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EPA To Help States Reduce Air Pollution, Actio Software Can Help

WASHINGTON – November 11, 2011 – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week announced a court ordered schedule to review and act on more than 40 state pollution reduction plans that will improve visibility in national parks and wilderness areas and protect public health from the damaging effects of the pollutants that cause regional haze.

Haze-forming pollution includes nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide – both of which are listed on EPA’s list of six common air pollutants along with ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide and lead.  In this effort, EPA is targeting the two oxides and particulate matter in general, all of which reduces visibility and poses health risks.  The onus of enforcement will fall on the states with EPA reviewing current processes and suggesting others.  The onus of compliance falls on companies whose manufacturing processes produce nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and particles as well as emitted volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants.

Software to support emissions compliance  In conjunction with EPA's announcement, Actio Corporation announced the widespread availability of software that can measure, track and control these substances before they become a liability under the scrutiny of EPA.  Actio Regulator is the proven on-demand software solution used by leading manufacturers to calculate, moderate and report on:

  1. chemical inventory
  2. usage
  3. emissions
  4. chemical mixtures
  5. scrap and waste
  6. incoming and outgoing distribution volumes

EPA’s action this week does not establish control requirements.  Regional haze plans approved by EPA over the coming year will lay out how Clean Air Act visibility goals that Congress mandated more than 30 years ago will be met.

Meeting EPA’s requirements  In many cases, controls have already been or are in the process of being installed to meet other state and federal requirements, including the recently issued Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which is expected to cut millions of tons of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in 27 states by 2014, meaning additional action may not be necessary. In addition, EPA intends to propose and finalize a rule by spring 2012 that addresses the determination that—for power plants—meeting the requirements in the cross-state rule will fulfill the best available retrofit technology requirements under the regional haze program. Rules that reduce emissions from motor vehicles, including a suite of clean diesel rules that cover a wide range of heavy-duty vehicles and equipment, will also go a long way to help improve visibility.

Natural areas including the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Mount Rainier, and the Shenandoah Valley are impacted by regional haze.  Pollutants that form haze include fine particle pollution as well as compounds that contribute to pollution formation such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and certain volatile organic compounds.

Supporting documentation  
More information on regional haze: http://www.epa.gov/visibility/actions.html
EPA’s list of HAPS: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/188polls.html
EPA’s list of VOCs: http://www.epa.gov/iaq/base/voc_master_list.html
Software support for emissions management (corporate page):  http://www.actio.net/default/index.cfm/products/actio-regulator/

About Actio Corporation
Since 1996, Actio Corporation has been helping companies and their supply chain networks to cost-effectively manage the complexities surrounding environmental compliance and the exchange of parts, substances and chemicals along the global manufacturing supply chain.  Actio’s supply chain materials information management solutions are delivered as SaaS and encourage Six Sigma or a “best practices” approach for analyzing and managing parts, substance and chemical information in today’s complex regulatory environment.  Actio solutions track raw material and part composition for compliance with global regulations including:  REACH, RoHS, WEEE. For more information about Actio software, please visit http://www.actio.net.  

Actio Corporation Press Contact:
Kathleen Hurley
Director, PR / Communications
603-433-2300, ext. 350
khurley@actio.net

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