 years for facilities to meet the standards.
The EPA states in the press release that the proposed mercury and air toxics standards are in keeping with President Obama’s executive order on regulatory reform. They are based on the latest data and provide industry significant flexibility in implementation through a phased-in approach and use of already existing technologies.
There will be a public comment period for 60 days after the rule appears in the Federal Register. As part of the public comment process, EPA will also hold public hearings on this proposed rule. Additional details on these events will be announced at a future date.
More information: http://www.epa.gov/airquality/powerplanttoxics/
The EPA Fact Sheet list the following information on affected sources and requirements.
AFFECTED SOURCES
- The mercury and air toxics standards will affect EGUs that burn coal or oil for the purpose of generating electricity for sale and distribution through the national electric grid to the public are affected by this rule.
- These include investor-owned units as well as units owned by the Federal government, municipalities, and cooperatives that provide electricity for commercial, industrial, and residential uses.EPA has identified two different subcategories of coal-fired EGUs, two different subcategories of oil-fired EGUs, and a subcategory for units that combust gasified coal or solid oil (Integrated gasification and combined cycle (IGCC) units) based on the design of the various types of boilers at different power plants. The proposed air toxics rule includes emission standards and other requirements for each subcategory.EPA estimates that there are approximately 1,350 units affected by this action. Approximately 1,200 existing coal-fired units and 150 oil fired units at about 525 power plants.
- The NSPS will affect boilers that burn fuels, including coal, oil, or natural gas to produce steam. The steam is used to produce electricity or provide heat.
- Boilers are used at industrial facilities (e.g., refineries, chemical and manufacturing plants, and paper mills), commercial establishments (e.g., stores/malls, laundries, apartments, restaurants, hotels/motels), and institutional facilities (e.g., medical centers, educational and religious facilities, and municipal buildings).
REQUIREMENTS
- For all existing and new coal-fired EGUs, the proposed standards would establish numerical emission limits for mercury, PM (a surrogate for toxic non-mercury metals), and HCl (a surrogate for toxic acid gases).
- For all existing and new oil-fired EGUs, the proposed toxics rule would establish numerical emission limits for total metals, HCl, and HF. Compliance with the metals standards is through fuel testing.
- The proposal would establish alternative standards, including SO2 (as an alternate to HCl), individual non-mercury metal air toxics (as an alternate to PM), and total non-mercury metal air toxics (as an alternate to PM) for certain subcategories of power plants.
- A range of widely available, technical and economically feasible practices, technologies, and compliance strategies are available to power plants to meet the emission limits, including wet and dry scrubbers, dry sorbent injection systems, activated carbon injection systems, and baghouses.
- The proposed standards would establish work practices, instead of numerical emission limits, to limit emissions of organic air toxics, including dioxin/furan, from existing and new coaland oil-fired power plants. Because dioxins and furans form from inefficient combustion, the proposed work practice standards would require an annual performance test program for each EGU that would include inspection, adjustment, and/or maintenance and repairs to ensure optimal combustion.
- The proposed revisions to the NSPS would include revised numerical EGU emission limits for PM, SO2, and NOX.
Link to the proposed rule and further details: http://www.epa.gov/airquality/powerplanttoxics/actions.html