Proposed Amendments to Air Toxics Standards for NESHAP EEE – Hazardous Waste Combustors

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) proposed revisions to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) from Hazardous Waste Combustors (HWC) (40 CFR Part 63, Subpart EEE) in the Federal Register on July 3, 2024. The HWC NESHAP regulates Hazardous Air Pollution (HAP) emissions from hazardous waste burning incinerators, cement kilns, lightweight aggregate kilns, industrial/commercial/institutional boilers and process heaters, and hydrochloric acid production furnaces.

The proposed changes to the rule include:

• Removal of emissions standards exemptions for periods of malfunction (as described in existing startup, shutdown, and malfunction (SSM) plans),
• Removal of the Emergency Safety Vent (ESV) Plan from NESHAP 40 CFR Part 63, Subpart EEE (Subpart EEE) requirements,
• Requirement of electronic submittal of certain reports (within 90 days of rule becoming final), and
• Other minor revisions.

Note that this is the first of two regulatory actions we’re expecting from U.S. EPA on this rule. The second will be their proposed technology review of Subpart EEE, which is overdue, that will address whether alternate standards during periods of startup and shutdown are needed.

Revised NESHAP EEE

The most significant proposed change to the NESHAP is the removal of exemptions for malfunctions and emergency safety valve (ESV) releases as described under a facility’s SSMP and ESV operating plan. Facilities will be required to revise their SSMP to remove the malfunction exemptions from the plan. The proposed rule removes the language that states that automatic waste feed cutoff requirements continue to apply during a malfunction as long as corrective measures are taken as per the SSMP. Therefore, any malfunction that occurs outside of startup or shutdown periods would no longer be excused from being a violation of the standards in the rule. The requirement to develop and implement an ESV operating plan has been removed. An ESV event already requires an investigation to be conducted on the ESV event to determine whether any exceedances of emissions standards occurred. As written, an exceedance of the emissions standards monitored by a continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS) or COMS is not a violation of the NESHAP if corrective actions are taken as described in the SSM plan. The proposed rule removes “malfunctions” from these allowances; therefore, all exceedances due to malfunctions would be violations of the rule. U.S. EPA is proposing to add a “general duty” clause to Subpart EEE that reflects the general duty to minimize emissions while eliminating the reference to periods covered by a malfunction exemption.

With the elimination of the exemption for periods of malfunction, units would be subject to an emissions standard during openings of ESV that occur outside of periods of startup and shutdown. U.S. EPA states that the intent of this change is to ensure that sources have ample incentive to plan for and achieve compliance and thus ESV operating plans are no longer necessary. The contents of the report required when a source fails to meet an applicable standard are also proposed to be updated so the agency can determine the extent of the failure and how a source met the general duty clause.

U.S. EPA is also proposing that facilities submit electronic copies of the required notices of intent to comply (NIC), notifications of compliance (NOC), notifications of changes that may adversely affect compliance, compliance progress reports, excessive emissions and continuous monitoring system performance reports and summary reports, performance test reports, performance evaluation reports, and periodic SSM reports through the U.S. EPA’s Central Data Exchange (CDX) using the Compliance and Emissions Data Reporting Interface (CEDRI). Additionally, the proposed rule requires the owner or operator to submit performance evaluation results of CEMS measuring relative accuracy test audit (RATA) pollutants that are supported by the ERT at the time of the test in the format generated through the use of the ERT or an electronic file consistent with the xml schema on the ERT website, and it requires that the owner or operator submit other performance evaluation results in PDF using the attachment module of the ERT.

Additionally, U.S. EPA is proposing a technical correction to the NESHAP to remove the requirement to receive Administrator approval to use EPA Method 23 in compliance demonstrations for dioxins and furans.

Timing and Impacts

Comments on the proposed rule must be received before September 24, 2024. U.S. EPA has identified 177 HWCs subject to this NESHAP. They do not expect any impact to air quality from these proposed rule changes and the estimated costs to comply are minimal. The addition of electronic reporting provisions, amendments to the ESV provisions, and correction of inadvertent errors do not affect the stringency of the standards in Subpart EEE but will make data more accessible to U.S. EPA and the public. U.S. EPA is proposing to allow 180 days from the date of the final rule for compliance with all requirements except for the requirement to submit performance test reports and performance evaluation reports electronically (90 days) and the technical correction (effective immediately upon promulgation of the final rule).

Summary

The proposed revisions to Subpart EEE will increase compliance burden to the affected facilities with no expected benefit to the environment. The electronic reporting requirements are intended to streamline reporting procedures but can have a steep learning curve and can be cumbersome to utilize properly. The removal of malfunction exemptions from the rule will complicate monitoring, recordkeeping, and general compliance for facilities. If you have questions on the revised rules or need assistance with planning for and implementing these new requirements, ALL4 can help you develop and implement a compliance strategy, design a stack testing program, and collect and submit data and reports. Reach out to either your ALL4 Project Manager or Brian Goldman at bgoldman@all4inc.com for assistance with these new requirements.