Hazardous air pollutant

The National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, also using the acronym NESHAP, are emissions standards set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency—EPA. The standards are for air pollutants not covered by National Ambient Air Quality Standards—NAAQS, that may cause an increase in fatalities or in serious, irreversible, or incapacitating illness.

The standards for a particular source category require the maximum degree of emission reduction that the EPA determines to be achievable, which is known as the Maximum Achievable Control Technology—MACT standards. These standards are authorized by Section 112 of the 1970 Clean Air Act and the regulations are published in 40 CFR Parts 61 and 63.

The USEPA regulates the following hazardous air pollutants via the MACT standards:

For all listings above which contain the word "compounds" and for glycol ethers, the following applies: Unless otherwise specified, these listings are defined as including any unique chemical substance that contains the named chemical (i.e., antimony, arsenic, etc.) as part of that chemical's infrastructure.

Sources: USEPA's original list & Modifications

Most air toxics originate from human-made sources, including mobile sources (e.g., cars, trucks, buses) and stationary sources (e.g., factories, refineries, power plants), as well as indoor sources (e.g., building materials and activities such as cleaning). There are two types of stationary sources that generate routine emissions of air toxics:

"Major" sources are defined as sources that emit 10 or more tons per year of any of the listed toxic air pollutants, or 25 or more tons per year of a mixture of air toxics. These sources may release air toxics from equipment leaks, when materials are transferred from one location to another, or during discharge through emission stacks or vents

"Area" sources consist of smaller-size facilities that release lesser quantities of toxic pollutants into the air. Area sources are defined as sources that do not emit more than 10 tons per year of a single air toxic or more than 25 tons per year of a combination of air toxics. Though emissions from individual area sources are often relatively small, collectively their emissions can be of concern - particularly where large numbers of sources are located in heavily populated areas.

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