FACT SHEET
Proposed Amendments to Air Toxics Standards for Plywood and Composite Wood
Products
ACTION
•	On August 22, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to
amend the 2004 National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for
Plywood and Composite Wood Products (PCWP).
•	EPA is proposing minor amendments to enhance the effectiveness of the rule by
improving compliance and implementation.
•	The source category includes facilities that manufacture PCWP such as veneer,
particleboard, medium density fiberboard, hardboard, fiberboard, oriented strandboard
and engineered wood products. Lumber mills with dry kilns are also included in the
source category.
•	The PCWP source category includes 230 facilities: 93 PCWP facilities, 121 lumber mills
and 16 facilities that produce both PCWP and lumber.
•	Facilities in this source category mainly emit acetaldehyde, acrolein, formaldehyde,
methanol, phenol and propionaldehyde.
•	Following a residual risk and technology review (RTR) conducted under the Clean Air Act
(CAA), with this action EPA is proposing to:
o Revise requirements for periods of startup, shutdown and malfunction (SSM) to
be consistent with recent court decisions;
o Define "safety-related shutdowns" and formalize a work practice for those
events, including site-specific procedures;
o Require testing every 5 years to improve performance of control technologies
other than biofilters (already required to test every 2 years); and
o Require electronic reporting of performance test results and semiannual reports.
•	EPA will accept comment on the proposed amendments for 45 days after publication in
the Federal Register.
RESIDUAL RISK ASSESSMENT
•	The CAA requires EPA to assess the risk remaining after application of the final air toxics
emissions standard. This is known as a residual risk assessment.
•	Based on the completed risk assessments, available health information and associated
uncertainties, EPA determined risks from the PCWP source category to be acceptable
and that the standards provide an ample margin of safety to protect public health.
•	The maximum individual cancer risk for inhalation for the PCWP category is 30-in-l
million. The maximum chronic noncancer hazard index is less than 1. The maximum
acute hazard quotient is 4.
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TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
•	The CAA requires EPA to assess, review and revise air toxics standards, as necessary,
taking into account developments in practices, processes and control technologies.
•	As a result of the technology review of the PCWP standards, EPA did not identify any
developments that would further reduce air toxics emissions for process units regulated
under the original NESHAP.
BACKGROUND
•	The CAA requires EPA to regulate hazardous air pollutants, also known as air toxics,
from categories of industrial facilities in two phases.
•	The first phase is "technology-based," where EPA develops standards for controlling the
emissions of air toxics from sources in an industry group or "source category." These
maximum achievable control technology (MACT) standards are based on emissions
levels that are already being achieved by the best-controlled and lower-emitting sources
in an industry.
•	Within 8 years of setting the MACT standards, the CAA directs EPA to assess the
remaining health risks from each source category to determine whether the MACT
standards protect public health with an ample margin of safety and protect against
adverse environmental effects. This second phase is a "risk-based" approach called
residual risk. Here, EPA must determine whether more health-protective standards are
necessary.
•	Also, every 8 years after setting MACT standards, the CAA requires EPA to review and
revise the standards, if necessary, to account for improvements in air pollution controls
and prevention.
HOW TO COMMENT
•	The EPA will accept comment on the proposal for 45 days after publication in the
Federal Register. Comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2016-0243, may
be submitted by one of the following methods:
o Go to https://www.regulations.gov/ and follow the online instructions for
submitting comments,
o Send comments by email to: a-and-r-Docket@epa.gov, Attention Docket ID No.
EPA-HQ-OAR-2016-0243.
o Fax your comments to: (202) 566-9744, Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-
2016-0243.
o Mail your comments to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency,
Mail Code: 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20460,
Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2016-0243.
o Deliver comments in person to: EPA Docket Center, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW,
Room 3334, Washington, DC. Note: In person deliveries (including courier
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deliveries) are only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation.
Special arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
•	Interested parties can download a copy of the proposed rule notice from EPA's website
at the following address: https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-
pollution/plywood-and-composite-wood-products-manufactu re-national-emission.
•	Today's action and other background information are also available either electronically
at https://www.regulations.gov. EPA's electronic public docket and comment system, or
in hardcopy at the EPA Docket Center's Public Reading Room.
o The Public Reading Room is located at EPA Headquarters Library, room number
3334 in the EPA WJC West Building, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington,
DC. Hours of operation are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time,
Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidays.
o Visitors are required to show photographic identification, pass through a metal
detector and sign the EPA visitor log. All visitor materials will be processed
through an X-ray machine as well. Visitors will be provided a badge that must be
visible at all times.
o Materials for this proposed action can be accessed using Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OAR-2016-0243.
•	For further technical information about the rule, contact Katie Hanks, EPA's Office of Air
Quality Planning and Standards, at (919) 541-2159 or hanks.katie@epa.gov.
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