Encouragingly, there have been several recent developments coming out of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), or affecting EPA policies, that we wanted to share with readers, as they positively affect wood product manufacturers.
New Source Review Advancing
At a recent meeting with senior staff of the House Energy & Commerce (E&C) Committee, Committee 2018 priorities were shared with us, including New Source Review (NSR) permit reform. It was noted that upcoming E&C hearings will address legislation sponsored by Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA) to amend the Clean Air Act to reduce NSR burdens on industry. In support of reform, AWC’s Vice President of Public Policy, Paul Noe, testified on February 14 to the E&C Environment Subcommittee on the NSR permitting process. In his testimony, he called for improvements to the arcane and ineffective rules, so minor projects, and especially those that would help reduce mill emissions, could avoid the burdensome and time consuming NSR permitting process.
Noe used an example of a permit request from a wood products mill that would route the exhaust from four thermal oil heaters into dryer burners as combustion air, fully in full compliance with Boiler MACT requirements. The protracted NSR permitting process caused the project to be delayed approximately 5 months with additional costs of over $150,000 to assess alternative compliance options and state permitting fees. The delay resulted in an increase of 10 tons of particulate emissions with no substantive changes to the project’s scope as a result of the exhaustive (and unnecessary) NSR review. If EPA had adjusted both its aggregation policy and how to account for decreases in emissions, the state could have allowed the project to proceed quickly, and the environment would have been that much better off.
“Once-In-Always-In” Policy Dropped
Additionally, EPA has proposed elimination of the so called “Once-In-Always-In” (OIAI) policy which trapped facilities in the “major source” category, even when their air toxic emissions fell below statutory thresholds. The new policy allows a mill to be reclassified as a minor source if its “potential to emit” falls below 25 tons of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), or 10 tons of a single HAP, per year. This policy change can help smaller wood product mills that have made HAP reductions under the MACT program. EPA states the change is based on a plain reading of the Clean Air Act and that the policy will encourage reductions in emissions to avoid regulatory burdens. AWC had recommended elimination of the 1995 OIAI policy in its 2017 regulatory reform comments to EPA and the Department of Commerce. EPA intends to invite comment on the new policy shortly.
Carbon Neutrality of Biomass
EPA Administrator Pruitt visited New Hampshire in February, delivering a letter to Governor Sununu that acknowledged that “the agency received explicit direction” from the 2017 Appropriations bill and that EPA, USDA and DOE will cooperate in establishing consistent approaches on the use of biomass for energy. The letter also stated EPA’s intention to “develop a range of options consistent with a carbon-neutral policy for biomass from forests and other lands and sectors” as EPA continues to review and improve the Clean Air Act permitting programs. And, the letter also shared actions EPA is planning to take to clarify its federal procurement recommendations to recognize additional forest certification systems including the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and American Tree Farm System (ATFS).
All in all, some decent news coming out of EPA.