The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on March 12 announced that it will reconsider eight National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs), affecting critical sectors within the American energy, manufacturing and chemical industries. The Trump administration is considering a two-year compliance exemption under Section 112(i)(4) of the Clean Air Act for affected facilities while the EPA undergoes the rulemaking process. This would be an unprecedented use of the “Presidential Exemption” authority under the Clean Air Act to extend the compliance deadline for a NESHAP by up to two years, “if the President determines that the technology to implement such standard is not available and that it is in the national security interests of the United States to do so.”
On April 9, 2024, the EPA issued a final rule amending the Clean Air Act’s New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for emissions from the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry (SOCMI). This rule also finalized changes to the NESHAP for SOCMI, known as the Hazardous Organic NESHAP (the HON Rule), and for Group I and II Polymers and Resins Industries. According to the regulatory impact analysis for the final rule, the HON Rule includes maximum achievable control technology (MACT) standards for hazardous air pollutants (HAP) emissions from heat exchange systems, process vents, storage vessels, transfer racks, wastewater and equipment leaks at chemical plants that are major sources of HAP-producing SOCMI chemicals, such as bulk commodity chemicals, and for equipment leaks in certain non-SOCMI chemical processes. The amendments to the rule were finalized on May 16, 2024, updating the MACT standards for heat exchange systems, storage vessels and process vents, depending on the source category.
Industry groups opposed the HON Rule, arguing that it overstepped the EPA’s authority and threatened the production of essential chemicals vital for public health and national security. They contended it affects key sectors like agriculture, healthcare and semiconductor manufacturing. Additionally, they believed the timeline is impractical, requiring substantial capital investments for compliance.
With this most recent announcement, the Trump administration is now reviewing and revising previously finalized rules to potentially reduce capital and annual costs, specifically targeting the HON Rule, with the administration claiming estimated savings of $1.8 billion over 15 years, including $455.5 million in capital investment, or $150 million annually.
This review is part of a broader reconsideration of numerous agency rules, with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin describing it as the “biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history.”