House Introduces Bill to Delay EPA Boiler Air Rules

Date: June 24, 2011

Source: News Room

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has introduced a bill (H.R. 2250) to force the EPA to delay its contested boiler and incinerator rules by at least 15 months and require the rules to impose the "least burdensome" controls that can be met by the units. Four Republicans and four Democrats introduced the measure which would give EPA at least 15 additional months to re-propose and finalize the boiler and incinerator rules and push back at least 5 years compliance dates for the standards. EPA lost a legal bid to extend a February court-ordered deadline for issuing a package of air rules that included a maximum achievable control technology (MACT) air toxics standard for boilers, an emissions rule for commercial and industrial solid waste (CISWI) incinerators, a waste definition rule that determines which air rules units are subject to, and a sewage sludge incinerator air rule.

H.R. 2250 aims to give EPA more time to withdraw and revise the regulations to address concerns about their cost and feasibility. The bill was introduced by Reps. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), in addition to Reps. John Barrow (D-GA), Jim Matheson (D-UT), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Pete Olson (R-TX), Mike Ross (D-AR), and Steve Scalise (R-LA). The law also requires EPA to "impose the least burdensome" regulatory alternatives, citing President Obama's Executive Order 13563, and establish "standards achievable in practice" by ensuring the rules can be met under "actual operating conditions."

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