National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants

The National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) are emissions standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for air pollutants not covered by National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in the Clean Air Act that may cause an increase in fatalities or in serious, irreversible, or incapacitating illness. The standards for a particular source category require the maximum degree of emission reduction that the EPA determines to be achievable, which is known as the Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT). These standards are authorized by Section 112 of the Clean Air Act (1970) and the regulations are published in 40 Code of Federal Regulations Parts 61 and 63.

Pollutants
The USEPA regulates the following hazardous air pollutants via the MACT standards:

For all listings above which contain the word "compounds" and for glycol ethers, the following applies: Unless otherwise specified, these listings are defined as including any unique chemical substance that contains the named chemical (i.e., antimony, arsenic, etc.) as part of that chemical's infrastructure.


 * X'CN where X = H' or any other group where a formal dissociation may occur. For example KCN or Ca(CN)2
 * Includes mono- and di- ethers of ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, and triethylene glycol R-(OCH2CH2)n -OR' where
 * n = 1, 2, or 3
 * R = alkyl C7 (chain of 7 carbon atoms) or less; or phenyl or alkyl substituted phenyl
 * R' = H or alkyl C7 or less; or OR' consisting of carboxylic acid ester, sulfate, phosphate, nitrate, or sulfonate. Polymers are excluded from the glycol category, as well as surfactant alcohol ethoxylates (where R is an alkyl C8 or greater) and their derivatives, and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (CAS 111-76-2).


 * Includes mineral fiber emissions from facilities manufacturing or processing glass, rock, or slag fibers (or other mineral derived fibers) of average diameter 1 micrometer or less.
 * Includes organic compounds with more than one benzene ring, and which have a boiling point greater than or equal to 100 °C.
 * A type of atom which spontaneously undergoes radioactive decay.

Sources: USEPA's original list & Modifications

Pollution sources
Most air toxics originate from human-made sources, including mobile sources (e.g., cars, trucks, buses) and stationary sources (e.g., factories, refineries, power plants), as well as indoor sources (e.g., building materials and activities such as cleaning). There are two types of stationary sources that generate routine emissions of air toxics:


 * 1) "Major" sources are defined as sources that emit 10 tons per year of any of the listed toxic air pollutants, or 25 tons per year of a mixture of air toxics. These sources may release air toxics from equipment leaks, when materials are transferred from one location to another, or during discharge through emission stacks or vents


 * 1) "Area" sources consist of smaller-size facilities that release lesser quantities of toxic pollutants into the air. Area sources are defined as sources that emit less than 10 tons per year of a single air toxic, or less than 25 tons per year of a combination of air toxics. Though emissions from individual area sources are often relatively small, collectively their emissions can be of concern - particularly where large numbers of sources are located in heavily populated areas.

The United States EPA published the initial list of "source categories" in 1992 (57 Federal Register 31576, July 16, 1992) and since that time has issued several revisions and updates to the list and promulgation schedule. For each listed source category, EPA indicates whether the sources are considered to be "major" sources or "area" sources. The Clean Air Act 1990 Amendments direct EPA to set standards for all major sources of air toxics (and some area sources that are of particular concern).

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Campus coal plants
 * Clean Air Interstate Rule
 * Coal
 * Coal and jobs in the United States
 * Coal and transmission
 * Coal-fired power plant capacity and generation
 * Coal moratorium
 * Coal phase-out
 * Coal plant conversion projects
 * Coal plants near residential areas
 * Coal regulations
 * Comparative electrical generation costs
 * Divestment and shareholder action on coal
 * EPA Coal Plant Settlements
 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * Google Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal initiative
 * Gore zero-carbon proposal
 * Natural gas transmission leakage rates
 * New Source Review
 * Opposition to existing coal plants
 * Retrofit vs. Phase-Out of Coal-Fired Power Plants
 * Scrubbers
 * Sulfur dioxide and coal

External resources

 * EPA's Cases and Settlements Database U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
 * Coal-Fired Power Plant Enforcement Initiative U.S. Environmental Protection Agency