Mercury, hydrogen chloride, and sulfur dioxide. These are just a few of the air pollutants emitted by industrial boilers. And, thanks to new air pollution standards that have been more than a decade in the making, some of our nation’s dirtiest boilers will be cleaning up their act.
Boilers burn a fuel source, such as coal or wood, to produce steam. This steam is used to make electricity, power machinery, or produce heat. The Environmental Protection Agency regulates boilers based on their toxic emissions. Few small boilers, such as those associated with universities and hospitals, will be impacted by the new ruling.
Instead, the regulation focuses on cleaning up ‘major source’ boilers – those with the potential to emit more than 10 tons of a single air toxic or 25 tons of a combination of air toxics each year. There are some 14,000 major source boilers in the US. Most are associated with industry, such as refineries and chemical plants.
Under the new standards, about 12% of ‘major source’ boilers – or some 1,700 facilities – will need to comply with more stringent emission limits. Less than 1% of small boilers will also have to come into emissions compliance.
All in all, the vast majority of the nation’s 1.5 million boilers will not need to install new pollution controls. The ruling targets the most egregious emitters and gives them three years to fall in line—a concession deemed too generous by some health advocates.
Once the new pollution limits are enacted, and our air is cleared, the EPA estimates that this new regulation will prevent more than 8,000 premature deaths, more than 5,000 heart attacks, and more than 52,000 asthma attacks.
Web Links
EPA
http://www.epa.gov/airquality/combustion/actions.html#dec12
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/22/science/earth/epa-issues-standards-on-boiler-air-pollution.html
LA Times
Bloomberg
http://www.bna.com/epa-provides-additional-n17179871574/
Photo, taken on November 20, 2007, courtesy of Orin Zebest via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY, with partial support from the Field Day Foundation.