FACT SHEET Final Amendments to Air Toxics Standards for Paper and Other Web Coating ACTION • On March 11, 2020, the US. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized amendments to the 2002 Paper and Other Web Coating (POWC) National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP). • The POWC NESHAP applies to facilities that produce the following products: pressure-sensitive tapes and labels; flexible packaging; photographic film; coated vinyl; wall coverings; sandpaper and other abrasives; paperboard boxes; vinyl flooring; industrial and decorative laminates; carbon paper and carbonless paper; circuit boards and business forms. • Following a residual risk and technology review conducted under the Clean Air Act (CAA), EPA is finalizing: o the elimination of the startup, shutdown and malfunction (SSM) exemption; o periodic air emissions performance testing once every five years for facilities using thermal oxidizers and annual catalyst tests for facilities using catalytic oxidizers to demonstrate compliance with the standards; o a requirement for facilities to submit electronic copies of compliance reports, including performance tests; o amendments to provide regulatory clarity; and o provisions for more flexible monitoring requirements. RESIDUAL RISK ASSESSMENT • The CAA requires EPA to assess the risk remaining after application of the final air toxics standards. This is known as a residual risk assessment. • Based on the completed risk assessment, available health information and associated uncertainties, EPA determined risks from the POWC source category to be acceptable and provide an ample margin of safety to protect public health. • The maximum individual cancer risk for inhalation is estimated to be 6-in-l million. • The chronic hazard index is below one and the acute hazard quotient is three. TECHNOLOGY REVIEW • The CAA requires EPA to assess, review and revise the air toxics standards as necessary, taking into account developments in practices, processes and control technologies since the standards were first issued. • The technology assessment for the POWC source category did not identify any technological developments to reduce emissions of air toxics. ------- BACKGROUND • The CAA requires EPA to regulate hazardous air pollutants (HAP), also known as air toxic pollutants or 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 eight years of setting 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 eight years after setting MACT standards, the CAA requires that EPA review and revise the standards, if necessary, to account for improvements in air pollution controls and/or prevention. FOR MORE INFORMATION • To download a copy of the final rule notice, go to EPA's website at https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/paper-and-other-web-coating- national-emission-standards-hazardous-O. • Today's action notice and other background information are also available ether electronically at https://www.regulations.gov/. the 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 the EPA Headquarters library, room number 3334 in the WJC West Building, 1301 Constitution Avenue, 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 final action can be accessed using Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2018- 0415. • For further technical information about the rule, contact Dr. Kelley Spence at the EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, at (919) 541-3158 or at spence.kelley@epa.gov. ------- |