With all the focus of green house gas regulation, it is easy to forget that new major federal releases are still coming at Oregon businesses.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently proposed new rules to further control mercury, referred to as Boiler Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT). The AOI Air & Energy Committee met May 25th to discuss the proposed rules and formulate an industry response.

The rule covers two types of sources. The first is boilers and process heaters that burn fossil fuels or used tires to produce heat or electricity. They are commonly found at industrial facilities, universities, commercial buildings and hospitals. The second type includes solid waste incinerators. The proposed rules may require expensive retrofitting on even fairly new units. There are estimated to be approximately 30 such affected units in the state of Oregon.