EPA will halt boiler rules while agency gets more input

The Environmental Protection Agency said Monday companies will not have to meet new air pollution standards for industrial boilers while the agency receives additional public comment on the regulations.

The announcement is a victory for a coalition of industry groups that called on EPA late last month to put air emissions regulations for industrial boilers on hold while the agency reconsiders the rules.

“As part of the reconsideration process, EPA will issue a stay postponing the effective date of the standards for major source boilers and commercial and industrial solid waste incinerators to allow the agency to continue to seek additional public comment before an updated rule is proposed,” the agency said in a statement Monday.

EPA issued revised final regulations for boilers and solid waste incinerators in February under a court-ordered deadline. The final rules are more lenient than draft standards issued by the agency last year. Industry groups had called the draft regulations unworkable.

Since the final rules differ so much from the draft rules, EPA opened up a reconsideration process during which the public can comment on and review the final standards. The agency says it will accept comments on the revised final standards until July 15.

The stay of the rules will remain in place until the agency finishes its reconsideration process or until proceedings for judicial review that resulted from industry lawsuits are complete, an EPA spokeswoman said.

In an April petition for an administrative stay on the regulations, the industry groups said the agency should halt requirements that companies comply with the boiler rules during this reconsideration period.

EPA says the boiler regulations, which would require that boilers and incinerators install “maximum achievable control technology” to reduce harmful emissions, will prevent thousands of deaths and heart attacks at a reasonable cost to industry.