National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Final Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Hazardous Waste Combustors (Phase I Final Replacement Standards and Phase II)

This action finalizes national emission standards (NESHAP) for hazardous air pollutants for hazardous waste combustors (HWCs): hazardous waste burning incinerators, cement kilns, lightweight aggregate kilns, industrial/commercial/institutional boilers and process heaters, and hydrochloric acid production furnaces. EPA has identified HWCs as major sources of hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions. These standards implement section 112(d) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) by requiring hazardous waste combustors to meet HAP emission standards reflecting the performance of the maximum achievable control technology (MACT). The HAP emitted by HWCs include arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, dioxins and furans, hydrogen chloride and chlorine gas, lead, manganese, and mercury. Exposure to these substances has been demonstrated to cause adverse health effects such as irritation to the lung, skin, and mucus membranes, effects on the central nervous system, kidney damage, and cancer. The adverse health effects associated with exposure to these specific HAP are further described in the preamble. For many HAP, these findings have only been shown with concentrations higher than those typically in the ambient air. This action also presents our decision regarding the February 28, 2002 petition for rulemaking submitted by the Cement Kiln Recycling Coalition, relating to EPA's implementation of the so-called omnibus permitting authority under section 3005(c) of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). That section requires that each permit issued under RCRA contain such terms and conditions as permit writers determine to be necessary to protect human health and the environment. In that petition, the Cement Kiln Recycling Coalition requested that we repeal the existing site-specific risk assessment policy and technical guidance for hazardous waste combustors and that we promulgate the policy and guidance as rules in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act if we continue to believe that site-specific risk assessments may be necessary.