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On Wednesday, January 12, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it will initiate a rulemaking process to impose a three-year delay on the application of the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Title V permitting programs to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the combustion or decomposition of biologically-based material. EPA intends to finalize the process by July 1, 2011, the date that its existing Prevention of Significant Deterioration and Title V Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule (Tailoring Rule) subjects certain sources to the PSD and Title V programs based on greenhouse gas emissions alone. The Tailoring Rule does not currently exempt CO2 emissions from biogenic sources--including emissions from biomass combustion--from PSD or Title V applicability determinations.
Activities and sources potentially impacted by this delay include, among others:
- Ethanol manufacturing
- Solid waste landfills
- Livestock management facilities
- Waste-to-energy projects
- Combustion of renewable fuels
- Alternative energy production that uses biomass feedstock (e.g., biodiesel production)
- Wastewater treatment facilities
EPA is following through on prior statements that the suitability of an exemption for emissions from biogenic combustion and decomposition requires additional investigation. The three-year delay proposed by EPA will allow the agency to perform a "detailed examination of the science associated with biogenic CO2 emissions and to consider the technical issues that the agency must resolve in order to account for biogenic CO2 emissions in ways that are scientifically sound and also manageable in practice." The "carbon neutrality" of these emissions is one of the scientific issues likely to be considered during this review period.
EPA also stated that it will issue interim guidance, effective until the completion of the rulemaking process, to assist states in determining Best Available Control Technology (BACT) under the PSD program for biogenic sources that are subject to Step 1 of the Tailoring Rule and whose pre-construction permits are issued before July 1. Step 1 began on January 2 and includes sources that are already subject to the PSD program due to emissions other than greenhouse gases. This guidance "will provide a basis that permitting authorities may use to support the conclusion, during the interim period, that BACT for CO2 at such sources is simply the combustion of biomass fuel."
EPA's proposal is based in part on its recognition that biomass "can be part of a national strategy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels" and may play a role in reducing anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Vilsack issued a statement in support of EPA's proposal, also recognizing that biomass "will provide significant reductions of greenhouse gases relative to fossil fuels." USDA plans to work with EPA in evaluating the need for a biogenic exemption to the Tailoring Rule.
Sources potentially impacted by EPA's proposal should closely monitor related developments and consider participating in the rulemaking process, once it is initiated by EPA.
