Be Part of the Ultimate Safety & Compliance Community
Trending news, knowledge-building content, and more – all personalized to you!
The National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) are standards for stationary sources of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). HAPS are pollutants that are known or suspected to cause cancer or other serious health effects, such as reproductive effects or birth defects, or adverse environmental effects. HAPs are often referred to as air toxics.
EPA works with states, local governments, tribal governments to reduce air emissions for 187 specific HAPS. The CAA requires EPA to regulate HAPs from large industrial facilities in two phases:
Phase 1 is technology-based. EPA develops standards for controlling HAPs emissions from sources in an industry group (source category). These are the maximum achievable control technology (MACT) standards. MACT standards are based on emissions levels that are already being achieved by the lowest emitting sources in an industry.
Phase 2 is a risk-based approach called residual risk. The CAA requires EPA to determine whether more health-protective standards are necessary. Within 8 years of setting the MACT standards, EPA must assess the remaining health risks from each source category for the effectiveness of the MACT standards to protect public health with an “ample margin of safety,” and against environmental effects.
Review. Every eight years after setting the MACT standards, EPA must review and revise the standards, if necessary, to account for improvements in air pollution controls and prevention techniques. The first eight-year review, when combined with the residual risk review, is called the risk and technology review (RTR).