EPA LIMITS CHANCES FOR H2S HAP LISTING WITH PLAN TO CUT CAFO REPORTING

摘要

EPA is downplaying prospects that it will soon determine whether to list hydrogen sulfide (H2S) as a hazardous air pollutant (HAP)-a move that could force increased reporting and emissions control requirements on a range of industry sectors under the agency's air toxics program-even as officials unveiled Dec. 21 a proposal exempting concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) from reporting H2S releases under Superfund law. Taken together, the two actions could make it difficult for state regulators and environmentalists to push EPA to develop emissions rules for a gas emitted from a wide array of industries-from agricultural operations to paper mills and petroleum refineries-that EPA and others say can cause nervous system and brain damage.