EPA Issues Long-Awaited PVC MACT Rule

ALEXANDRIA, Va.,  Feb. 14, 2012 – The Vinyl Institute today said that based on a preliminary review of the long, complex, final PVC Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) regulation, it is cautiously optimistic that the agency considered the full range of data and comments submitted on the proposal.

The industry will be conducting an extensive technical review of the final rule to understand it more fully.

MACT regulations are developed and regularly updated by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Air Act for each major industry, requiring all plants in a sector to improve to the level of the best performers in terms of controlling air emissions.  Leaders from across the vinyl industry joined together in urging EPA to develop a feasible, effective final rule.  EPA’s rule signed into effect yesterday replaces an earlier 2002 rule. 

VI members supported the development of the new rule, spending some 18 months and millions of dollars benchmarking emissions from vinyl resin producers as a basis for updating emissions limits.  The final rule appears to be based on the substantial data submitted by industry from those actual emissions tests and monitoring information performed according to EPA instructions and rules.

VI President Richard Doyle, said, “The Vinyl Institute represents a U.S. manufacturing industry that contributes $50 billion to the American economy, tens of thousands of high-paying jobs, a positive balance to export trade, and myriad products that people use every day.”   PVC producers monitor certain emissions continuously, report other chemicals on a daily basis, and comply with reporting requirements as low as one pound for a chemical leak.  EPA has added to the list of emissions that the industry has to monitor.

Doyle added, “PVC resin manufacturers in the United States have demonstrated their commitment to the environment over the past 20 years by reducing their emissions 80 percent or more even as PVC resin production increased 77 percent domestically.”

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has stated many times that EPA will support industries that demonstrate good environmental performance.  The U.S. PVC industry fits that description, VI said.

The Vinyl Institute represents the leading manufacturers involved in the production of PVC/vinyl in the United States, and promotes the value of PVC and vinyl products to society. 

For more information, contact:

Allen Blakey
Vice President of Industry and Government Affairs
The Vinyl Institute
571-970-3283
ablakey@vinylinfo.org