EPA has finalized proposed amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for the Portland Cement Manufacturing Industry and the Standards of Performance for Portland Cement Plants. These amendments were proposed on July 18, 2012.
This final rule amends the national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants for the Portland cement industry. In addition, the EPA is amending the new source performance standard (NSPS) for particulate matter. The amendments address the remand of the NESHAP for the Portland cement industry by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2011.
The final rule is effective on February 12, 2013. The EPA set the compliance date for existing open clinker storage piles to be February 12, 2014 and set the date for compliance with the existing source NESHAP to be September 9, 2015
EPA amended the existing and new source PM standards in the NESHAP to require manual stack testing in lieu of PM continuous emission monitoring systems (CEMS) for compliance determinations and requiring that a site-specific parametric operating level be established using a PM continuous parametric monitoring system (CPMS). The agency also changed the numeric emissions value of those standards for existing sources to 0.07 pounds per ton (lb/ton) clinker based on manual stack testing and 0.02 lb/ton clinker for new and reconstructed sources based on manual stack testing. The PM standards under the NSPS for modified sources were likewise amended The agency changed the alternative organic HAP (oHAP) standard from 9 parts per million (ppm) to 12 ppm, but did not change the existing or new source standards for mercury, THC or HCl.