On May 5, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed amendments to the 2020 National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for Plywood and Composite Wood Products (PCWP).

The proposed amendments respond to a 2007 partial remand and vacatur of portions of the 2004 PCWP NESHAP and a petition for reconsideration EPA received following the 2020 PCWP NESHAP technology review noting EPA’s obligation to address unregulated hazardous air pollutants (HAPs).

In this action, EPA proposes maximum achievable control technology (MACT) standards for:

• Acetaldehyde, acrolein, formaldehyde, methanol, phenol, and propionaldehyde from fiberboard mat dryers at existing sources, hardboard press predryers at existing sources; and atmospheric refiners at new and existing sources; Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) from tube dryers, reconstituted wood products presses, and miscellaneous coating operations at new and existing sources; and
• Non-mercury metals, mercury (Hg), hydrogen chloride (HCl), dioxin/furan (D/F), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from direct wood-fired dryers.

EPA is also proposing annual burner-tune up standards for all direct-fired PCWP dryers, direct-fired lumber kilns, and associated combustion unit bypass stacks.

EPA estimates the proposed amendments would have a total annual cost to industry of approximately $51 million per year (in 2021 dollars).

The American Wood Council (AWC) President & CEO Jackson Morrill said the wood products industry installed expensive control technologies to comply with the 2004 PCWP MACT regulations and saw over 90 percent emissions reductions from regulated wood presses and dryers.

"While AWC continues to evaluate the proposed rule, we’re disappointed that EPA didn’t take advantage of the flexibility provided in the statute to come up with a more targeted proposal that minimizes burdens. EPA has proposed very stringent limits on biomass dryers and requirements on other low emitting equipment that, by EPA’s own estimates, will add tens of millions in additional costs to the industry when the agency concluded in 2020 that risks to the public are acceptable.

“The almost 700 individual lumber kilns that would be affected by this rule, for example, need simple compliance procedures that are tied back to the existing, extensive obligations to meet lumber grading standards in the marketplace that also minimize emissions. We’re also concerned that there may be unintended consequences that would ultimately incentivize mills switching from biomass dryers to those that rely on fossil fuels, resulting in more greenhouse gas emissions."

Additional proposals

In addition, EPA is proposing work practices for various resinated material handling process units, lumber kilns, log vats, stand-alone digesters, fiber washers, and wastewater operations.

In this action, EPA also proposes to:

• Remove the emissions averaging compliance option;
• Require monitoring of process unit bypass stack usage at all times; and
• Require emissions testing, monitoring, reporting, and recordkeeping relevant to the standards being added.

EPA proposes that existing sources demonstrate initial compliance with the new MACT standards within 3 years after promulgating the final rule. EPA also proposes that new sources, constructed or reconstructed after the proposal date, would need to demonstrate initial compliance upon the publication date of the final rule or start-up, whichever is later.

The proposed amendments would protect air quality and public health by reducing emissions of hazardous air pollutants (HAP).

EPA estimates that the proposed amendments would reduce HAP and volatile organic compound emissions from the PCWP source category by approximately 590 and 8,100 tons per year, respectively.

EPA estimates the proposed amendments would have a total annual cost to industry of approximately $51 million per year (in 2021 dollars).

Background

• The MACT standards for existing sources are calculated based on the average performance of the best-performing units in each category or subcategory, and the MACT standards for new sources are based on the single best-performing source.
• The PCWP source category includes 99 major source facilities that manufacture plywood, veneer, particleboard, medium density fiberboard, hardboard, fiberboard, oriented strandboard, or engineered wood products; and 124 lumber mills that produce kiln-dried lumber using lumber drying kilns.
• In 2004, EPA published MACT standards for most PCWP dryers and reconstituted wood products presses.
• In 2007, the D.C. Circuit remanded and vacated portions of the 2004 PCWP NESHAP in which EPA concluded that MACT standards for several process units were represented by no emission reduction or no control. NRDC v. EPA, 489 F.3d 1364 (D.C. Cir. 2007).
• In 2020, EPA finalized the results of a residual risk and technology review (RTR), where EPA found that the risks associated with air emissions from the PCWP source category (including emissions from unregulated process units) were acceptable and that the current NESHAP provides an ample margin of safety to protect public health.
• In 2020, the D.C. Circuit held in Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) v. EPA, that EPA has an obligation to address unregulated emissions from a source category when the agency conducts an 8-year technology review required by the Clean Air Act (CAA).
• Following the publication of the 2020 RTR, EPA received a petition for reconsideration of that rule from environmental groups.
• This proposed rule responds to the 2007 partial remand and vacatur of portions of the 2004 PCWP NESHAP and addresses currently unregulated HAPs from process units in the PCWP source category in response to the LEAN decision and 2020 petition for reconsideration. This proposed rule also addresses or invites comment on other issues raised in the 2020 petition for reconsideration.