The EPA this week announced final revisions to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (or NESHAPs for short) and New Source Performance Standards that apply to bulk gasoline storage facilities.
Gasoline storage facilities are subject to the NESHAPs because gasoline vapors typically contain substantial amounts of hazardous air pollutants, including benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, and xylene.
The revised NESHAPs that apply to the Allegheny County operators are part of a larger EPA effort to update standards relevant to gasoline storage and distribution facilities.
There are four such facilities in our region that double as major sources of air pollution:
LHT – Neville Island Terminal on Neville Island
Sunoco Logistics – Pittsburgh Terminal in Lawrenceville
Buckeye Terminals – Coraopolis Terminal in Moon Township and
Delmont Terminal in Salem Township, Westmoreland County
“The revised NESHAPs will require some changes to the standards that apply at the four facilities, and that will reduce the facilities’ emissions of both hazardous air pollutants and smog-forming volatile organic compounds,” GASP senior attorney John Baillie explained.
They include:
a reduction in the maximum emission rate for total organic compounds during tank loading from 80 milligrams/liter of gas to 35 milligrams/liter
required annual leak detection using leak-detecting instruments and
“The revised NESHAPs will also require that the measured vapor tightness of older, large gasoline storage tanks be increased, but the four facilities are already subject to the increased standard,” Baillie added.
The revised NESHAPs will go into effect on July 8, 2024.