Opinion ID: 4020089
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: waste-stream variance for sri units

Text: The EPA regulated SRIs as a subcategory in the CISWI Rule. See Memorandum from Eastern Research Group, Inc., to Toni Jones, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, CISWI Emission Limit Calculations for Existing and New Sources for the Reconsideration Final Rule (Jones Mem.) (Nov. 16, 2012) (No. 11-1125 J.A. 1159, 1162). There are 28 SRI units, 17 The Industry Petitioners also contend that the CISWI Rule functions as a form of injunctive relief in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 7413(a). That is incorrect. The provision is neither styled nor operated as a form of injunctive relief. Cf. 42 U.S.C. § 7413(a) (permitting the Administrator to issue, among other forms of relief, “an administrative penalty order” or “an order requiring [a person in violation of EPA regulations] to comply with such requirement or prohibition”). 58 all of which are located in Alaska, and the EPA had emissions data for nine of them. Id. As explained supra § I.B.3, the EPA used the pollutant-by-pollutant approach to establish MACT emission standards for these units. For new-unit standards, the EPA determined which of the nine units had the lowest emissions for a particular pollutant and set the MACT floor for that pollutant at the level achieved by the identified unit. See 42 U.S.C. § 7429(a)(2) (explaining that MACT floors for new units must be set at “the emissions control that is achieved in practice by the best controlled similar unit”). When setting MACT floors for existing units, the EPA had to calculate the average level of emissions achieved by the best performing 12 per cent of units. See id. It therefore determined which four sources had the lowest emissions for a given pollutant and set the emissions standard for that pollutant at the average level achieved by those four units. The Industry Petitioners argue that the EPA’s approach was unlawful because it failed to account for the unique role that waste inputs play in emissions from SRIs. Unlike larger incinerators, SRIs burn small batches of waste at a time. Some batches include cleaner waste, such as wood and cardboard, while others include waste, such as sewage, that generates large quantities of SO2 and other pollutants. Moreover, existing SRIs cannot use certain “end-of-stack” control technologies like wet scrubbers due to the Alaskan climate. The Industry Petitioners thus contend that emissions from SRIs are more closely tied to waste input than are emissions from other types of incinerators. This difference, they assert, required the EPA to take into account, when determining which SRI units were best performing for MACT floor purposes, the kind of waste an SRI unit was burning at the time of testing. Because the Agency did not do so, the 59 Industry Petitioners contend the MACT standards for SRIs are arbitrary and capricious. We disagree. To support their challenge, the Industry Petitioners advance two arguments, neither of which has merit. Petitioners first point to section 7429(a)(3), which directs the EPA to base emission standards on “methods and technologies for removal or destruction of pollutants before, during, or after combustion.” 42 U.S.C. § 7429(a)(3). According to the Industry Petitioners, this language requires the EPA to identify best performing units for MACT purposes by considering which units are best at removing or destroying pollutants. The Industry Petitioners assert that the Agency did not do this. Instead, they contend, the EPA set standards without regard to whether that unit happened to be burning cleaner waste. And, according to the Industry Petitioners, remote incinerators in Alaska cannot control their waste inputs because the core purpose of SRIs is to burn waste that is impracticably far from municipal landfills. The fact that emissions levels varied dramatically during test runs for the SRI units, they claim, is thus the result of random variance in the type of waste the unit was combusting, rather than any “method” or “technology” aimed at “removing” or “destroying” pollutants. The EPA responds that the approach it adopted for SRIs complies with section 7429(a)(3) because “waste segregation”—that is, diverting dirtier waste to landfills and burning only cleaner waste—is a “method . . . for removal . . . of pollutants before . . . combustion.” See 42 U.S.C. § 7429(a)(3). In fact, during notice and comment, the EPA estimated that many SRIs would choose to comply with the MACT standards by segregating their waste instead of by installing expensive control technologies. See Jones Mem. 60 The Agency also determined that waste segregation was possible for SRIs because their waste often contained materials that could be recycled. Id. Finally, the Agency factored in any additional variance in emissions from these units by calculating the MACT floors according to the UPL formula described at supra §§ I.B.1.a, IV.C. For these reasons, the Agency contends, it did not need to consider further any variation in emissions that might be caused by differences in waste inputs for SRIs. The EPA has the better argument, based on both text and precedent. Textually, waste segregation plainly can be a “method[]” for “removal” of pollutants “before” combustion. See 42 U.S.C. § 7429(a)(3). Accordingly, the EPA, when setting MACT floors, could not have looked solely to technologies used to reduce emissions during combustion. Accord Sierra Club v. EPA (Sierra Club II), 479 F.3d 875, 883 (D.C. Cir. 2007) (per curiam). Instead, the plain language of section 7429(a)(3) requires the Agency to consider whether emission reductions can be achieved by non-combustion-related controls such as using cleaner fuels or waste inputs. Accord id. The statute supports the approach that the Agency took here. Our holding in Sierra Club II confirms that our conclusion is correct. In that case, the EPA had acknowledged that kilns emitted lower levels of pollutants when burning cleaner clay but nevertheless based MACT standards only on the emission reductions achieved by control technology during the combustion process. Id. at 882. The Agency explained that clean clay existed only in certain areas and that transportation of the clay over long distances was impractical. Id. The EPA therefore considered only those emission reductions that were attributable to “deliberate steps 61 kiln operators [took] to reduce emissions rather than to the ‘happenstance’ of being located near cleaner clay.” Id. at 883. But we rejected that approach, finding that “the Clean Air Act requires neither an intentional action nor a deliberate strategy to reduce emissions.” Id. Instead, where “nontechnology factors” affect emission levels, we held the EPA must consider those effects when setting MACT floors. Id. Applying that same reasoning, the EPA acted reasonably when it decided to consider the emissions reduction that could be achieved by waste segregation in SRI units before combustion. This is true even if an element of “happenstance” plays into an SRI unit’s ability to segregate its waste. And, had the EPA instead determined that the best performers were those SRI units that most effectively reduced pollutants only during combustion, as the Industry Petitioners suggest, the resulting MACT standards may have run afoul of our holding in Sierra Club II. We cannot, as a result, find the Agency’s choice to avoid that outcome unreasonable. The Industry Petitioners’ second argument also comes up short. According to Petitioners, the EPA selected the best performers for SRIs merely because those units happened to be burning batches of cleaner waste at the time of the emissions test. They claim this happenstance resulted in test data that did not reasonably estimate the typical performance of the units, and thus misidentified the best performers. See Cement Kiln, 255 F.3d at 862 (finding that although the EPA has authority to estimate which units perform best, its methodology must “provide[] an accurate picture of the relevant sources’ actual performance”). Petitioners further argue that the Agency’s use of the UPL method to account for variability did not fix this problem because the EPA applies that method only after identifying the best performers. 62 If the record supported this argument, it might well be persuasive; in NACWA, we accepted a similar contention that the EPA’s dataset for determining MACT floors must fairly represent a unit’s typical performance. See 734 F.3d at 1146. But the record here does not support the Industry Petitioners’ position. None of the evidence on which Petitioners rely can bear the weight they would have us place on it. First, Petitioners cite evidence indicating that XTO Energy, which operates the incinerator that the EPA deemed the best performer for SO2, was burning low-sulfur “waste wood, cardboard, and oily waste” during the relevant test runs. See ConocoPhillips Co., Comment on EPA’s Proposed National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, EPA-HQ-OAR-2003-0119 (Feb. 12, 2012) (No. 11-1125 J.A. 1036). But the record does not show that the resulting test data were unrepresentative of XTO’s typical performance because the record says nothing about what XTO typically burns. Id. Second, Petitioners note that Drift River, the unit the EPA deemed the worst performer for SO2, had emissions results similar to XTO Energy’s when burning low-sulfur waste, but results over 1,000 times higher when burning highsulfur waste. See id. (No. 11-1125 J.A. 1032-33). But again, the record does not say anything about the type of waste Drift River typically burns or its sulfur content; it merely demonstrates that the unit’s test results varied greatly from one run to the next. See id. Third, Petitioners point to additional test data they provided for the Kuparuk unit, a source that met the EPA’s MACT standards for NOx. See id. (No. 11-1125 J.A. 1017, 1027-28). They claim this data shows that the Kuparuk unit 63 “consistently” emits NOx levels exceeding that standard when burning sewage sludge. Id. This claim is both factually untrue—as the data reveals exceedances on only one day— and says nothing about whether the test data that the EPA used was representative of Kuparuk’s typical performance. Id. Instead, the record supports the EPA’s assertion that it gave Petitioners “multiple opportunities” to present data on the variability of waste streams for SRIs, but Petitioners never provided a reasonable empirical basis upon which the Agency could adjust the MACT standards due to this variability. The Industry Petitioners have thus not met their burden to show that the EPA’s test data was unrepresentative of SRI units’ actual or typical performance. In sum, no record evidence suggests that the current SRI emission standards are not achievable. The Industry Petitioners instead offer only general statements about the “small batch” nature of SRIs and the difficulty of using waste segregation or other controls in remote locations. These factors alone do not call into question the EPA’s assertion that controls such as waste segregation and technology upgrades are a feasible means of achieving compliance with the MACT floors that it established. See 2011 CISWI Rule, 76 Fed. Reg. at 15,730 (explaining that the MACT floors will require SRIs to employ “the best demonstrated technologies that are technologically feasible at these facilities,” such as afterburners and waste segregation, and noting that such controls “are sufficient to meet the MACT floor limits”). As a result, the EPA’s action here was reasonable; the Agency did not need to account further for waste stream variance in setting MACT floor standards for these SRI units. 64