Proposed Rule for Air Emissions. According to the NSSGA’s eDigest & Washington Watch, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for changes to the air emissions database, also known as AP-42, is making its way through the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. The database compiles all air emission factors for a variety of air pollutants from specific industry sources, including particulate matter generated during aggregate processing.

The EPA says the proposed revisions would:

• Establish, for the first time, a one-hour nitrogen dioxide (NO2) standard at a level of 80 to 100 parts per billion (ppb);
• Retain the current annual average NO2standard of 53 parts per billion;
• Add NO2 monitoring within 50 meters of major roads in cities with at least 350,000 residents; and
• Continue monitoring area-wide NO2 concentrations in cities with at least 1 million residents.

The new revisions had an expected Federal Register publication date of late July, after which time the EPA will be accepting public comments for 60 days. Two public meetings will be held this month — one in the Washington, D.C. area and one in Los Angeles.

At Aggregates Manager press time, final decisions had not been reached on these issues. Updates on these and other issues affecting the aggregates industry will be posted in Aggbeat Online, the news section of our newly updated Web site, www.aggman.com.

Cement CO2 Emmissions Are Down. The world’s leading cement companies actually slowed the rate of growth of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions during the manufacturing process. Net emissions from cement production grew only 35 percent between 1990 and 2006, even though production climbed 53 percent during that time frame.