A recent GHASP report that examines state investigations of industrial cooling towers indicates that emissions from these sources may have declined by as much as 90% between 2002 and 2005. The report is based on a review of 20 investigations conducted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) during 2004-2005, as compared to a previous review of 12 TCEQ investigations from 2002-2003.

“The first time we looked at the cooling towers issue, we found that cooling towers dramatically exceeded their accepted emissions rates,” said Meg Healy, GHASP research director. “However, in our latest review of state investigations, cooling towers appear to have improved significantly, with emissions levels that are considerably less than the accepted rates.”

The improvements may be due in part to new cooling tower regulations adopted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in 2003, and modified in 2004. These regulations are part of a state initiative to tighten controls on sources of highly reactive volatile organic compounds (HRVOCs) in the Houston area. HRVOCs have been found to play a major role in the rapid formation of ozone air pollution.

“This apparent turnaround suggests that many chemical plants and refineries made the improvements needed to comply with the new regulations,” Healy said. “It also indicates that the TCEQ may be taking a stronger stand in enforcing the rules.”

However, Healy said that TCEQ needs to address some problems that continue to affect permitting and enforcement of cooling tower emissions:

• In several instances, investigators suspected that cooling towers were polluting at rates higher than allowable limits, yet operators were not issued notices of violations.
• The TCEQ has not followed up on the cooling towers they investigated in 2002-2003, which showed the highest volume of emissions. The 2004-2005 investigations focused on facilities that had not been previously investigated.
• The new regulations apply only to cooling towers in HRVOC service, so cooling towers that are not in HRVOC service may suffer from the same inadequate monitoring and control of emissions as before.

“The progress in reducing cooling tower emissions demonstrates that when regulators scrutinize industry operations more closely, companies take action to reduce emissions,” Healy said. “This underscores the critical role of a strong regulatory program and appropriate investigation and enforcement.”

The full report, “Cooling Off: State Investigations Show Reductions in Cooling Tower Emissions,” is available on the GHASP website.