Why are the emissions standards in the proposed rule significant?
The proposed rule does more than change the degree of emissions regulations applicable to cement kilns—it utilizes an unduly burdensome and unrealistic “pollutant-by pollutant” approach to develop maximum achievable control technology (“MACT”) requirements that fail to reflect adequate real world data about demonstrated emissions control strategies. MACT requirements are designed to direct industries towards the pollution control technology used by the “best performers” in a certain industry sector. The proposed rule, however, cobbles together a range of different performance characteristics applicable to different pollutants without determining if it is feasible or possible for any one kiln to comply with all of the standards simultaneously. Additionally, the rule does not account for the fact that the chemical composition of key cement inputs, such as limestone, varies from region to region. As a result, the proposed rule will have disproportionate impacts on different manufacturing
