As part of CAAA90, the EPA on February 26, 2004, issued a final rule—the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP)—to reduce emissions of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) from industrial, commercial, and institutional boilers and process heaters [4]. The rule requires industrial boilers and process heaters to meet limits on HAP emissions to comply with a MACT “floor level” of control that is the minimum level such sources must meet to comply with the rule. The major HAPs to be reduced are hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, and nickel. The EPA predicts that the boiler MACT rule will reduce those HAP emissions from existing sources by about 59,000 tons per year in 2005 [5]. 

The MACT standards apply to major sources of HAPs, or units that emit or have the potential to emit a single HAP at 10 tons or more per year or a combination of HAPs at 25 tons or more per year. The EPA estimates that 58,000 existing boilers and process heaters and 800 new boilers and process heaters built each year over the next 5 years will be subject to the rule. Existing boilers and process heaters must comply with the rule no later than 3 years after it is published in the Federal Register. In addition, the owners of existing units may petition for an extra year to comply. New boilers and process heaters must comply when they are brought on line. The final rule provides flexibility in compliance through averaging of emissions from multiple units on a single site and lowering of emissions by altering work practices, installing control devices, or physically removing toxics. Fuel switching is not an available option to meet the MACT floor level, because it may increase emissions of some HAPs while reducing the emissions of others. 

The industries most affected by the rule will be furniture, paper, lumber, and electrical services, which together account for nearly 60 percent of the affected units. The EPA estimates the total nationwide capital costs for the final rule to be $1.4 billion to $1.7 billion over the first 5 years, with annualized costs between $690 million and $800 million. 

New boilers are expected to meet the standards in the absence of the rule, and retrofit costs are anticipated to be relatively small in aggregate. Consequently, inclusion of the rule does not materially affect the AEO2005 projection for the industrial sector.

[4] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional Boilers and Process Heaters,” 40 CFR Part 63 (February 26, 2004), web site www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/boiler/ria-final.pdf.

[5] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Regulatory Impact Analysis for the Industrial Boilers and Process Heaters NESHAP, EPA-452/R-04-002 (Washington, DC, February 2004), web site www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/boiler/ ria-final.pdf.

Contact: Crawford Honeycutt
Phone: 202-586-1420
E-mail: crawford.honeycutt@eia.doe.gov