Posted: | July 18, 2024 01:20 PM |
---|---|
From: | Representative Jeanne McNeill and Rep. Zachary Mako |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | Opacity Monitor Legislation |
Pennsylvania cement manufacturing plants that are regulated by the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Portland Cement Manufacturers (PC NESHAP) are required to have opacity monitors to calculate particulate matter emissions. In 2015, new EPA regulations for PC NESHAP went into effect, replacing the opacity limitations with new particulate matter (PM) emission limitations. These new regulations included a requirement for cement plants to demonstrate continuous compliance with the PM emission limit, by utilizing PM continuous parameter monitoring systems (CPMS).
CPMS are much more sensitive and provide a better indication of PM emissions than the opacity monitors in use at Pennsylvania cement plants before the regulatory change. While the more precise and sophisticated CPMS have been installed at all PA cement plants operating under PC NESHAP, Pennsylvania cement plants are still legally required to have opacity monitors. Since the 2015 regulations went into effect, other states have dropped the requirement for opacity monitors in favor of using only CPMS. These include the states of Maryland, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Texas, Utah and South Dakota.
In the near future, we plan to introduce legislation that would give PA DEP the authority to follow the states listed above and to allow cement plants, regulated under PC NESHAP, to remove their opacity monitors and use solely CPMS. |
Introduced as HB2530