the employer's 

voice & resource 

222 Berkeley Street • P.O. Box 763 

Boston, MA 02117-0763 

617-262-1180 • Fax: 617-536-6785 

ASSOCIATED www.aimnet.org INDUSTRIES OF MASSACHUSETTS 

BEDFORD BRIDGEWATER BURLINGTON HOLYOKE MARLBOROUGH WASHINGTON, D.C. 

October 28, 2005 

Mr. Robert T. Donaldson " ^CX_"c^> 

Associate Director " 

Bureau of Waste Prevention 

Department of Environmental Protection 

One Winter Street, 8th Floor 

Boston, MA 02108 

RE: Comments to Proposed Regulations 310 CMR 7.00 - the Control of Air Pollution 

Dear Mr. Donaldson: 

Associated Industries of Massachusetts (A.I.M.) is pleased to submit the following comments to the 

Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP's) Proposed Amendments to 310 CMR 7.00 - the 

Control of Air Pollution. A.I.M. is the largest employer association in Massachusetts with over 7600 

members. A.I.M. members include large and small employers from the industrial, commercial and 

service sectors, including many people affected by this proposed rule. 

A.I.M., through a workgroup of its members, has been especially active in the development of these 

regulations, especially the proposed regulation dealing with a revised opacity standard 310 CMR 

The original A.I.M. workgroup was convened over seven years ago, to address a legal technicality 

involving the then antiquated opacity regulations — some sources could not certify compliance with the 

then existing standard due to routine events (startup/shutdown and sootblowing). The certification was 

required under the new 310 CMR 7.00 Appendix C - Operating Permit Program and was not due to any 

enforcement actions by DEP. Approximately 18 sources were affected by the rule, generally industrial 

sources burning No. 6 oil. 

After much discussion, the workgroup and DEP came to an agreement to change the regulation to address 

this technicality. The regulation went through the appropriate public hearing process and was adopted. 

Two years later the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decided that the new regulation 310 CMR 

7.061(l)(c) did not meet the EPA standard of enforceability and declared it void, throwing the Title V 

permits for these sources into turmoil. As a result, the workgroup was reconvened. 

Although the visible emission problem presents itself during periods of startup/shutdown or sootblowing, 

not all sources have problems during all events. Some have problems just once or twice a year during 

start up or shutdowns while others have problems only during sootblowing. Developing a solution has 

not been easy. 

Before commenting, A.I.M. would like to extend our thanks to the DEP for their efforts over the past 

several years attempting to solve this unique problem. The most recent proposal clearly shows that DEP 

has attempted to incorporate many of the comments received over past discussions and meetings that 

A.I.M. has chaired. 

7.06(lXc). 
Many of the issues brought up at recent A.I.M. hosted informational meetings on these proposed rules 

revolve around vaguely worded sections that require clarification, including: 

• Explicitly stating that facilities are entitled to exemptions in paragraphs 7.06(l)(c)l .b. and 

7.06(l)(c)l.c. during the same quarter 

• Explicitly stating that 7.06(l)(c)l.b. and 7.06(l)(c)l.c are applicable on a per boiler, not per 

facility basis. 

In addition to these clarifications, A.I.M. requests that DEP allow provisions for limited used boilers that 

have potentially more exceedence opportunities because of their frequent startup/shutdown. These boilers 

would not be able to take advantage of exemptions based on a percentage of runtime. 

Finally, A.I.M. still believes the provision for an approved "Plan of Good Operating Practice" is overly 

complicated and unnecessary. 

Because of the extreme technical nature of these regulations and site-specific issues relating to the 

proposal, except for the above general comments A.I.M. will defer to the individual commenters for their 

specific concerns rather than restate every point. 

Overall, A.I.M. is encouraged by the progress that has been made with the content of these draft 

regulations over previous drafts. We hope that DEP will strive to incorporate any comments received into 

final regulations so that once and for all the opacity issue can be solved. 

A.I.M. appreciates the opportunity to comment on these proposed regulations and looks forward to 

continued discussion on these matters. 

Sincerely, 

Robert A. Rio, Esq. 

Vice President 

Government Affairs 

RAR:gm