Hazardous Air Pollutants or Air Toxics
Hazardous air pollutants (also called toxic air pollutants or air toxics, abbreviated HAPs) are pollutants that are known or suspected to cause cancer, birth defects, brain and mental disorders, or other serious health effects or adverse environmental effects. The US Environmental Protection Agency currently lists 187 chemicals as HAPs. Not all of these are emitted in Iowa.
Unlike the six criteria pollutants (see this linked EPA page: http://www.epa.gov/oaqps001/urbanair/), these pollutants are regulated differently through the Clean Air Act. They are mainly considered to be local or “area” hazards near their sources, rather than both local and widely dispersed pollutants. While hazardous air pollutants are emitted by facilities throughout Iowa, the Iowa DNR only monitors hazardous air pollutant concentrations in three locations: Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Davenport.
At the same time, area source or “minor source” emitters are subject to permits and emissions limits. Regulations work in two ways: first, by addressing specific pollutants, in which case several different types of industries may be regulated for a given air toxic; or second, by developing rules and limits for industry sectors that include one or more pollutants from any given industry.
The scientific understanding of HAPs is changing as we investigate potential pollutants beyond the current 187; as we identify specific toxic effects from the known pollutants; and as we discover evidence that leads us to suspect harm from pollutants. Thus an effective system for identifying when and where hazardous air pollutant emissions in Iowa pose unacceptable health risks is an ongoing process.
Upcoming EPA REgulations for Air Toxics:
The main section of the Clean Air Act that applies to HAPs are the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP). These regulate air toxics in two ways: by setting emissions limits for specific pollutants, and by setting limits by industry sectors. Each sector is defined to have very similar types of emissions, so that an EPA rule for that sector has the greatest effectiveness. Given the number of industry sectors, rules often are very complex, but each kind of industry can vary widely in its emissions of HAPs, so a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work.
Of great interest and importance is an EPA rule called the Mercury and Air Toxics Rule or “utility MACT” rule. This new rule emphasizes the reduction of mercury, other heavy metals, and non-metallic HAPs from coal-fired energy generating facilities. In addition, it will curb fine particulate matter and sulfur dioxide emissions. The rule is expected to be finalized in 2011. This and the Clean Air Transport Rule are expected to create nearly 20,000 private-sector jobs in Iowa over a five-year period, according to a report from University of Massachusetts. For more information on mercury and coal-fired industries, see the Council’s Fact Sheet, “Mercury from Coal Combustion,” here.
After the Clean Air Act was amended by Congress in 1990, HAPs were taken more seriously. Congress further ordered that the EPA undertake studies of coal-, gas-, and oil-fired electrical and steam utilities because of concerns over their toxic emissions. These resulted in several major studies of HAPs from utilities, especially one study on mercury. In 2000 the EPA issued a finding that regulation of mercury from utilities was “appropriate and necessary.” Work on rulemaking began. However, a change in presidential administrations also brought changes to the EPA. The “appropriate and necessary” finding was reversed by the new EPA in 2005. Almost immediately that reversal was challenged in court, and the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (the “DC Circuit Court”) found that the 2005 decision violated provisions of the Clean Air Act and misinterpreted key sections of the Act, as well as the intent of Congress. New deadlines for “appropriate and necessary” regulation of HAPs, especially mercury, from utilities were set up.
It’s interesting that this new rule, the utility MACT rule, now is being resisted. Regulated and municipal utilities have had over a dozen years to respond to the initial findings of Congress and the studies by the EPA, National Academies of Science, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Science. Eleven years have passed since the first “appropriate and necessary” finding. Six years have passed since the Clean Air Mercury Rule was remanded to the EPA for a do-over. Lobbyists for the energy sector include the new rule in what they call a “train wreck” of EPA regulations in the next one to two years. But the only "train wreck" here is on the part of the utility companies and industry organizations that have successfully fought these regulations for years, at the expense of the health and well-being of communities in which their facilities are located.
For MOre Information about the Mercury and Air Toxics Rule:
Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.epa.gov/airquality/powerplanttoxics/pdfs/proposalfactsheet.pdf
This EPA fact sheet briefly describes the Mercury or Utility MACT Rule. It is in PDF format, requiring a version of Adobe Reader to view. Adobe Reader is available as a free download by visiting this EPA web page: http://www.epa.gov/epahome/pdf.html.
http://www.epa.gov/airquality/powerplanttoxics/pdfs/presentation.pdf
Also in PDF format is this presentation that outlines the Mercury and Air Toxics Rule.
http://www.epa.gov/airquality/powerplanttoxics/actions.html
This web page provides access to the working groups and other EPA processes that led up to announcement of the rule. Included is a link to the fact sheet and presentation just above.
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/utility/utilitypg.html
This page has links to the actual rule, regulatory and technical documents, & other information.
http://www.epa.gov/ttnatw01/combust/utiltox/utoxpg.html
http://www.epa.gov/mercury/report.htm
The last two pages provide links to archived reports on emissions of Hazardous Air Pollutants from utilities (the “utility study”) and on mercury emissions (the “mercury study”). These are long technical documents that provide the basis for EPA’s 2000 “appropriate and necessary” finding.
Federal Register Announcement, May 3, 2011
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2011/pdf/2011-7237.pdf
This PDF document has the official notification to the public of the Mercury and Air Toxics rule. The document contains detailed information about the regulatory and research history, how to provide public comment to EPA in written form, and much else. The final date for comment is July 5, 2011.
For more information about hazardous air pollutants:
Environmental Protection Agency – about air toxics
[http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/allabout.html]
For an introduction to hazardous air pollutants, information about the health and environmental impacts of hazardous air pollutants, and information about federal hazardous air pollutant regulations.
Iowa DNR: Air Bureau – air pollution monitoring
[http://www.iowadnr.gov/air/prof/monitor/monitor.html]
For information about formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and benzene concentrations in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Davenport. See “Selected Air Toxics Results.”
Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program
[http://www.epa.gov/tri/]
For information about sources of hazardous air pollutants in Iowa. According to Toxics Release Inventory data, the Iowa counties with the highest hazardous air pollutant emissions (all over one million pounds) are Woodbury, Lee, Clinton, Louisa, Pottawattamie, Muscatine, and Linn.
Scorecard
[http://www.scorecard.org/env-releases/hap/]
For information about sources of hazardous air pollutants in Iowa and the relative risk to Iowans from hazardous air pollutant exposure.
Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry – Toxic Substances web site
[http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/2p-toxic-substances.html]
For information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services about the health effects of hazardous substances. See “ToxFAQs” for easy-to-understand information about the health effects of a long list of hazardous substances and “Toxicological Profiles” for further information about each hazardous substance.
Environmental Protection Agency – Health Effects Notebook for Hazardous Air Pollutants
[http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/hapindex.html]
For information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about the health effects of substances defined as hazardous air pollutants by the Clean Air Act.
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