Webinar will assist in MACT compliance

Following the launch of its Maximum Achievable Control Technology compliance tool myMACT.com, Dixon Environmental will hold a webinar titled Understanding EPA's New Boiler GACT (Generally Achievable control Technologies) & MACT Rules, which will include a demonstration of the free online solution.

The free, one-hour webinar slated for 2 p.m. ET Tuesday, May 10, will discuss the final MACT rules, released in February and imposed in March, and how to determine who is affected. The EPA estimates that about 200,000 facilities will be impacted by the February rules, which include standards for four source categories—major source industrial, commercial and institutional boilers and process heaters; area source industrial, commercial and institutional boilers; commercial and industrial solid waste incinerators; and sewage sludge incinerators—as well as an updated definition of solid waste.

A number of MACT compliance webinars have been held since the release, which eased biomass industry fears in some areas, but not in others. While a new subcategory of major source boilers and process heaters combines coal and biomass units, thereby reducing some pollutant limits, the biomass power industry is still concerned about meeting the limits for mercury and dioxins, according to Biomass Power Association President and CEO Bob Cleaves. Still, he said it does ease concerns considerably, specifically in the elimination of emission standards for certain small, power-producing biomass boilers.

Cleaves said the final rules represented a substantial learning curve by the EPA since the initial proposal released in April 2010, but do not include the sweeping changes the biopower industry had hoped for.

To see the rules, click here, and to register for the Dixon webinar, click here.