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National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP)⁹⁵ Regulation

Definition:

Under the Clean Air Act, as amended in 1990, EPA is required to regulate sources of listed hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) that are known or suspected to cause cancer or other serious health effects. On July 16, 1992, EPA published a list of industry groups (known as source categories) that emit one or more of these air toxics; several industrial surface coating categories were on this list. For listed categories of "major" sources (those that emit or have the potential to emit 10 tons/year or more of a listed pollutant or 25 tons/year or more of a combination of pollutants), the Clean Air Act directs EPA to develop National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) that require the application of stringent air pollution reduction measures known as maximum achievable control technology (MACT). The law requires that MACT must not be less stringent than:

emission control that is achieved in practice by the best controlled similar source, for new sources; and
the average emission limitation achieved by the best performing 12 percent of the existing sources.

The Clean Air Act requires that EPA promulgate most of the industrial surface coating MACT standards by the year 2000. As noted above, the categories listed for regulation are major sources. During the development of these regulations, EPA will evaluate whether non-major or "area" sources of the same type should also be regulated in accordance with the law.