Proposed Revision of Initial List of Categories of Sources and Schedule for Standards Under Sections 112(c)(1), 112(c)(9), and 112(e) of the Clean Air Act

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-5142-5]

Proposed Revision of Initial List of Categories of Sources and

Schedule for Standards Under Sections 112(c)(1), 112(c)(9), and 112(e)

of the Clean Air Act

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed delisting of the asbestos processing area source

category from the initial list of categories and [[Page 4625]] schedule

for major and area sources of hazardous air pollutants.

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SUMMARY: This notice proposes a revision to the initial list of

categories of sources of hazardous air pollutants (HAP), published on

July 16, 1992, and the schedule for promulgation of emission standards,

published on December 3, 1993. The Agency is obligated to, ``from time

to time, but no less often than every 8 years, revise, if appropriate,

in response to public comment or new information, a list of all

categories and subcategories of major sources and area sources. . .''.

Today's proposal would, if made final, remove an area source

category (asbestos processing ) that was listed on July 16, 1992. The

proposal to remove (delist) the asbestos processing source category is

based on information obtained during the initial stage of standards

development for this source category. These data conclusively show that

asbestos emissions from specific plants that were the basis for the

initial listing are significantly lower than previously estimated. As a

result, the Agency believes that no source in the category emits

asbestos in quantities which may cause a lifetime risk of cancer

greater than one in one million in the individual most exposed to such

emissions and that the previous determination that asbestos emissions

from these plants pose a threat of adverse health effects appears to be

no longer supportable.

Through this notice, EPA solicits comments on this proposed

decision.

DATES: Comments. Written comments must be received on or before

February 23, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may submit written comments (in

duplicate) to Public Docket No. A-94-69, at the following address: U.

S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Docket Section, Waterside Mall,

Room 1500, 401 M Street, S.W., Washington, D.C., 20460. The Agency

requests that a separate copy also be sent to the contact person listed

below.

Docket. Docket No. A-94-69, containing supporting information used

in developing this notice, is available for public inspection and

copying between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, at the

Agency's Air Docket, 401 M Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20460. A

reasonable fee may be charged for copying.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information concerning specific

aspects of this proposal, contact Susan Fairchild-Zapata, Minerals and

Inorganic Chemicals Group, Emission Standards Division (MD-13), U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711,

telephone number (919) 541-5167.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-549) amended the

Clean Air Act (the Act) to require, under section 112, that the Agency

list and promulgate regulations requiring control of emissions of HAPs

from categories of major and area sources. Section 112(c)(1) requires

the Administrator to publish, and from time to time revise, if

appropriate, in response to comments or new information, a list of all

categories and subcategories of major and area sources of HAPs. Section

112(c)(3) requires that the Administrator list any area source category

(one for which each source emits less than 10 tons/year of any one HAP

and less than 25 tons per year of all HAPs) that the Administrator

finds poses a threat of adverse health effects to human health.

Pursuant to the various specific listing requirements in section

112(c), the Agency published on July 16, 1992 (57 FR 31590) a finding

of adverse effects for the source category of asbestos processing and

therefore included that source category on the list of source

categories that would be thenceforth subject to emission standards.

Following this listing, pursuant to requirements in section 112(e), the

Agency on December 3, 1993 (58 FR 63941) published a schedule for the

promulgation of emission standards for each of the 174 listed source

categories. The reader is directed to these two notices for information

related to development of the initial list and schedule.

Subsequent to publication of the initial list and schedule, several

notices have revised the list and schedule in the context of actions

related to individual source categories. For example, on November 12,

1993 (58 FR 60021), the Agency listed marine vessel loading operations

as a category of major sources, with standards to be promulgated,

pursuant to section 112(c)(5) by the year 2000. As another example, on

September 8, 1994 (59 FR 46339), the Agency promulgated standards for

HAP emissions for industrial process cooling towers. This latter action

did not revise the list or schedule, per se, but specifically

delineated rule applicability by defining the affected sources within

the listed category. The Agency believes that defining rule

applicability and affected sources as part of standard setting

constitutes an important aspect of list clarification. As was stated in

the original listing notice (57 FR 31576):

The Agency recognizes that these descriptions [in the initial

list], like the list itself, may be revised from time to time as

better information becomes available. The Agency intends to revise

these descriptions as part of the process of establishing standards

for each category. Ultimately, a definition of each listed category,

or subsequently listed subcategories, will be incorporated in each

rule establishing a NESHAP for a category.

Various other Agency actions may trigger the need for revisions to

the list or schedule. As one example, the Administrator may delete

categories of sources pursuant to section 112 (c)(9), on her own motion

or on petition, subject to criteria regarding cancer effects, non-

cancer health effects and environmental effects. In addition, under

section 112(c)(1), the Agency may revise the initial source category

list if new information indicates that such action is appropriate.

Pursuant to section 112(c)(9), EPA today is proposing to delete a

category of area sources, the asbestos processing source category, from

the list on the Administrator's own motion. Further, EPA believes that

the previous determination under section 112(c)(1) that asbestos

emissions from these plants pose a threat of adverse health effects,

and hence should be included on the list of area source categories,

appears to no longer be supportable.

Prior to issuance of the initial source category list under section

112(c)(1), the EPA published a draft initial list for public comment,

see 56 FR 28548 (June 21, 1991). Although EPA was not required to take

public comment on the initial source category list, the Agency believed

it was useful to solicit input on a number of issues related to the

list. Indeed, in most instances, even where there is no statutory

requirement to take comment, EPA solicits public comment on actions it

is contemplating. The EPA has, therefore, decided that it is

appropriate to solicit additional public comment on the revision

proposed in today's notice.

II. Description of Proposed Revision

A. Deletion of a Source Category on the Administrator's Own Motion

In today's notice, the Agency is proposing to delete the asbestos

processing area source category on the Administrator's own motion. The

Agency has obtained new information which no longer supports the

finding of a threat of adverse health effects on which the initial

listing for this area source was based under section 112(c)(3).

[[Page 4626]]

The Agency is proposing to take this action under the authority of

section 112(c)(9)(B) for deleting source categories and under section

112(c)(1) of the Act which allows the Agency to revise the list of

source categories if such revision is appropriate in response to new

information. Under section 112(c)(9)(B), the Agency may delete a

category of major or area sources from the list, based on petition of

any person or on the Administrator's own motion, upon a determination

that: (1) In the case of sources that emit HAPs that may result in

cancer, no source in the category (or group of sources in the case of

area sources) emits HAPs in quantities that may cause lifetime cancer

risk greater than one in one million to the most exposed individual;

or, (2) in the case of sources that emit HAPs that may result in non-

cancer adverse health effects or adverse environmental effects,

emissions from no source in the category (or group of sources in the

case of area sources) exceed a level adequate to protect public health

with an ample margin of safety and no adverse environmental effects

will result. As discussed below, the Agency has met the legal

requirements of section 112(c)(9)(B) for this action.

Regarding section 112(c)(1) of the Act, EPA believes that the new

information discussed below indicates that the asbestos processing

source category was improperly listed based on incorrect data. New

information indicates that the level of asbestos emissions from such

sources was greatly overstated in the initial studies, and the new

information indicates that no source in the category is emitting

asbestos in quantities that may cause adverse health effects.

Accordingly, EPA is proposing to revise the source category list by

deleting the asbestos processing source category.

B. Asbestos Processing

The area source category of asbestos processing was included on the

initial source category list, accompanied by a finding under section

112(c)(3) of a threat of adverse effects to human health. The

Administrator made no such finding with regard to environmental effects

and made no finding with regard to the non-carcinogenic effects of

emissions. The reader is referred to the initial July 16, 1992 list (57

FR 31576) for a discussion of this finding. In 1991, the Agency

gathered information from the ten highest emitters of asbestos from

asbestos processing facilities in the Nation to estimate the threat to

human health from these facilities. Asbestos processing includes

asbestos milling, manufacturing and fabrication. Products that are

manufactured or fabricated using asbestos include, but are not limited

to, textiles, papers and felts, friction materials, cements, vinyl-

asbestos floor tiles, gaskets and packings, shotgun shell wads, asphalt

concrete, fireproofing and insulating materials, and chlorine. As cited

in the area source finding, information on asbestos emissions was

limited at that time by the lack of an appropriate measurement method.

Therefore, engineering estimates of asbestos emissions were developed,

which were based in part on the hypothesis that the concentration of

asbestos in particulate matter emitted from fabric filtration

(baghouse) control devices operated at these facilities was the same as

the concentration of asbestos in the captured particulate matter.

After the asbestos processing source category was included in the

initial list under section 112(c)(1) and section 112(c)(3), the Agency

collected information under the authority of section 114 of the Act

from all facilities that mill, manufacture, or fabricate asbestos or

asbestos-containing products. This information was gathered for

development of the maximum achievable control technology (MACT)/

generally available control technology (GACT) asbestos processing

standard. From this information collection activity, new measurements

of asbestos emissions were obtained. This new information was supplied

by a company that operates two of the facilities that had been included

in the 1991 study used to establish the area source finding for

asbestos processing. Details on the new test information are discussed

in the document entitled, ``Particulate and Asbestos Emission Study'',

[Docket No. A-94-69]. The Agency reviewed the methods used to test this

facility and concluded that the emission estimates supplied by the

company are valid. As a result of this information, the Agency now

believes that due to the morphology of asbestos, fibers are captured

selectively by fabric filtration devices (baghouses) with much greater

efficiency than was previously thought. In addition, those two

facilities now process less asbestos than previously, which has

resulted in lower asbestos emissions.

The new emissions data indicate that emissions of asbestos are

approximately 150 times lower than initially estimated and that the

risk to the most exposed individual for both sources is below one in

one million. In addition, the other eight sources in the initial study

have either ceased operations or no longer use asbestos in their

operations. Therefore, the MIR for all ten sources that were the basis

for the original listing are now below one in one million.

Moreover, EPA distributed information collection requests to over

250 other companies thought to be processing asbestos or asbestos-

containing materials. The information provided by these other smaller

potential sources of asbestos indicates that all potential asbestos

processing sources are either no longer operating, not using asbestos,

or using the emission control devices required under the current

asbestos NESHAP, 40 CFR 61 Sec. 61.140 et. seq. This information shows

that the other sources in the asbestos processing source category also

do not present a MIR of greater than one in one million.

Therefore, the Administrator has preliminarily determined that no

source or group of sources in the category emits asbestos in quantities

which may cause a lifetime risk of cancer greater than one in one

million to the individual most exposed to asbestos emissions. As

discussed earlier, EPA based its initial listing of this source

category on the risk to human health caused by the carcinogenic

properties of asbestos emissions. EPA has no information regarding

whether or not there are adverse environmental effects of these

emissions or whether or not noncarcinogenic effects of such asbestos

emissions are at a level that is adequate to protect human health with

an ample margin of safety. However, as the original listing of this

source category was based on the carcinogenic effects of asbestos, and

as the new information substantially refutes the original data upon

which EPA based its initial decision to list this source category, EPA

believes that a delisting would be appropriate in these circumstances.

If this finding is finally determined to be accurate, the Agency will

delete the asbestos processing source category from the source category

list pursuant to section 112(c)(9) of the Act.

The Administrator has also made a preliminary decision to delete

the asbestos processing area source category under section 112(c)(1),

based on new information not in EPA's possession at the time of

listing. The Agency would not have listed this source category had this

information been available at the time of listing. EPA has made a

preliminary decision that this area source category does not present a

threat of adverse effects to human health or the environment sufficient

to warrant regulation under section 112(d) of the Act. Additional

information on this decision is available in the docket. (Docket no. A-

94-69) [[Page 4627]]

EPA notes that the information collected in connection with this

preliminary decision also shows that a subcategory of asbestos

processing sources, the friction product manufacturing subcategory, has

individual facilities which emit more than 10 tons/year of a single

non-asbestos HAP or more than 25 tons per year of a collection of non-

asbestos HAPs (methyl chloroform, methyl ethyl ketone, formaldehyde,

phenol, and toluene). Therefore, EPA intends to add this subcategory to

the source category list as a major source category in a general

revision to the source category list that is currently being developed.

III. Administrative Requirements

A. Docket

The docket (Docket no. A-94-69) is an organized and complete file

of all the information submitted to or otherwise considered by the

Agency in the development of this proposed revision to the initial list

of categories of sources. The principal purpose of this docket is to

allow interested parties to identify and locate documents that serve as

a record of the process engaged in by the Agency to publish today's

proposed revision to the initial list and schedule.

B. Executive Order 12866

Under Executive Order (E.O.) 12866, the EPA must determine whether

the proposed regulatory action is ``significant'' and therefore,

subject to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review and the

requirements of the Executive Order. The Order defines ``significant''

regulatory action as one that is likely to lead to a rule that may:

(1) Have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or

adversely affect in a material way the economy, a sector of the

economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public

health or safety in State, local, or tribal governments or communities;

(2) Create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an

action taken or planned by another agency;

(3) Materially alter the budgetary impact of entitlements, grants,

user fees or loan programs or the rights and obligations of recipients

thereof; or

(4) Raise novel legal or policy issues arising out of legal

mandates, the President's priorities, or the principles set forth in

the Executive Order.

Pursuant to the terms of Executive Order 12866, OMB has determined

that this action is ``significant''. As such, this action was submitted

to OMB for review. Changes made in response to OMB suggestions or

recommendations are documented in the public record.

C. Paperwork Reduction Act

This action does not contain any information collection

requirements subject to OMB review under the Paperwork Reduction Act,

55 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.

D. Regulatory Flexibility Act Compliance

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(6), I hereby certify that this action will

not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small

entities because it imposes no new requirements.

Dated: January 13, 1995.

Carol M. Browner,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 95-1669 Filed 1-23-95; 8:45 am]

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