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PA EPA CITES PROGRESS IN CONTROLLING AIR TOXICS AFFECTING LARGE U.S. WATER BODIES
Release Date: 03/13/98
Contact Information:
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 1998
EPA CITES PROGRESS IN CONTROLLING AIR TOXICS AFFECTING
LARGE U.S. WATER BODIES
After carefully considering extensive public comment, EPA today announced its decision that Section 112 of the existing Clean Air Act (CAA) provides the Agency sufficient legal authority to protect public health and the environment from air toxics falling into the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, Chesapeake Bay and many U.S. coastal waters. The Agency believes any further legislative action is unnecessary at this time. While significant progress has already been made in reducing air toxics affecting these water bodies, EPA will continue developing regulations and other environmental programs to achieve even further emission reductions. The Agency is developing air toxic emission standards utilizing maximum achievable pollution control technology for over 170 different types of industry; many of these regulations have already been issued, and all should be completed by the end of the year 2000. Examples include rules that will cut a wide variety of toxic emissions by 90 percent from the chemical industry; slash mercury emissions 90 percent and dioxin levels 99 percent from municipal waste combustors; and significantly reduce mercury (95 percent) and dioxin (94 percent) from medical waste incinerators. Nitrogen compounds such as nitrogen oxide (NOx) are also deposited into water but are not classified as toxics. Overly abundant nitrogen can cause excessive growth of algae, which can harm fish and shellfish and reduce light available to aquatic vegetation and coral reefs. EPA’s acid rain program, is making considerable progress in achieving its goal of reducing NOx emissions two million tons from 1980 levels by the year 2000, and the Agency’s new ozone and particulate standards will also reduce nitrogen deposition to water bodies. Additionally, EPA’s proposed ozone transport rule, which would significantly reduce NOx emissions from 22 states and Washington, D.C., will also lead to meaningful reductions in nitrogen deposition to the Chesapeake Bay and other eastern coastal waters. EPA’s decision is based on current information, but can be revisited if new information indicates a need to do so. Today’s decision was proposed in June 1997, concurrent with the release of the EPA report entitled: “Deposition of Air Pollutants to the Great Waters, Second Report to Congress (EPA-453/R-97-011, June 1997). Congress required both the report and a determination from EPA as to whether the air toxic provisions of the Clean Air Act (Section 112) provided EPA enough authority to prevent adverse public health and environmental effects associated with the atmospheric deposition of toxic air pollutants. Today’s determination will appear soon in the Federal Register, but is accessible on the Internet at: https://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg. For further technical information on the decision, contact Dale Evarts of EPA’s Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards at 919-541-5535, or e-mail at: evarts.dale@epamail.epa.gov.
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