It is time to complete your Air Emissions Inventory (EI) reporting for Calendar Year 2022. Every year, federal regulations require that all state agencies responsible for regulating air pollution collect emissions data from certain facilities. EI reporting opened on February 6, 2023 and is due by June 30, 2023 for Georgia facilities. All Title V facilities whose potential to emit (PTE) emissions is equal to or exceeds the following thresholds in Calendar Year 2022 are required to submit emissions data: Continue reading “Georgia Emissions Inventories for Calendar Year 2022”
Category: Air Quality
If your facility is operating under a state-issued Air Permit, then there are a number of permit requirements you must meet in order to stay in compliance. Permit requirements can consist of emission/operating limits, testing, monitoring, reporting, and recordkeeping as well as a long list of general provisions. Whether you have a Minor Source Permit, Synthetic Minor/Conditional Major Source Permit, or a Title V Major Source Permit, your permit will contain a combination of, if not all, these requirements.
If your facility has an Air Permit, there is always a possibility for your state agency to conduct an onsite inspection, sometimes unannounced, at any time. It is best to be prepared for an inspection to avoid any violations and potential fines.
Continue reading “Are You in Compliance with Your Air Permit?”
Every year, federal regulations require that all state agencies responsible for regulating air pollution collect emissions data from certain facilities in order to compile an Emission Inventory (EI). In Georgia, emissions data for Calendar Year 2021 are due by June 30, 2022. All Title V facilities whose potential to emit (PTE) emissions is equal to or exceeds the following thresholds in Calendar Year 2021 are required to submit emissions data: Continue reading “Georgia Emission Inventories for Calendar Year 2021”
One of the easiest ways for an EPA or state inspector to find violations is to compare your current operating equipment and emissions with the permitted equipment and emissions. If you do not keep your Air Quality Permit up to date, you run the risk of an inspector finding serious violations – which come with serious monetary fines. This applies to your facility whether your permit is a Title V, Synthetic Minor, or even True Minor operating permit.
If you operate under a Title V Air Quality Permit, you are required to renew your permit every 5 years, and likely have an annual inspection conducted by the EPA or state. With these measures in place, chances are your Air Quality Permit is staying up to date. However, anytime your facility installs new operating equipment or removes/decommissions old operating equipment you should reassess your air emissions. Continue reading “Is My Facility Fully Covered by My Air Quality Permit?”
On July 26, 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed revisions that would allow an operating facility to be reclassified from a major source of hazardous air pollutants under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act to an area source, thus removing the policy commonly known as “once in, always in”. This revision could take a lot of pressure for capital investments and permitting off of facilities that are eligible.
Indoor air quality is important for employee health and comfort. Poor air quality can lead to several negative health effects, including irritation, coughing, and fatigue. More serious health hazards such as occupational asthma, specific organ toxicity, or cancer can also occur, depending on the chemicals being handled on site. Because of this, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has developed permissible exposure limits (PELs) for several dusts, fumes, and vapors from various chemicals. These PELs, found in 29 CFR 1910.1000 Table Z-1, identify the maximum concentrations of different chemicals and materials an employee can be exposed over the course of an 8-hour work shift. Employees exposed to airborne concentrations of a material above a PEL may be at risk for serious health hazards.
Continue reading “When Should You Retest Your Indoor Air Quality?”
Every year, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) requires that certain Title V major source facilities submit their air emission data to the state. EPD submits this emission data to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of the National Emissions Inventory (NEI) released every three years. The NEI is a comprehensive and detailed estimate of air emissions comprising of data from State, Local, and Tribal air agencies across the country. This data is used by the agencies for rule development, attainment/nonattainment designations, and State Implementation Plans (SIPs) for attainment and maintenance of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Continue reading “2019 Air Emission Inventory Reporting – Georgia”
On September 6, 2019, the EPA published a proposed amendment to what is commonly referred to as the Plywood or Kiln MACT. This proposed amendment does not address lumber kiln emission standards. EPA has stated that the lumber kiln emission and work practice standards will be addressed in a later proposed amendment.
This proposed amendment to 40 CFR 63, Subpart DDDD: National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for Plywood and Composite Wood Products (PCWP) is based on the completion of the residual risk and technology review. The review has found that no revisions are necessary to the current controls in the original rule. The rule does propose removal of the startup, shutdown, and malfunctions plans as EPA has deemed this to be sufficiently addressed in the work practice standards of the regulation, as well as by the Clean Air Act (CAA).
The proposed rule is open to comments until October 21, 2019. All submissions must include Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2016-0243-0034. The EPA encourages that comments be submitted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal located at https://www.regulations.gov/.
If you need help identifying how this proposed rule change will affect your facility or need assistance with providing comments to the EPA, please contact us at (770) 263-6330 or cti@conversiontechnology.com.
The Emission Inventory for Georgia facilities is due to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GAEPD) by June 30, 2019. This is for the mandatory reporting of facility emissions that occurred in calendar year 2018. This is part of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) National Emissions Inventory (NEI). The NEI is developed during three-year cycle reporting periods, where all Title V (or Part 70) permitted sources will be required to report at least every third year. The other two years only comprise larger sources with greater emission potentials. The 2017 emission inventory required all Title V sources to report. The 2018 inventory due this year, and the 2019 inventory that will be due in 2020, is for the larger Title V sources only. Continue reading “Air Emission Inventory Due End of June”
Does your facility have an air quality permit? If so, when was the last time it was updated? If your facility is not a major source of emissions, you may have an air permit with no expiration date. This can lead to situations where the air permit is 10 years, 15 years, or even older. Have facility operations not changed at all during that time? Has new equipment been installed? Are you sure that new boiler/oven/paint booth/etc. that was installed was truly exempt from an air quality permit? When was the last time the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or your State’s environmental agency inspected your facility? If you are a major source of emissions, you probably see your inspector annually, but if you are not a major emitter, the inspections can be much more random and infrequent.
