National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants From the Portland Cement Manufacturing Industry

The EPA is taking final action today on certain amendments to the national emission standards for the portland cement manufacturing industry, which were originally promulgated on June 14, 1999 under the authority of section 112 of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The amendments make improvements to the implementation of the emission standards, primarily in the areas of applicability, testing, and monitoring where issues and questions were raised since promulgation of the rule. On April 5, 2002, the EPA promulgated amendments to the national emission standards for the portland cement manufacturing industry as a direct final rule with a parallel proposal. On July 2, 2002, we withdrew certain provisions in the direct final rule in order to assess adverse comments. This action promulgates the amendments previously withdrawn based on the parallel proposal published on April 5, 2002.