1. AIR POLLUTION: EPA delays boiler rules indefinitely -- (05/16/2011)

Gabriel Nelson, E&E reporter

Faced with harsh criticism from the manufacturing sector and a backlash on Capitol Hill, U.S. EPA has decided to give the owners of large industrial boilers more time to meet new limits on toxic emissions such as mercury and acid gases.

The regulations, which were signed by Administrator Lisa Jackson in February, will be delayed indefinitely as EPA takes another round of comments from the public and reviews complaints from industries that use boilers to power and heat their operations, the agency said in a notice this afternoon.

Though the Clean Air Act says that new toxic pollution limits are supposed to become legally binding within three years, EPA is granting a stay under the Administrative Procedure Act, which allows an agency to delay new rules as long as necessary "when justice so requires." That uncommon step was suggested last month by a broad coalition of trade groups including the American Forest & Paper Association, the American Chemistry Council and the National Association of Manufacturers (E&ENews PM, April 27).

"The stay will allow the agency to seek additional public comment before requiring thousands of facilities across multiple, diverse industries to make investments that may not be reversible if the standards are revised following reconsideration and a full evaluation of all relevant data," EPA said in a statement today.

EPA is required to limit toxic emissions from boilers under the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act, which ordered standards to be put in place by the year 2000. Several groups that asked EPA to delay the new rules have also filed a federal lawsuit to challenge them.

They say that complying with the rules will eat up the profits of manufacturing plants such as paper mills, which burn wood waste to power their operations, and will drive some of those jobs overseas. After the rules were proposed last year, hundreds of congressmen and 56 current senators signed letters to voice their concerns.

Industry groups praised today's decision, saying it would spare them from tough investment choices for the time being.

"The stay will help ensure that U.S. manufacturers and small businesses do not spend millions, if not billions, to comply with rules that are still under EPA review," said Cal Dooley, president of the American Chemistry Council, in a statement.

Few close followers of the rules were surprised by today's decision. EPA had to put out a final rule in February after a federal court turned down the agency's request for an extra 15 months to redo them.

When the rules were finalized earlier this year, EPA immediately said that it was going to reconsider them. The agency said today that it will collect data from stakeholders until July 15, at which point it will start working on a new draft of the rules. After taking comments on that draft, the agency will finalize changes to the regulations or decide to leave them intact.

The stay will last until the federal courts finish reviewing the current standards or a final decision is made on the updates to the rules, whichever comes first.

Jim Pew, a staff attorney at Earthjustice, said EPA's previous statements and usual rulemaking procedures suggest that the rules will be delayed by at least one year. He said he suspects that political pressure could lead the administration to wait until after President Obama stands for re-election next November.

Environmental and public health groups, which had won in court when they sued EPA for stricter standards, will not be happy about the wait. For every year the requirements are not enforced, there will be thousands of preventable deaths, Pew said.

When it released the final rules that are now being delayed, EPA estimated that the new pollution controls would prevent an estimated 2,500 to 6,500 cases of premature mortality each year.

"There are real people that are going to pay the price for this delay," Pew said. "Congress wanted these rules in place for a reason. This wasn't supposed to be a paper chase. This was supposed to be about saving lives."

Click here to read EPA's notice.