American 

Forest & Paper 

Association 

AMERICANWOOD COUNCIL 

Barnes Johnson 

Director, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery 

Environmental Protection Agency 

Ariel Rios Building 

1200 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W. 

Mail Code: 5301 P 

Washington, DC 20460 

By E-mail 

October 3, 2014 

Re: Proposed Additions to List of Section 241.4 Categorical Non-Waste Fuels (EPAHQ-RCRA-2013-011 0). 

Dear Barnes, 

AF&PA, AWC and other coalition partners met with you and your staff on July 23rd to 

RCRA-2013

the Proposed Additions to List of Section 241.4 Categorical Non-Waste Fuels (EPA-HQ-

-011 0), 79 Fed. Reg . 21006 {Apr. 14, 2014). As you know, we are eager to 

see this rule finalized but also have some concerns about treatment of creosote treated 

railroad tie fuel under this rule. You and your staff have heard similar concerns 

separately from the Biomass Power Association and Council of Industrial Boiler 

Owners. 

As you complete the final rule, I want to make sure you are aware of some additional 

facts about the use of oil by boilers in the Forest Products industry. 

In the above-referenced rule, EPA has proposed to list as non-waste fuel: 

Creosote-treated railroad ties that are processed and combusted in units 

designed to burn both biomass and fuel oil. 

With respect to the issue of when a boiler is "designed to burn" a particular fuel, the 

proposal references the 2013 final rule, which states: 
The ability to burn a fuel in a combustion unit does have a basic set of 

requirements , the most basic of which is being able to get the material into the 

combustion unit. The agency reaffirms in today's final rule its interpretation from 

the proposal that to be able to burn NHSMs, a combustion unit should also be 

able to ensure the material is well mixed and maintain temperatures within unit 

specifications. 78 FR 9111 ,91 50 (Feb. 7, 2013). 

As EPA notes, with respect to the identification of boilers that are designed to burn fuel 

oil, we have focused on the delivery of fuel oil through a nozzle. 79 Fed. Reg. at 21022-

23. However, that is not the only oil delivery mechanism used by boilers in the Forest 

Products industry. Some facilities currently and others have in the past combusted 

used oil obtained on-site from various vehicles and equipment by mixing the oil with the 

biomass hog fuel and then combusting that oil/biomass combination fuel during normal 

boiler operations in the same way biomass is introduced into the boilers. This method 

of delivering oil to a boiler is an alternative way to "get the material into the combustion 

unit." 

Based on this understanding, we believe that most biomass boilers are designed to 

burn, and some do burn, both fuel oil and biomass, without a fuel oil nozzle. We ask 

that EPA clarify in the final rule that a boiler can be considered "designed to burn fuel 

oil" if it is capable of introducing fuel oil into the boiler by mixing it with solid fuel. 

Please consider this letter an addendum to our June 121

h comments. If you have any 

questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at 202-463-2588. 

cc: Betsy Devlin 

George Faison 

PauiNoe 

Sincerely, 

Timothy G. Hunt 

Senior Director for Air Quality Programs