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Statement of Need: The municipal waste combustor rules will establish emission limits for dioxins, particulate matter, cadmium, lead, mercury, SO2, HC1, and NOx. These rules will require maximum achievable control technology (MACT) as defined by section 129 to be installed on all applicable facilities to reduce emissions of the above pollutants.

Alternatives: The Clean Air Act specifies that the emission guidelines and the new source performance standards be based on MACT and that MACT for existing sources can be no less stringent than the average emission limitations achieved by the best-performing 12 percent of units and/or new sources can be no less stringent than the average emission limitations achieved by the best-performing similar source. The EPA has reviewed all alternatives analyzed to assure they are no less stringent than the MACT "floor." ^PFor the industrial-commercial waste incinerator standard and other solid waste incinerator standards on control alternatives have not been developed or analyzed at this time, and the potential cost and benefits are unknown. It is anticipated that the same type of controls used under the municipal waste combustor standard will be evaluated for industrial-commercial waste incinerators and other solid waste incinerators.

Anticipated Costs and Benefits: The annualized cost for the new source performance standards for new municipal waste combustors will be less than $43 million. The annualized cost for the emission guidelines for existing municipal waste combustors will be less than $445 million. Dioxin, particulate matter, cadmium, and lead emissions will be reduced by more than 99 percent. Mercury emissions will be reduced by 85 percent, sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid emissions by 95 percent, and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by 45 percent. The quantified benefits associated with the rule and the guidelines are in excess of $266 million per year, but the benefit assessment is incomplete at this time. In particular, the current benefit estimate does not include benefits for the control of dioxin, mercury, lead, cadmium, NOx, or carbon monoxide. No evaluation of these pollutants is possible at this time. ^PFor the industrial-commercial waste incinerator standard and the other solid waste incinerator standard, no control alternatives have been developed or analyzed at this time, and the potential cost is unknown. It is anticipated that the same type of controls used for the municipal waste combustor standard will be evaluated for industrial-commercial and other solid waste incinerator standards.

Risks: Municipal waste combustors are among the larger sources of dioxin emissions in the country. Because of the adverse effects of dioxin emissions on the public health and ecosystems, it is one of the Agency's highest priorities to minimize public exposure to dioxin.