EPA will relook several aspects of a hotly contested update to air toxics regulations for a small group of older steel mills, according to agency air chief Joseph Goffman.
After assessing reconsideration petitions brought by the environmental group Earthjustice and two steelmakers, EPA has not found anything that undermines the update’s validity, Goffman wrote in a newly posted response.
But “in its discretion,” he continued, EPA will revisit a hydrochloric acid emission limit for one part of the mills’ operations as well as two sets of work practice standards aimed at better controlling some releases of the airborne particles often dubbed soot.
Besides formally seeking public input on all three issues via a Federal Register notice, the agency plans to make corrections to the regulations and will “further evaluate” fugitive emissions of lead and other metals at some point in the future, Goffman wrote.
