Many industrial, commercial, and municipal facilities release pollutants into the air. Air pollutants that are known or suspected to cause serious health problems, such as heavy metals, particles, and vapors from fuels and other sources, are considered to be toxic air pollutants.

In the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act (CAA), Congress directed EPA to regulate the release of toxic pollutants, referred to in the legislation as Hazardous Air Pollutants, or HAPs. There are 188 pollutants currently identified as HAPs, including certain volatile organic chemicals, pesticides, and herbicides. Rather than regulating each individual HAP, EPA regulates specific industrial source categories that emit HAPs. For each specified source category, EPA sets emissions limits designed to reduce the amount of HAPs emitted by facilities within that source category.

Do the CAA Air Toxics Provisions Apply to Your Community?

Yes, if your local government owns or operates any facility included on the list of regulated air toxics source categories. The source category list currently includes such types of facilities as municipal landfills, publicly owned treatment works, and facilities engaged in paint stripping (certain municipal fleet maintenance facilities, for example).

Actions Your Community Should Be Taking

If your local government owns or operates a facility that belongs to one of the regulated source categories you must comply with all of the applicable emissions reduction standards for that category. If the facility was already in operation when applicable standards were promulgated, you will have three years to achieve full compliance. If the facility can demonstrate that it achieved an "early reduction" of 90 percent of all its HAP emissions (or 95 percent of particulates) before the emissions limits were proposed, however, it may be eligible for a six-year compliance extension.

If you are planning to build a new facility that will belong to one of the regulated source categories, that facility must be in compliance with all applicable air toxics regulations at the time it begins operating.

You may not modify a regulated facility unless the standards applicable to existing facilities within that source category are met. A facility cannot be constructed or reconstructed unless it meets the applicable emissions standards established for new sources.

If your facility belongs to a listed source category for which EPA has not yet promulgated emissions standards, EPA will set standards for your facility on a case-by-case basis.

Additional Information

The CAA regulations are published in Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations Parts 1 to 99.

(See Resource Section for air contacts.)