National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Plywood and Composite Wood Products
Key claim: The EPA is finalizing updated MACT emission standards for hazardous air pollutants—including formaldehyde, mercury, dioxins, and PAHs—from plywood and composite wood products facilities, addressing a 2007 remand of the 2004 rule and a petition regarding the 2020 RTR.
Abstract
(Rule · Environmental Protection Agency) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing amendments to the national emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for the Plywood and Composite Wood Products (PCWP) source category. Specifically, the EPA is finalizing maximum achievable control technology (MACT) standards in the form of emission limitations and work practices as appropriate for total hazardous air pollutants (HAP) (including acetaldehyde, acrolein, formaldehyde, methanol, phenol, propionaldehyde), non-mercury (non-Hg) HAP metals, mercury (Hg), hydrogen chloride (HCl), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), dioxin/furan (D/F), and methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI). Sources affected by the amendments include PCWP process units and lumber kilns located at facilities that are major sources of HAP emissions. These final amendments address the 2007 partial remand and vacatur of the 2004 final rule that promulgated the PCWP NESHAP (“2004 rule”). The final amendments also respond to issues raised in a petition for reconsideration regarding the 2020 residual risk and technology review (RTR) and other amendments to the 2020 PCWP NESHAP.
Why this matters
The finalized NESHAP for plywood and composite wood products tightens controls on hazardous air pollutants (notably formaldehyde) from a major industrial source category, with practical implications for facility compliance costs, monitoring, and community health near mills. It also closes out long-standing legal loose ends from the 2007 remand and the 2020 RTR petition, stabilizing the regulatory baseline for this sector.