[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 14, 1997)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 1868-1869]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-873]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 60

[FRL-5676-3]


New Source Performance Standards and Emissions Guidelines: Sewage 
Sludge Incinerators

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of Additional Information (NAI).

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SUMMARY: This action announces the EPA's intention to issue regulations 
and guidelines under Section 129 of the Clean Air Act for Sewage Sludge 
Incinerators (SSI) that combust sludge from Publicly Owned Treatment 
Works and to remove Sewage Sludge Incinerators from the list of Major 
Source Categories previously scheduled for rule development under 
Section 112 of the Clean Air Act.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 17, 1997.

.ADDRESSES: Comments. Comments on this notice should be submitted in 
duplicate, if possible, to: The Air and Radiation Docket and 
Information Center (6102), ATTN: Docket No. A-96-42, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, 401 M Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20460.
    Docket. Dockets are available for public inspections and copying 
between 8:00 a.m and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, at the Air and 
Radiation Docket and Information Center, U.S. EPA, 401 M Street, S.W., 
Room M1500, Washington, D.C. 20460. The center's telephone number is 
(202) 260-7548 and the fax number is (202) 260-4400. A reasonable fee 
may be charged for copying docket materials.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Eugene Crumpler at (919) 541-0881, 
Emissions Standards Division (MD-13),

[[Page 1869]]

U.S. EPA, Research Triangle Park, N.C. 27711.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The information in this preamble is 
organized as follows:

1. Background

    The Clean Air Act as amended November 1990, requires under the 
revisions to Section 112, that the Agency list and promulgate National 
Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) in order to 
control, reduce, or otherwise limit the emissions of HAP for categories 
of major and area sources. Pursuant to the various specific listing 
requirements in Section 112(c), the Agency published on July 16, 1992 
(57 FR 31576) an initial list of 174 categories of major and area 
sources that would be henceforth subject to emissions standards. Sewage 
Sludge Incineration (SSI) was one of the 174 categories listed for 
development of a NESHAP.
    Following this initial listing, and pursuant to requirements in 
Section 122(e), on December 3, 1993 (58 FR 63941), the Agency published 
a schedule for the promulgation of emission standards for each of the 
174 listed source categories. The SSI were listed for promulgation of a 
NESHAP no later than November 15, 2000. The reader is directed to those 
two notices for information relating to development of the initial list 
and schedule.
    The Agency published a Notice of Listing of Categories and 
Regulatory Schedule for Air Emissions From Other Solid Waste 
Incineration (OSWI) on November 2, 1993 (58 F.R. 58498). The New Source 
Performance Standards (NSPS) and Emissions Guidelines (EG) for OSWI's 
are to be developed under section 129 of the Clean Air Act. That notice 
listed seven categories of OSWIs. The notice established a promulgation 
date for rulemaking for the seven categories of OSWI's of no later than 
November 15, 2000. Incineration of sludge from publicly owned waste 
water treatment works (POTW's) was not listed.
    The Agency published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 
(ANPRM) for NSPS and EG applicable to Industrial and Commercial Waste 
Incinerators (ICWI) and Other Solid Waste Incinerators (OSWI) on 
December 28, 1994 (59 FR 66850). That notice announced the EPA's intent 
to develop NSPS and EG under Section 129 of the Act for the seven OSWI 
categories and ICWIs. Not included among the listed categories were 
incinerators used to combust sewage sludge produced at POTWs.
    Today's Notice of Additional Information is announcing EPA's 
oversight in not listing SSI's in the November 2, 1993 listing of OSWI. 
The Agency, on closer reading of Section 129 of the Act, has now 
determined that SSI should properly be regulated under Section 129 
rather that Section 112. Section 129 requires the EPA to establish NSPS 
for new and EG for existing facilities, for each category of solid 
waste incineration units. Section 129 defines a solid waste 
incineration unit as ``a distinct operating unit of any facility which 
combusts any solid waste material from commercial or industrial 
establishments or the general public (including single and multiple 
residences, hotels, and motels).'' Sludge generated by POTWs is a solid 
waste from the general public, commercial and industrial 
establishments.
    Regulation of SSI under Section 129 provides for regulation of four 
criteria pollutants that are not listed as Hazardous Air Pollutants in 
Section 112. Also Section 129 provides for regulation of both new and 
existing units and does not have the major source quantity cutoff of 
Section 112(a)(1). Development of guidelines for operator training and 
certification of SSI operators is also a requirement of Section 129. 
These provisions will give the EPA more flexibility in setting rules 
for different sizes of SSI and will assure the public that the SSI are 
being operated in a manner that will protect the public health. The 
promulgation date for an NSPS and EG applicable to SSI remains no later 
than November 15, 2000.
    The Agency also notes that this action announces the EPA's intent 
to delist SSI from the Section 112(c) source category list and the 
112(e) schedule and to add SSI to the list of categories of Other Solid 
Waste Incinerators. At the time of proposal of the NSPS and EG under 
Section 129, the SSI will be delisted from the Section 112(c) list and 
the 112(e) schedule and added to the list of categories and regulatory 
schedule for Other Solid Waste Incinerators.

    Dated: January 8, 1997.
Mary D. Nichols,
Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation.
[FR Doc. 97-873 Filed 1-13-97; 8:45 am]
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