Ferroalloy Production Facilities

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New Environmental Rule Affecting Ferroalloy Production Facilities at Small/ Area Sources

Notice to Ferroalloy Production Facilities

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a new rule on December 23, 2008 that impacts ferroalloy production facilities at small/area sources. This rule is the National Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for the Source Category of Ferroalloy Production Facilities as published in 40 CFR Part 63, Subpart YYYYYY.

Who Must Comply with the Rule?

You are subject to this rule if you own or operate a ferroalloy production facility that is an area source of hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions. Typical affected facilities include those that manufacture ferroalloys, silicon metal and calcium carbide.

All new and existing electrometallurgical operations at small area sources that produce the following are affected by the rule: silicon metal, ferrosilicon, ferrotitanium using the aluminum reduction process, ferrovanadium, ferromolybdenum, calcium silicon, silicomanganese zirconium, ferrochrome silicon, silvery iron, high-carbon ferrochrome, charge chrome, standard ferromanganese, silicomanganese, ferromanganese silicon, calcium carbide or other ferroalloy products using electrometallurgical operations including electric arc furnaces (EAFs) or other reaction vessels.

When Must I Comply with the Rule?

All affected existing facilities must comply with the rule by June 22, 2009. The regulation also requires all existing sources to notify their regulatory agency that the rule applies to them. This notification is referred to as an Initial Notification. Existing affected facilities must submit the Initial Notice to their regulatory agency by April 22, 2009. Sources not located in the counties of Davidson, Shelby, Knox and Hamilton, must submit the notice to the Tennessee Division of Air Pollution Control and the Environmental Protection Agency. New sources must comply with the rule when they begin to operate and must submit an Initial Notification within 120 days of start-up. See links to a sample Initial Notice, sample Notice of Compliance Status and list of key dates below.

Also, other requirements such as visible emission monitoring, performance testing, annual certification of compliance, development of a monitoring plan, and record keeping may apply.

See Ferroalloy production facilities rule published at the following link: Federal Register.