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| What does the law say about visible emissions?
Regulation 346 of the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) outlines industry emissions standards with respect to color and quantity of allowable emissions. These standards are included in Section 8 of Regulation 346; they state that no one may cause an emission on the visible emission chart of more than one. This is akin to saying that no one may emit anything that obstructs the passage of light by more than 20 percent. Certain exceptions do apply for companies that employ solid fuel as their method of energy generation. An example of a solid fuel industry would be the coke ovens used in steel manufacturing or coal-fired power plants. This type of industry may emit discharges of an opacity greater than one, however they may not exceed a number two opacity measurement. A number two opacity measurement represents air discharges that obstruct the passage of light between 20 and 40 percent.
By asking the public to monitor visible emissions we are trying to maintain a level of industry vigilance when it comes section eight of the Environmental Protection Act. Public awareness plays a key role in keeping section eight violations to a minimum. |
Regulation s. 346 gives the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) discretionary powers to require owner or operators of sources of air pollution to prepare to curtail operation of sources of air pollution when air pollution index reaches 32, and the discretion to require owners or operators of sources of air pollution to actually curtail their operations when air quality indexes reach the number 50 (the designated First Air Pollution Alert).
People can look at air quality index and if its really high, call the MOE and say,
"hey, there is some nasty stuff being emitted today and the air quality is really bad, don't you have discretionary powers to do something about it under s. 4 of Reg 346 of the Environmental Protection Act?"
During regular office hours (Monday-Friday, 9am-4:30pm) you can log a formal complaint by calling:
- MOE Hamilton District Office: 905-521-7650
Outside of regular office hours, call:
- MOE's 24 Hour Spills Action Centre: 1-800-268-6060.
The Spills Action Centre will route incident reports back to MOE's Hamilton District Office
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Emissions From Different Steel Plant Processes
Emission Source: |
Typical Emissions: |
Coal Storage |
TPM, PM10 |
Coking (i.e., coke batteries) |
TPM, PM10, PM2.5, VOC, PAH, Benzene, SOx, CO, CO2 |
Ironmaking (i.e. blast furnace stoves) |
TPM, PM10, PM2.5, VOC, NOx, SOx, CO, CO2 |
Basic Oxygen Furnace (i.e. meltshop, triplestack) |
VOC, CO, TPM, PM10, NOx |
Boilers |
TPM, PM10, PM2.5, VOC, NOx, SOx, CO, CO2 |
Reheat Furnaces |
TPM, PM10, PM2.5, VOC, NOx, SOx |
Flares |
TPM, PM10, VOC, SOx, CO, CO2 |
Acid Regeneration Plant |
HCl, Cl2 |
Sinter Plant |
TPM, PM10, PM2.5, VOC, NOx, SOx, CO2 |
TPM: Total Particulate Matter
SOx: Sulphur Oxides
PM10 & PM2.5 : Particles of less than or equal to 10µm or 2.5 (respectively) mass median aerodynamic diameter.
VOC: Volatile organic compounds
PAH: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
CO & CO2 : Carbon Monoxide and Carbon dioxide (respectively).
HCl: Hydrochloric Acid
Cl2 : Chlorine gas
NOx : Nitrogen oxides |
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