CISWI Federal Plan Finalized

On September 16, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) signed a final rule containing the Federal Plan requirements at 40 CFR Part 62, Subpart IIIa to implement the emissions guidelines for existing facilities under the commercial and industrial solid waste incinerator (CISWI) standards at 40 CFR Part 60, Subpart DDDD. The Federal Plan covers subject facilities in states that either did not submit a state-specific plan for the source category or that submitted a state-specific plan that was not approved by U.S. EPA. It applies to existing CISWI units that commenced construction on or before June 4, 2010 and have not been modified or reconstructed since August 7, 2013. Units modified or reconstructed after August 7, 2013 are subject to the CISWI standards at 40 CFR Part 60, Subpart CCCC.

U.S. EPA originally published major revisions to the CISWI emissions guidelines in 2011 and has subsequently made additional revisions, as recently as April 2019, that have been incorporated into the final Federal Plan. The Federal Plan will apply 30 days after the date of publication in the Federal Register.

A CISWI unit is defined in the emissions guidelines as an operating unit of any commercial or industrial facility that combusts solid waste (as defined in 40 CFR Part 241). U.S. EPA has included four subcategories for existing CISWI in the Federal Plan:

• Incinerators
  • Units designed to burn discarded waste materials for the purpose of disposal
• Energy recovery units (ERUs)
  • Units that would be boilers or process heaters if they did not combust solid waste (further subcategorized into three subcategories)
• Waste burning kilns
  • Units that would be cement kilns if they did not combust solid waste (further subcategorized into two subcategories)
• Small remote incinerators
  • Units that combust three tons per day or less of solid waste and more than 25 miles driving distance to nearest municipal solid waste landfill

Emissions guidelines are intended to provide a regulatory framework to implement a state or federal plan. Each state is given an option to submit for approval by U.S. EPA a state-specific plan that is at least as stringent as the emissions guidelines. As you might expect, state responses vary, but the current status looks like this:

For state plans that are under review, the Federal Plan will apply in those states until the corresponding state plan is approved by U.S. EPA.

U.S. EPA asserts that existing CISWI units should already be in compliance with the requirements that are established by the Federal Plan because sources have been aware of the CISWI requirements for many years.  However, the final compliance date for the final Federal Plan is 30 days after the date of publication in the Federal Register. U.S. EPA also asserts that there is no authority under Clean Air Act Section 129 to provide compliance extensions.

Now that the final rule is out, ALL4 can support your facility’s environmental compliance, permitting, and applicability. ALL4 is also tracking the upcoming proposed updates to the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and emissions guidelines for Large Municipal Waste Combustors and the proposed technology review for Hazardous Waste Combustors. If you have any specific questions regarding incinerator compliance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at scunningham@all4inc.com.