National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for the Portland Cement Manufacturing Industry and Standards of Performance for Portland Cement Plants

This action finalizes amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for the Portland Cement Manufacturing Industry and Standards of Performance for Portland Cement Plants. On February 12, 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized amendments to the NESHAP and the new source performance standards (NSPS) for the Portland cement industry. Subsequently, the EPA became aware of certain minor technical errors in those amendments, and thus issued a proposal to correct these errors on November 19, 2014 (79 FR 68821). The EPA received 3 comments on the proposal. In response to the comments received and to complete technical corrections, the EPA is now issuing final amendments. In addition, consistent with the U.S. Court of Appeals to the DC Circuit's vacatur of the affirmative defense provisions in the final rule, this action removes those provisions. These amendments do not affect the pollution reduction or costs associated with these standards.