Small Entities and Rulemaking
Upcoming SBAR Panel: Secondary Aluminum Production Risk and Technology Review
Top Three Questions
Key Dates and Documents for this SBAR Panel
- Convening Date: Not yet determined
- Completion Date: Not yet determined
About the Rule
- Title: Secondary Aluminum Production Risk and Technology Review
- RIN: 2060-AQ40
- Docket No.: EPA-HQ-OAR-2010-0544
- Publication Date for Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM): Access the projected publication date on the Regulatory Development and Retrospective Review Tracker (Reg DaRRT).
- Publication Date for Final Rule: Access the projected publication date on Reg DaRRT.
About this SBAR Panel
What is the Implication of the Rulemaking on Small Entities?
The proposed rule will affect entities in the Secondary Aluminum Production sector. The secondary aluminum production facilities, as defined in 40 CFR 63, Subpart RRR, include those facilities using as the raw material:
- clean charge,
- aluminum scrap,
- or dross from aluminum production,
and performing one or more of the following processes:
- scrap shredding,
- scrap drying/delacquering/decoating,
- thermal chip drying,
- furnace operations (i.e., melting, holding, sweating, refining, fluxing, or alloying),
- recovery of aluminum from dross,
- in-line fluxing,
- or dross cooling.
A secondary aluminum production facility may be independent or part of a primary aluminum production facility. For purposes of this subpart, aluminum die casting facilities, aluminum foundries, and aluminum extrusion facilities are not considered to be secondary aluminum production facilities if the only materials they melt are clean charge, customer returns, or internal scrap, and if they do not operate sweat furnaces, thermal chip dryers, or scrap dryers/delacquering kilns/decoating kilns.
Emissions of air toxics vary by facility and process but may include:
- hazardous metals,
- organic compounds (including dioxins and furans, and polycyclic organic matter),
- and acid gases such as hydrogen chloride and chlorine.
The EPA first regulated secondary aluminum production facilities in 2000 by promulgating National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) to control Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAP). The EPA is required to perform a risk and technology review (RTR) to assess residual risk within eight years of promulgation of a NESHAP and to review advancements in HAP emission control technologies within eight years of the promulgation of a standard, and every eight years thereafter. For this action, EPA plans to gather data collected through an industry-wide information collection request (ICR) and perform analyses of that information, and any other available information, to determine whether additional requirements are necessary for secondary aluminum production facilities.
The residual risk review will address lifetime cancer risks and non-cancer risks from both chronic and acute inhalation exposures. In addition, risks associated with exposure to persistent, bioaccumulative (PB) HAP from routes other than inhalation (e.g., ingestion of HAP that enter the food chain through deposition) will also be considered if it is found that significant quantities of PB HAP are emitted by facilities in this source category. Environmental effects will also be evaluated. The EPA will conduct technology reviews to determine whether any new practices, processes, or control technologies are in use by the industry or whether additional cost-effective emission control options exist.
In addition, EPA will review the rule language in conjunction with comments the Agency has received from EPA regional offices, state and local permitting agencies, and industry, regarding areas where rule editorial corrections, clarification, or other changes are needed based on rule implementation experience.
As data from these risk and technology reviews becomes available, EPA will make a determination whether additional requirements may be necessary under the Clean Air Act and what impact those requirements may have on directly regulated small entities. EPA will convene a panel if it cannot certify that the proposed rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of directly regulated small entities.
Under a judicial consent decree, resolving a case filed in court by the Sierra Club, EPA must sign a proposed decision regarding the residual risk and technology review for the Secondary Aluminum Production source category by November 30, 2011, and a final decision by August 31, 2012.
How Can I Learn More?
If you are a small entity in any of the industry sectors described above in the "What is the Implication of the Proposed Rulemaking on Small Entities" section, you may be affected by this rulemaking. While the opportunity to participate on this Panel has passed, you will have the chance to submit comments concerning this rulemaking during the standard public comment period commencing after publication of the notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register.
Monthly updates about the rulemaking are available on the rule's profile page on Reg DaRRT. From this page, you can determine when the propsed rule will publish and, thus, when you will have an opportunity to comment on the rulemaking.
Semiannual updates about the development status of the rulemaking are available on: