WASHINGTON - Some 23 PET resin and fiber producers, concentrated in North and South Carolina and Tennessee, are targeted in a proposed Clean Air Act rule intended to cut styrene and other hazardous emissions by nearly half. The proposed rule, released March 20, requires 61 polymer and styrene-based thermoplastics producers to control emissions from storage vessels, vents, waste-water operations and process contact cooling towers, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The rule would require reduction of ethylene glycol, acetaldehyde, styrene, butadiene, methanol and other chemicals by 11,800 tons, or 47 percent of that released domestically in a year, the EPA said.
