Chemical plants may get options for monitoring hazardous air emissions

Chemical plants and refineries could pick between two alternatives to track their emissions of hazardous air pollutants, under an Oct. 21 proposal from the US Environmental Protection Agency. They could beef up monitoring of equipment for releases of hazardous air pollutants and storage tanks for leaks, or they could instead monitor for hazardous pollutants in the air along the fence lines of their facilities. Those choosing fence-line monitoring would have to conduct root-cause analyses and fix leaks if pollutant concentrations rose beyond levels worked out with the EPA. The agency says it is offering that option because direct measurement of leaks from equipment and storage tanks can be costly and difficult. The proposal would apply to chemical plants and refineries that store and distribute organic liquids other than gasoline. Despite the use of emission-control technology required by another regulation, these facilities collectively release 5,300 metric tons of hazardous air pollutants every year, including benzene, toluene, and vinyl chloride, the agency says.