Senators Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Delay New Clean Air Rules for Boilers

July 20, Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced legislation to delay the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) implementation of new rules to reduce hazardous air pollutants from boilers fired with coal, petroleum, biomass, and solid waste. The regulations have caused special concern among bioenergy producers who say they are costly, overly burdensome, and are based on unreasonable assumptions that do not reflect the realities of operating biomass boilers today. However, continued delay in the implementation of long overdue air pollution control regulations means that public and environmental health will continue to suffer from hazardous air pollutants.

The proposed legislation (S. 1392) would set aside the final rules that EPA announced in February and “provide additional time for the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to issue achievable standards for industrial, commercial, and institutional boilers, process heaters, and incinerators, and for other purposes.” The bill would also extend the period in which regulated boilers must be brought into compliance to five years, rather than the normal three. Similar, but not identical, legislation (H.R. 2250) has been introduced in the House.

The EPA had been under a court order to implement new boiler regulations by January 16 of this year. However, due to strenuous objections to the earlier draft rules from a wide range of affected industries, in January, the EPA appealed to the court for a 15-month extension so that its staff could continue to refine the rules in consultation with stakeholders. The court denied the EPA’s request, and thus, the EPA quickly completed a revised final rule , while also announcing that it would continue to receive and consider public comments and make further changes to the rule.

The biomass power industry , pulp and paper industry, and other bioenergy industries that use biomass boilers are especially concerned about how biomass fuels would be treated under the new rules, and about whether the emissions standards are realistic, achievable, and affordable using existing biomass boiler technologies.

Reducing hazardous air pollution is an important priority for the nation. In this regard, biomass beats coal from the start by having little mercury or sulfur in it. For other pollutants, emissions are roughly comparable when advanced combustion technologies and modern pollution control equipment are used (except for carbon monoxide, for which emissions from biomass may be higher).

When compared to petroleum- or natural gas-fired boilers, biomass-fired boilers tend to emit higher amounts of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and particulate matter. However, when it is sustainably produced, renewable biomass can be much more climate-friendly than these fossil fuels – another important priority for the nation.

Finally, when non-recyclable renewable biomass is separated from waste streams and diverted from landfills to energy recovery facilities, multiple environmental, social, and economic benefits can accrue.

As they consider new legislation and regulations for biomass boilers, we at EESI would encourage Congress and the EPA to recognize the multiple benefits of biomass energy systems, and set standards that will advance both improved air quality and the important potential of bioenergy to address the nation's economic, energy, and environmental challenges.