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Effluent Guidelines

Iron and Steel

Background

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is authorized by Section 304, Section 306, and Section 307 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) to review effluent limitations guidelines and standards periodically to determine whether the current regulations remain appropriate in light of changes in the industrial category caused by advances in manufacturing technologies, in-process pollution prevention, or end-of-pipe wastewater treatment. EPA is also required by the terms of a consent decree to undertake rulemaking with respect to the effluent limitations guidelines and standards on a set schedule. The effluent limitations guidelines and standards for the Iron and Steel Manufacturing Point Source Category, 40 CFR Part 420, were promulgated in May 1982 (47 FR 23258) and last amended in May 1984 (49 FR 21024).

The EPA performed an assessment of these regulations which is presented in the September 1995 document EPA 821-R-95-037, "Preliminary Study of the Iron and Steel Category." This study concluded that the industry has changed substantially since the regulations were promulgated, and as a result, EPA decided to reassess the effluent limitations guidelines and standards for the Iron and Steel Manufacturing Point Source Category.

Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Pretreatment Standards

Effluent limitations guidelines and standards are industry-specific, technology-based standards that limit the amount of industrial wastewater pollutants being discharged into the nation's waters either directly to surface waters or indirectly through Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs). Although the guidelines are developed based upon particular technologies, EPA does not require that dischargers use these technologies. Individual facilities may meet the requirements using whatever combination of treatment technologies and process changes they choose. Since 1974, EPA has promulgated effluent limitations guidelines and standards for over 50 industrial categories.

Effluent limitations guidelines and standards are implemented through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit and national pretreatment programs and include the following:

The pretreatment standards (PSES, PSNS) are applicable to industrial facilities that discharge process wastewater discharges to POTWs. The effluent limitations guidelines and new source performance standards (BPT, BAT, BCT and NSPS) are applicable to industrial facilities that discharge process wastewaters to waters of the United States.

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Iron and Steel Study

An iron and steel site is any facility that is engaged in iron or steel manufacturing, forming, and finishing, including coke manufacturing. The manufacturing processes include cokemaking, sintering, briquetting, ironmaking, steelmaking, vacuum degassing, ladle metallurgy, casting, hot forming, acid pickling, descaling, acid regeneration, cold forming, surface cleaning (e.g., acid cleaning, alkaline cleaning), and surface coating.

To evaluate existing technology-based limitations and standards for the iron and steel industry, EPA collected and analyzed information pertaining to wastewater characteristics (e.g., pollutants discharged, wastewater flows), wastewater treatment technologies (e.g., pollution prevention techniques, in-process and end-of-pipe treatment systems), and the economic impacts of these treatment technologies. To develop effluent limitations guidelines and standards for the iron and steel industry, EPA has used several methods to collect data to assist in characterizing the pollution discharged from iron and steel sites and to develop regulatory options to control these pollutant discharges. These methods included, but were not limited to, industry site visits (70) and sampling episodes (18), the distribution of the industry surveys (398), and literature searches and review.

The Agency's iron and steel contacts consulted with the major industry trade associations and environmental groups during the development process. This included five public meetings between December 1998 and January 2000 with stakeholders for the purposes of (1) presenting EPA's thinking about possible technology options and regulatory approaches, and (2) establishing a procedure for obtaining meaningful input from interested stakeholders at an early stage in the rulemaking process.

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Status of EPA Activities

On October 31, 2000, the EPA Administrator signed the proposed revisions to the iron and steel regulation, and published them in the Federal Register on December 27, 2000 (65 FR 81963). The Agency published an extension of the Part 420 proposal comment period and corrections on February 14, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 31, Pages 10253-10265). On April 4, 2001, the Agency published a reopening of the comment period on the proposed rule in the Federal Register (Volume 66, Number 65, Pages 17842-17843). The Agency used the remainder of 2001 and up through April 2002 to review comments, re-evaluate data, reconsider the options, and finalize the iron and steel regulation, including holding a public pretreatment hearing and public meeting on the proposed rule on February 20, 2001 in Washington, D.C.

Subsequently, the EPA Administrator signed the final effluent limitations guidelines and standards for iron and steel facilities on April 30, 2002 . The Agency published the final regulation in the Federal Register on October 17, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 201, Pages 64215-64268). Supporting documentation, including the technical development document, the economic assessment, and the environmental impact assessment, are available at the Water Docket (W-00-25) as well as on this website. The Water Docket is located at 1301 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20460, EPA West, Room B102. Call 202-566-2426 for an appointment.

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Final Revisions

The final revisions to Part 420 includes changes to only for current Subpart A (cokemaking), Subpart B (sintering), Subpart C (ironmaking), and Subpart D (steelmaking), and to promulgate new effluent limitations guidelines and standards for new Subpart M (other operations). The remainder of Part 420 is unchanged.

In the by-product recovery segment of Subpart A, effluent standards and limitations have been revised based on improved operations and performance of wastewater treatment technology. A new segment for non-recovery cokemaking has been created for Subpart A, and is set at zero discharge of process wastewater pollutants, the current industry practice. For cokemaking, sintering and ironmaking, a waiver of the applicable ammonia pretreatment standards for facilities which discharge to POTWs with nitrification has been added. For the sintering subcategory, a new parameter (2,3,7,8-TCDF, a dioxin congener) has been added since it was detected in the wastestreams. A new segment for sintering operations with dry air pollution control has been created in Subpart B, and is set at zero discharge of process wastewater pollutants, the current industry practice. For steelmaking, an allowance for alternate limitations and standards has been added for the semi-wet basic oxygen furnaces segment for safety purposes. The other operations (Subpart M) includes forging, direct reduced ironmaking and briquetting. The other operations subpart processes were not covered by the 1982 regulation.

Additionally, a number of obsolete operations have been removed from Part 420 because they no longer exist in the United States. They are beehive coke ovens, ferromanganese blast furnaces, and open hearth furnace steelmaking.

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Environmental Benefits

EPA expects compliance with this regulation to reduce the discharge of conventional pollutants by at least 351,000 pounds per year and toxic and non-conventional pollutants by at least 1,018,000 pounds per year. In particular, these limitations would greatly reduce the amount of ammonia, cyanide, and toxic organic constituents from iron and steel facilities. EPA estimates that the annual benefits of the rule will range from $1.4 million to $7.3 million ($2001).

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Cost to Implement

EPA estimates the annual cost of the rule will be $12.0 million (pre-tax $2001). There are no expected facility closures or employment losses as a consequence of this action.

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For Further Information

For additional information regarding the Iron and Steel Regulation, contact the EPA Program Manager for Iron and Steel.

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316(b) | UNDS | NPDES

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