EPA Redrafts NHSM Rule

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released proposed revisions to its Non-Hazardous Secondary Materials Rule (NHSM) that provide some additional clarity to how scrap wood can be used in boilers.

When the initial rule was issued in March 2011, representatives from several organizations that supply secondary materials to boilers or operate boilers formed an ad hoc committee. The group made up of members from the CMRA (Construction Materials Recycling Association), NSWMA (National Solid Wastes Management Association), Paper Recycling Coalition, American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA), the Biomass Power Council and others met with EPA to provide background information on recycled-content fuels and how the rule would negatively impact the industry.

The proposed amendments and clarifications from the EPA were made “on certain issues on which EPA received new information,” as well as “specific targeted revisions that are appropriate in order to allow implementation of the rule as EPA originally intended,” the agency says.

The EPA says it is revising several definitions that were included in the final rule. “In the case of ‘clean cellulosic biomass,’ EPA is identifying specific materials that EPA believes are included within the current definition and would thus be considered a traditional non-waste fuel, including: agricultural derived biomass, other crop residues (including vines, orchard trees, hulls, seeds), other biomass crops used for the production of cellulosic biofuels, hogged fuel, untreated wood pallets, wood pellets and wood debris from urban areas.”

In addition, the EPA is proposing adding a process for an owner or operator of a facility to petition EPA to categorically list non-hazardous secondary materials as being a non-waste when used as a fuel. EPA is proposing to create a rulemaking petition process that would provide the opportunity to submit a rulemaking petition, seeking a categorical determination for additional NHSMs to be listed as non-waste fuels. “To be successful, the petitioner would need to demonstrate that the NHSM has not been discarded, and either meets the previously established legitimacy criteria, or, after balancing the legitimacy criteria with other relevant factors, the NHSM is not a solid waste when used as a fuel,” the EPA states.

The revisions also identify two secondary materials—“resinated wood products” and tires managed under the oversight of established tire collection programs—as non-wastes when used as a fuel.

Regarding changes to scrap wood fuels, a Midwestern mixed C&D recycler says, “The [revision] didn’t help us to the degree where we wanted it to.” The good news, he says, is that EPA “is indicating that wood derived from demolition operations, if not painted or stained, is [an acceptable] fuel and would meet legitimacy requirements.” His concern, shared by the CMRA and the National Demolition Association (NDA), is that recyclers may “still have to go through a testing process—each facility would have to have that.”

The C&D recycler said operators of facilities like his “would like further loosening” from that restriction. Failing that, recyclers will at least need to know exactly what the test is or what data is being sought if a facility wishes to supply wood fuel to a boiler, he adds.

U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) says the revisions are a step in the right direction. "It makes no sense that biomass, an abundant, renewable and clean energy resource in Maine should be regulated more stringently than fossil fuel," remarks Snowe. "While I am encouraged that biomass will continue to power Maine's mills, I look forward to speaking with local stakeholders to learn their reaction to this newly proposed Boiler MACT rule. While we now need to review the specifics from the EPA, this is certainly a step in the right direction."

EPA says it intends to finalize the reconsideration in Spring 2012. The EPA will accept comment on the proposals for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. Comments, identified by Docket ID Number EPA-HQ-OAR-2002-0058 (boiler major) EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0790 (boiler area), Number EPAHQ-OAR-2003-0119 (CISWI) may be submitted by one of the following methods:

• www.regulations.gov: follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
• E-mail: Comments may be sent by electronic mail (e-mail) to a-and-r-Docket@epa.gov.
• Fax: Fax your comments to: (202) 566-9744.
• Mail: Send your comments to: Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Code: 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20460.
• Hand Delivery or Courier: Deliver your comments to: EPA Docket Center,1301 Constitution Ave., NW, Room 3334, Washington, DC 20004. Such deliveries are only accepted during the Docket’s normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information.