Comments Sought on Analysis of MACT Standards for Hazardous Waste Combustors
In response to a court decision earlier this year, EPA is seeking public comment on an analysis of the 2005 Hazardous Waste Combustor Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) rule.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an opinion that vacated the standards included in another of EPA's MACT rules (Sierra Club vs. EPA, No. 031202A, March 13, 2007). In light of the court's opinion, EPA has reexamined the standards in the 2005 Hazardous Waste Combustors MACT rule to determine if they are compliant with the court's opinion.
In the analysis, EPA identifies which standards it believes are consistent with the opinion and which standards are not. Standards that are not consistent with the decision would need to be reexamined in a future regulatory action, which would begin in 2008. In addition, the EPA is changing the rationale that supported the 2005 rule. Consequently, EPA also has made the revised versions of the preamble and various support and comment response documents from the 2005 rule available for comment.
Comments will be accepted for 21 days following publication in the Federal Register, which is expected within two weeks. The docket number is EPA-HQ-OAR-2004-0022.
Information on the MACT analysis can be found at http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/combust/finalmact/index.htm.
For more information on the court's decision, check the March 2007 archives of Environmental Protection magazine's Web site for news item "Appeals Court Rebukes EPA's Standards to Reduce Emissions from Brick, Tile Manufacturing."
This article originally appeared in the 09/01/2007 issue of Environmental Protection.