Air Pollution Emissions during Startups, Shutdowns, and Malfunctions
![handle is hein.journals/utlronla4 and id is 90 raw text is:
AIR POLLUTION EMISSIONS DURING STARTUPS, SHUTDOWNS,
AND MALFUNCTIONS
Arnold W. Reitze, Jr.*
arnold.reitze@law.utah.edu
Air pollution emission limitations on stationary sources are usually
based on what is achievable during normal operation, but these requirements
cannot always be met during the startup or shutdown of either specific
processes or the entire facility. Moreover, malfunctions occur even at
facilities that are well designed and operated. How startup, shutdown, and
malfunction (SSM) events should be handled under the Clean Air Act (CAA)
is controversial. The issue is complicated by the fact that under the CAA the
implementation and enforcement of the Act is usually delegated to the states,
which have parallel requirements in their federally approved state
implementation plans as well as in their state permit program regulations.
Emission standards are defined in CAA § 302(k) as requirements
which limits the quantity, rate, or concentration of emissions of air
pollutants on a continuous basis...1 In 1977 the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) determined that excess emissions during SSM periods was not
a violation of the CAA § I ll's emission standards, but sources were required
to minimize emissions in a manner consistent with good air pollution control
practices.2 This general duty standard is found at 40 C.R.F. § 60.1 l(d). In
1994 the EPA adopted a SSM exemption in its national emission standards
for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAPs), authorized by CAA section 112,3
however, the EPA required each source to develop a plan to deal with SSM.4
The plan was to be made publicly available, and it had to be approved by the
state. It was incorporated by reference into a source's operating permit, which
protects a permit holder during SSM events.5
In 2002 the EPA changed its rule for hazardous air pollutant (HAP)
* Professor of Law, S.J. Quinney College of Law, the University of Utah, member of the
Utah Air Quality Board. This research was supported by the Albert and Elaine Borchard
Fund for Faculty Excellence. Copyright Sept. 22, 2015.
1 42 U.S.C. § 7602(k).
2 U.S. Envtl. Protection Agency, Standards of Performance for New Stationary Sources, 42
Fed. Reg. 57,125 (Nov. 1, 1977).
3 U.S. Envtl. Protection Agency, National Emission Standards for [HAPs]for Source
Categories: General Provisions, 59 Fed. Reg. 12,408 (Mar. 16, 1994).
4 Id. at 12,421 9codified at 40 C.F.R. § 63.6(e)(3).
5 U.S. Envtl. Protection Agency, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air
Pollutants for Source Categories: General Provisions, 58 Fed. Reg. 42,760, 42,768 (Aug.
11, 1993).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/utlronla4&div=6&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Air Pollution Emissions during Startups, Shutdowns, and Malfunctions
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