EPA is advancing two Clean Air Act rules intended to cut emissions from new natural gas-fired power plant turbines and municipal trash incinerators.
On Monday, the agency sent a final version of the incinerators rule to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for a routine review, according to a notice posted on a government tracking website.
While that version has not been made public, EPA predicted that an earlier draft of what are formally known as New Source Performance Standards and emission guidelines would annually cut 14,000 tons of allowable releases of smog-forming nitrogen oxides, lead and other pollutants from dozens of incinerators nationwide that each have the capacity to burn more than 250 tons of solid waste each day.
The existing standards largely date back to 1995; under the terms of a court settlement to a lawsuit brought by environmental groups, EPA must sign off on the final rule by the end of next month. During the public comment period on the draft rule, the agency heard competing calls to loosen or strengthen various facets of its proposal.
