Clean Air Standards for Industrial Boilers, Incinerators and Cement Kilns

 The finalized adjustment was implemented after an extensive analysis of data collected from states, environmental groups, industry, lawmakers and the public. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has settled the Clean Air act standard for boilers, incinerators, and cement kilns that cuts the cost of implementation and brings significant public health benefits. EPA estimated that every dollar spent on reducing pollutants brings a $13 to $29 value in health benefits by:

• Reducing  premature death rate
• Dramatically decreasing asthma, heart disease and cancer.
• Decreasing toxic pollutants such as mercury and lead, which intensely affect disability rate in children.

There are over 1.5 million boilers in the USA. Almost 13 percent of these are emitting pollutants above the new EPA standard. The rest of them, about 86 percent of all boilers, use clean natural gas. Therefore, their pollution should be within the standard limits if periodic maintenance such as regular tune-ups are performed. Approximately, 0.4 percent of all boilers have high pollution emissions including those found in refineries, chemical plants, and other industrial facilities. The EPA revised emission limits will force industry to move toward cost-effective practical options.

Furthermore, the new standard forces the Portland Cement Industry to reduce hazardous pollutants such as mercury, acid gases and total hydrocarbons, along with emissions of particulate matter (also known as particle pollution) through the regulation that rely on current technology.

These new regulations are for both existing and new Portland Cement facilities that do not burn hazardous waste or non-hazardous secondary materials as fuels. Cement facilities using those fuels are controlled by separate regulations.

“These standards will avoid up to 8,100 premature deaths, prevent 5,100 heart attacks and avert 52,000 asthma attacks per year in 2015.”

More detailed information on the final standards for boilers and incinerators: https://www.epa.gov/