epa boiler mact congress legislation for business and manufacturers
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8/6/2019 EPA Boiler MACT Congress Legislation for Business and Manufacturers
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ManuFACTS: EPA’s Boiler MACT RuleStringent Emissions Limits Hurt Manufacturers’ Competitiveness
• Boilers serve an important function in many manufacturing facilities, refiner-
ies and other large institutions. Boilers are closed vessels that are fired to
generate steam, usually to expedite a manufacturing process. Boilers are
found in all industrial sectors, including the paper, chemical and refining
sectors. Most operators fire their boilers using natural gas, coal, or biomass.
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently finalized a rule that
will impose stricter emissions limits on industrial and commercial boilers
and process heaters. Though the final rule includes some changes, many
manufacturers will have to install expensive new pollution control devices
on their boilers to comply with the new standards. Total compliance costs
for manufacturers will be in the billions of dollars.
• Manufacturers must comply immediately with the standards if installing a new
boiler. There is a three-year compliance deadline to retrofit existing boilers.
• In addition, the EPA’s data collection efforts to support these rules were
biased toward so-called “top performing facilities.” The agency biased
its information requests to units that it had reason to believe were the
better performing units in each subcategory. This tainted sample resultedin proposed standards that are inordinately stringent, not representative
of the overall subcategories to which they apply, and not in accordance
with legal standards.
• The NAM believes the EPA’s approach in setting the emissions standards
violates the Clean Air Act.
How Congress Can Help
• Congress should pass legislation to extend the compliance timeframe and grant the 15-month extension initiallyrequested by the EPA to develop a more achievable final rule.
1331 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20004 P 202•637•3000 F 202•637•3182 www.nam.org
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More Information
• The EPA estimates that about 13,800 boilers are located atlarge emission sources, including refineries, chemical plantsand other industrial facilities. Many manufacturing facilities alsohave boilers that are considered small emissions sources – or“area sources.” The EPA estimates that approximately 187,000boilers fit into this category.
• The American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA) estimatesthat the capital costs for all manufacturing from the Boiler
MACT rule could be well over $11 billion, plus billions more inannual operating costs.1
More InformationWeb: www.nam.org/energy
E-mail: [email protected]
April 2011
1 Testimony of Donna A. Harman, President and CEO, AF&PA, before the House Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending.