Is Three Years Enough Time to Comply with MACT?

EPA’s final rule regulating national emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants under a new maximum achievable control technology (MACT) rule for new and existing reinforced plastic composites production facilities (40 CFR 63, Subpart WWWW) became effective April 21, 2003. This new regulation requires affected sources (of hazardous air pollutants or HAPs) at many existing facilities to be upgraded within three years to meet stringent emission limits.

Facilities must comply with the new rule if they are one of the affected facility types and they are located at a major source of HAPs (i.e., they have the potential to emit 10 tpy of a single HAP [typically styrene] or 25 tpy of combined HAPs). The objectives of MACT are to:

• Reduce toxic air emissions;
• Establish a process for identifying priorities;
• Focus resources on most environmentally significant source categories and substantive noncompliance; and
• Move beyond tool development and focus on compliance evaluations and enforcement.

With few exceptions, and barring legal challenges, existing sources must comply with the new regulations no later than three years after the final rule is published. However, for existing sources, is three years an adequate amount of time to perform all evaluations and corrections needed to comply with a new MACT rule? And what specific activities must a source operator actually conduct to ensure that its operation will meet the MACT compliance deadline?

In order to prepare a facility for MACT compliance, Battelle evaluated the operations at three client facilities to determine what equipment upgrades were needed, if any, to comply with the future requirements of the NESHAP for Reinforced Plastic Composites (RPC), i.e., the RPC, MACT (40 CFR 63, Subpart WWWW). Battelle reviewed the material type and usages during manufacturing for the facilities and developed emission estimates for hazardous air pollutants.

This and other hands-on experience has taught us that an operator of a newly regulated facility is best advised to begin its evaluations early. Early actions will minimize the adverse schedule impact possibly induced by the corporate budget planning cycle and will allow consideration and implementation of the most cost-effective emission reduction options.

Information on Battelle’s capabilities to support environmental compliance programs at government and industrial facilities can be obtained by contacting Mr. Joe Carvitti at (614) 424-4843, carvittij@battelle.org.