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Air Issues
National Emissions Standards For Hazardous Air Pollutants From Miscellaneous Organic Chemical Manufacturing And Miscellaneous Coating Manufacturing (MON MACT)

Boiler and Process Heater NESHAP
Area Source Regulations
CAA Startup, Shutdown, and Malfunction Plans
Risk Management Program







National Emissions Standards For Hazardous Air Pollutants From Miscellaneous Organic Chemical Manufacturing And Miscellaneous Coating Manufacturing (MON MACT)
Under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, the EPA is required to establish maximum achievable control technology (MACT) standards for a number of industrial sectors that are believed to be major emitters of hazardous air pollutants (HAPS). Many of these standards will directly affect the organic chemical industry. The Miscellaneous Organic National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants (MON) is intended to cover all organic chemical processes not covered by other standards such as the Hazardous Organic NESHAP or "HON". The MON was proposed in April 2002 and was published in final form on November 10, 2004. Affected facilities must fully implement the rule requirements by November 10, 2007. The rule is currently the subject of litigation, the outcome of which is expected to alter some of the rule requirements and may affect compliance dates as well. SOCMA continues to help members through compliance assistance in the form of the MON Resource Center. Click here for more information on this tool. For more information on the MON rule, visit EPA's website.


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Boiler and Process Heater NESHAP
Under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, the EPA is required to establish maximum achievable control technology (MACT) standards for a number of industrial sectors that are believed to be major emitters of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). Many of these standards will directly affect the organic chemical industry. The Industrial/Commercial/Institutional (ICI) Boilers and Process Heaters MACT (Boiler MACT) is intended to regulate HAP emissions from boilers and process heaters located at major sources. The Boiler MACT was proposed on January 13, 2003.
SOCMA submitted comments on the proposed rule on March 14, 2003 and on EPA's reconsideration on August 11, 2005. The rule requires implementation of various emission limits and work practice standards for boilers and process heaters located at sources emitting more than 10 tons of any one HAP or 25 tons of aggregate HAP (i.e. a "major source"). The rule divides boilers and process heaters into various subcategories depending on size and fuel type, and has different standards for new and existing units.

The final rule was published September 13, 2004, but was challenged in court by several NGOs, where it still remains. SOCMA is participating in an industry intervention of the lawsuit on behalf of EPA. Meanwhile, SOCMA continues to keep members aware of compliance assistance and to answer any member questions through EPA guidance. For more information and EPA guidance, click here.



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Area Source Regulations
The area source standards to regulate emissions of air toxics (hazardous air pollutants) are focused on those emitters that are minor sources of the pollutants. That is, they emit less than 10 tpy of any one hazardous air pollutant (HAP) or less than 25 tpy aggregate HAPs.
Under CAA §112(k) and 112(c), EPA is required to develop a strategy for reducing the public health risk in urban areas from the 30 most-hazardous HAPs. EPA is required to identify and list the area source categories that represent 90 percent of the emissions of the at least the 30 "listed" air toxics and subject them to standards under the CAA (section 112(d)).

EPA has identified a total of 70 area source categories which represent 90 percent of the emissions of the 30 listed air toxics. Of these 70 area source categories, 15 have been regulated and the remaining area source standards are under development or will be developed in the future. EPA's National Emissions Inventory (NEI) data was used to rank the sources relatively by toxicity, which determined the order in which the rules would be drafted. Completion dates will likely be affected by ongoing litigation between EPA and the Sierra Club. EPA has projected approximately 4-5 years per rule from start to finish. Those categories most relevant to SOCMA members include the following:


Synthetic Rubber Manufacturing
Agricultural Chemicals & Pesticides Manufacturing
Miscellaneous Organic NESHAP
Pharmaceutical Production
Cyclic Crude and Intermediates, and
Plastic Materials and Resins Manufacturing
This program is still in its early stages at EPA, but it will impact almost all SOCMA members in some form. For this reason, SOCMA is working persistently to ensure that we will be included in the rulemaking process and that our members' concerns will be heard, and hopefully addressed, before a rule is even proposed. Click here for more information.


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CAA Startup, Shutdown, Malfunction Plans
The implementing regulations for § 112 of the Clean Air Act include provisions requiring source owners or operators to develop startup, shutdown, and malfunction (SSM) plans. 40 CFR 63.6(e)(3) says in relevant part that "the owner or operator of an affected source must develop and implement a written startup, shutdown, and malfunction plan that describes, in detail, procedures for operating and maintaining the source during periods of startup, shutdown, and malfunction, and a program of corrective action for malfunctioning process and air pollution control and monitoring equipment used to comply with the relevant standard."
In addition to drafting and implementing the actual plan, SSM requirements also include several recordkeeping and reporting requirements. Regular records must be kept confirming that actions taken during periods of SSM were consistent with the plan. Facilities are also required to file a semiannual report. Actions taken that are inconsistent with the plan may require more immediate reporting. The owner/operator is required to keep the plan up-to-date and to revise it to reflect changes in equipment, procedures, or to accommodate a nonconforming event. Finally, the SSM plan must be maintained on-site and must be provided to the regulating agency upon request.

SSM plans have recently received increased public scrutiny since the Sierra Club made the provisions part of the negotiations in the MACT hammer date settlement. The Sierra Club wanted to require that all SSM plans and revisions be submitted to regulatory agencies, rather than a facility just keeping them on-site. The May 30, 2003 final rule (68 Fed. Reg. 32585), which is currently the law, requires only that the plans be kept updated and on-site. Click here for additional information and guidance.



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Risk Management Program
On June 20, 1996, the EPA promulgated a rule to implement Section 112(r)(7) of the Clean Air Act. This regulation is often referred to as the risk management program (RMP) rule because its intention is to prevent and mitigate releases of extremely hazardous substances by requiring regulated facilities to establish risk management programs. The primary goal of the RMP rule is to protect communities surrounding regulated chemical facilities from accidental releases. The rules promulgating the list of regulated substances (published January 31, 1994) and the Risk Management Program provisions (published June 20, 1996) are found in 40 CFR Part 68. Amendments to the rule published on April 9, 2004 remove the requirement for facilities to describe their offsite consequence analysis in the executive summary of RMPs, add several new data elements to RMPs, and require more timely reporting of significant accidents and changes in emergency contact information.
Because of the recent regulatory focus on chemical site security, RMPs have re-emerged as a SOCMA focus. SOCMA has remained actively engaged, but primarily now through the Safety and Security Committee, which handles security issues. For additional information and relevant guidance tools, visit EPA's Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office homepage.

Members: Click here for the checklist used to guide EPA inspections of RMP facilities.



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