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OAR Box 1781 

Prepped by Ollie Stewart 

Document Number: 

130) IV-C-44 

Docket Number: 

A-90-37 

Printed 10/29/2008 10:46:24 AM Sheet 130 of 142 
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UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 

PFP - 3 OFFICE OF 

AIR AND RADIATION 

Honorable Rick Boucher 

House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 20515-4809 

Dear Congressman Boucher: 

This is in response to your August 13,1999 letter, in which you further elaborated your 

rationale for supporting a 15-year "baseline period" for establishing a coke plant's historical 

normal operations. We appreciate your concern that a shorter time frame might cause a coke 

plant that is a major source of air pollution emissions to become subject to new source review 

(NSR) if it modifies existing emissions units or if it expands and rebuilds plant capacity 

previously shut down and dismantled. 

We will give your comments full consideration as we develop the final rulemaking. In 

the meantime, it might be useful for your constituents to consult with the State and the EPA 

Regional Office in Philadelphia to determine which emissions units might be subject to review 

and to examine ways in which the permitting process could be expedited. As in my last letter, I 

recommend that you contact Judith Katz, Director of the Air Protection Division in our Region 

III office. The telephone number there is (215) 814-2654. I know that she and her staff would 

welcome the opportunity to be of assistance. 

^JS^ M CL-rK 

L ^<$bert^rcias«pV ^ B W ' " L 

Assistant Administrator 

cc: Judith Katz 

Recycled/Recyclable • Printed with Vegetable Oil Based Inks on 100% Recycled Paper (20% Postconsumer) 
Controlled Correspondence For 

OFFICE OF AIR AND RADIATION 

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CONTROL NO 

STATUS: 

AL-9901855 

PENDING 

ORIG. DUE DATE: 09/02/99 

CORRES. DATE: 

RECEIVED DATE: 

ASSIGNED DATE: 

CLOSED DATE: 

08/13/99 

08/19/99 

08/20/99 

FROM: 

ORG: 

SALUTATION: 

CONSTITUENT: 

BOUCHER FREDERICK-D/VA 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DEAR CONGRESSMAN BOUCHER 

TO: 

TO ORG: 

SUBJECT: CLEAN AIR ACTS NEW SOURCE REVIEW PROGRAM/EPA RECOGNIZE THE 

NEED TO CHANGE THE EMISSIONS CALCULATION 

ASSIGNED: Office of Air Quality Planning & Standards - RTP 

COPIES OF INCOMING PROVIDED TO: OCIR/ELIZABETH CUMMINGS 

SIGNATURE: ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR 

OAR COMMENTS: 

AL INSTRUCTIONS: MUST BE RETURNED TO OCIR (1304) 3RD FLOOR WT, FOR REVIEW AND 

DISPATCHING. INCLUDE "HARD" COPY OF SIGNED REPLY FOR 

CONGRESSIONAL FILES (AL). DO NOT DATE LETTER. 

OAR INSTRUCTIONS: PREPARE REPLY FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR'S SIGNATURE. 

|Lead 

Assigned 

OAQPS 

Date Assigned 

08/20/99 

Code/Status 

ACTION 

Date Completed by 

Assignee 

• 

Date Returned to 

OAR: 

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(Untitled) 
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" RICX BOUCHER 

9TH DISTRICT, VIRGINIA 

COMMITTEES: 

COMMERCE 

SUBCOMMITTEES: 

TELECOMMUNICATIONS. TRADE AND 

CONSUMER PROTECTION 

ENERGY AND POWER 

JUDICIARY 

SUBCOMMITTEE: 

COURTS AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTV 

ASSISTANT WHIP 

Congress of tfje ©ntteb States 

2|ous(e of ftepretfentattoeg 

August 13, 1999 

WASHINGTON OFFICE: 

2329 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING 

WASHINGTON. OC 20515-4609 

12021325-3861 

e-mail: NINTHNET@MAIL.HOUSE.GOV 

WWW: http://www.hou8e.gov/bouchot/ 

CONSTITUENT SERVICE OFFICES: 

188 EAST MAIN STREET 

ABINGDON. VIRGINIA 24210 

(540) 628-IKS 

311 SHAWNEE AVENUE EAST 

BIG STONE GAP. VIRGINIA 24219 

15401523-5450 

106 NORTH WASHINGTON AVENUE 

P.O. BOX 1268 

PULASKI. VIRGINIA 24301 

1540)980-4310 

Mr. Robert Perciasepe 

Assistant Administrator 

United States Environmental Protection Agency 

Washington, DC. 20460 

Dear Mr. Perciasepe: 

//H.996 ftS*} 

Thank you for your July 29, 19994etter concerning the Clean Air Act's New 

Source Review Program. I am encouraged that the U. S. Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) recognizes the need to change the emissions increase calculation by using 

potential emissions rather than actual emissions as the pre-change baseline. 

Further, it appears that a change in the regulations to permit expanding to ten 

years the "baseline period" for determining a source's normal level of operation is a move 

in the right direction. Allow me to reiterate, however, my belief that the "baseline period" 

should not be limited to ten years. I strongly believe that a minimum fifteen- year 

"baseline period" is preferable for the following reasons: 

* Fifteen years compensates more thoroughly for historic fluctuations in product 

demand. 

* A fifteen-year recoupment period will restore the permitted capacity of 

companies in my Congressional District to produce coke that was lost in the 

"ratchet down" permitting process, thereby helping to restore the competitiveness 

of U.S. coke manufacturers in the global marketplace. A ten-year recoupment 

period would have a far less significant effect. 

In a one-year period, U.S. coke imports more than doubled from 1,565,292 tons in 

1997 to 3,834,452 tons in 1998. Such increases come at the expense of the domestic coke 

industry. The strength of overseas competition in the coke industry makes it imperative 

that stumbling blocks to industry competitiveness be removed in the new regulations and 

that steps be taken to restore production capacity to companies penalized during the 

previous fifteen years. 
FL£_ 

Page 2 

August 13, 1999 

It is clear that the U.S. coke industry can ill afford further production loss. Yet I 

have been advised that an effort is underway in the Peoples' Republic of China to begin 

coke production in October, 1999, at a plant with a 300,000 ton capacity. A 300,000 ton 

addition to this plant is scheduled in 2000, and a 400,000 expansion in 2001. The one 

million tons is to be marketed in the United' States and, in the absence of regulatory 

change, may replace domestic coke production lost under the New Source Review 

program's "use it or loose it" function. 

Thank you for your attention to these comments. I look forward to receiving your 

response. With kind regards, I am 

cerely, 

Rick Boucher 

Member of Congress 

RB/bc 

V