WASHINGTON—The proposal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reclassify tire-derived fuel and other nontraditional, nonhazardous fuels as solid wastes pleases environmentalists—and just about no one else.
Representatives from the tire and cement industries, and state solid waste management officials, solidly line up against the plan, judging from comments submitted to the EPA on the proposed rule. They maintain the regulations would end the use of tires as fuel.
The agency’s three proposed rules—totaling 860 manuscript pages—aim to reduce emissions of mercury and other pollutants from industrial, commercial and institutional boilers and solid waste incinerators. If it becomes law, the regulations would redefine TDF and other nonhazardous materials as solid waste, which means any unit that burned them would have to be classified as solid waste incinerators under the Clean Air Act.
Representatives from the tire and cement industries, and state solid waste management officials, solidly line up against the plan, judging from comments submitted to the EPA on the proposed rule. They maintain the regulations would end the use of tires as fuel.
The agency’s three proposed rules—totaling 860 manuscript pages—aim to reduce emissions of mercury and other pollutants from industrial, commercial and institutional boilers and solid waste incinerators. If it becomes law, the regulations would redefine TDF and other nonhazardous materials as solid waste, which means any unit that burned them would have to be classified as solid waste incinerators under the Clean Air Act.
