EPA Administrator Christie Whitman signed 13 final rules to reduce
toxic air emissions from industrial facilities across the United
States. These 13 standards promise to reduce hazardous air pollutants
by more than 37,000 tons per year, and more than 6,000 tons of other
air pollutants, including particulate matter and ozone-forming volatile
organic compounds. One of the 13 industries affected is the surface
coating of metal furniture. EPA estimates there are 3,000 metal
furniture facilities nationwide, and about 655 of these facilities
will be affected by this new rule.
The final rule to reduce emissions of toxic air pollutants during
application of surface coatings to metal furniture and associated
cleaning operations covers pollutants known or suspected to cause
cancer or other serious health and environmental effects. The final
rule applies to all industrial facilities with metal furniture coating
operations that are a “major source” of air toxics or
are part of a facility that is a “major source” of air
toxics. (A “major source” emits 10 tons per year or more
of a single toxic air pollutant listed in the Clean Air Act or 25
tons per year or more of a combination of those pollutants.)
Metal furniture surface coating is the process of applying a coating
(usually protective or decorative) to a piece of metal furniture
or a metal furniture component. Metal furniture includes items such
as household and office furniture; restaurant, beauty and barbershop
furniture; institutional furniture such as for hospitals and public
buildings; office and store fixtures; shelving and lockers and lamps
and lighting fixtures.
The final rule requires existing metal furniture surface coating
facilities that are subject to the rule to limit toxic emissions
to 0.1 kg toxic compounds per liter of coating solids used (0.83
lb/gal). These facilities will have up to three years from the date
of publication of the final rule to comply with the requirements.
New facilities will have to use coating materials that do not contain
air toxics; however, the final rule allows a new affected source
to demonstrate on a case-by-case basis that toxics-free coating
technologies cannot be used for specific applications. Under such
circumstances and upon approval by the EPA Administrator, the facility
would be required to meet an emission limit of 0.094 kg toxics per
liter (0.78 lb/gal).
For both the new and existing sources, the emission limits represent
levels that can be met by pollution prevention techniques, according
to EPA.
EPA estimates that the total nationwide annualized cost in the
fifth year after the final rule is promulgated would be approximately
$14.8 million. After assessing the impact of the final rule on small
businesses, EPA determined that it would not significantly impact
a substantial number of small businesses.
Surface Coating of Wood Building
Products
Wood building product surface coating is the process
of applying a protective or decorative coating to products such
as doors and windows, exterior siding, interior wall paneling, flooring
and trim.
The final rule applies to facilities with commercial wood building
surface coating operations using more than 1,100 gal of coatings
per year. In addition, affected facilities must be a “major
source” of air toxics or are a part of a facility that is a
“major source” of air toxics. EPA estimates that there
are approximately 215 facilities that will be affected by this rule.
The final rule will require wood building products surface coating
facilities that are subject to the rule to limit air toxic emissions
from five types of coating lines: exterior siding and primed door
skins; flooring; interior wall paneling and tile board; other interior
panels; and doors, window, finished doors skins and miscellaneous.
Existing facilities will have up to three years from the date of
publication of the final rule to comply with its requirements. EPA
does not expect new sources to be built in the first five years.
This rule will reduce total emissions of air toxics by 4,900 tons
per year in the fifth year after the rule becomes final. This is
a 63% reduction from the 1997 baseline. EPA estimates that the total
nationwide annualized cost in the fifth year would be approximately
$22.5 million. After assessing the impact of the final rule on small
businesses, EPA determined that it would not significantly impact
a substantial number of small businesses.
Cars and Light Duty Trucks
EPA has also proposed a rule to reduce toxic air pollutants from
surface coating of automotives and light-duty trucks. EPA is also
proposing an amendment to its hazardous waste regulations to exempt
certain activities covered by this proposed rule.
According to the EPA documents, the surface coating of automobiles
and light-duty trucks is a process of applying decorative, protective
or functional coatings to new automotive and light-duty truck bodies.
Coating materials include but are not limited to primer, primer-surfacer,
topcoat, sealer, sound deadener and glass bonding primer and adhesive.
The EPA states that the proposed rule would reduce total emissions
of air toxics by 6,000 tons per year, or about 60% from the 1997
emission levels. The rule is expected to cost $154 million per year
for the entire industry. This represents less than 1/10 of 1% of
baseline industry pre-tax earnings of $14 billion. These costs take
into account the implementation of pollution prevention activities,
such as reformulation of coatings. They also include monitoring,
record keeping and reporting costs.
The proposed rule would affect any new, reconstructed or existing
automobile and light-duty truck manufacturing facility that is a
major source of air toxic emissions. The rule would affect about
60 existing facilities. The emissions limits proposed would give
the industry choices and flexibility in how they reduce organic
air toxic emissions. The compliance options include the following:
use coatings that have been reformulated to reduce the air toxic
content; improve coating application efficiency; upgrade or install
new capture-and-control systems; use any combination of the first
three; work practice and equipment requirements for cleaning. Facilities
must also meet certain record keeping and report requirements, including
semi-annual compliance reports.
