AF&PA Disappointed in Court’s Remand of EPA 2017 Risk and Technology Review (RTR) of the Existing Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) Standards for Pulp Mill Combustion Sources

CONTACT: Lindsay Murphy / Tim Ebner
(202) 463-2587, comm@afandpa.org

WASHINGTON – Earlier today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a 2-1 decision remanding the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2017 Risk and Technology Review (RTR) of the existing Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards for Pulp Mill Combustion Sources. American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA) President and CEO Heidi Brock issued the following statement in response:

“AF&PA is very disappointed with the court’s decision remanding EPA’s 2017 RTR standards for Pulp Mill Combustion Sources, which EPA’s extensive modeling and risk assessment show already protect public health with an ample margin of safety. Reopening the 2001 MACT rule creates regulatory uncertainty by allowing past decisions to be reconsidered many years after the statutory timeframes for challenges — and after significant compliance investments have been made.

“As AF&PA and EPA argued, the RTR process is designed to ensure existing standards adequately protect public health and reflect the latest control technology -- exactly what the EPA found in the 2017 RTR. This decision perpetuates regulatory uncertainty for an industry that has a strong record of emissions reductions and sustainable manufacturing, and that made significant investments to control its emissions to meet MACT standards. AF&PA is still evaluating the opinion and next steps.”