Taconite ore processors renew EPA paperwork for cleaner air—meh
Published Date: 2/28/2025
Notice
Summary
The EPA is asking to keep collecting information from taconite iron ore processors to make sure they follow air pollution rules. This renewal won’t add new costs or big changes but helps keep the environment safe. If you want to share your thoughts, you’ve got until March 31, 2025, to speak up!
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 3 costs, 0 mixed.
Mandatory Reporting and Testing Kept In Place
The EPA is renewing the information collection that requires taconite iron ore processors to submit initial notifications, performance tests, semiannual reports, and to keep records. The renewal covers 7 respondents, with a total estimated burden of 3,520 hours per year and total estimated costs of $19,100,000 per year (including $18,600,000 annualized capital or O&M costs).
Renewal Reflects Increased Testing and O&M Costs
The renewal updates burden estimates to reflect increases of 2,037 hours in annual respondent burden and adjusts performance testing from 2.7 tests/year to 7 tests/year (adding ~300 hours). It also reflects increased capital/operation & maintenance costs tied to the 2023 rule amendments, including DSI and ACI/Venturi scrubber O&M costs, and reclassifies non-labor performance test costs as capital costs.
Which Plants Are Covered by the Rule
The NESHAP applies to existing and new taconite facilities that emit 9.07 megagrams (10 tons) or more per year of any single hazardous air pollutant (HAP) or 22.68 megagrams (25 tons) or more per year of combined HAPs. Affected sources include ore crushing and handling, ore dryers, indurating furnaces, and finished pellet handling operations, and the rule uses particulate matter (PM) as a surrogate for HAP metals.
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