EPA Will Not Reconsider Sewage Sludge Incinerator Rule

Date: April 27, 2012

Source: News Room

The EPA has rejected separate petitions from both industry as well as environmental groups to reconsider key provisions of its sewage sludge incinerator (SSI) rule. In its response, the EPA rejected industry's claim that the rule is unnecessarily stringent and denied Sierra Club's claims that the rule is too lenient because it relies on "agency-fabricated" emissions data. The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) and Sierra Club had petitioned EPA in May 2011 for administrative reconsideration of the rule, while also filing lawsuits in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over the maximum achievable control technology (MACT) used in the rule. EPA's rejection of the petitions now shifts the focus back to the litigation, NACWA v. EPA.

In an April 6 letter to NACWA, EPA denied a host of challenges to the SSI rule, including that EPA erred by regulating SSIs under section 129 of the air law, which covers solid waste combustion. NACWA said EPA should have regulated SSI under section 112, which addresses air toxics under a less stringent method. The agency also rejected NACWA's claim that the final rule should have established "subcategories" to regulate SSIs in accordance with their function and frequency of use.

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