With the issuance of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s (EPD) 2022 Industrial General Stormwater Permit (IGP), several changes were made to stormwater monitoring requirements.
Continue reading “NetDMR Account Creation, Facility Association, & DMR Submittal”
Category: Regulatory Updates
Non-attainment area is an area considered to have air quality worse than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards as defined in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970.
Non-attainment areas must have and implement a plan to meet the standard, or risk losing some forms of federal financial assistance.
An area may be a non-attainment area for one pollutant and an “attainment area” for others. In October 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the approval of Georgia’s request to have the Atlanta Nonattainment area redesignated to attainment status for ozone Nation Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). The Atlanta Nonattainment Area includes the counties of Bartow, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnnett, and Henry. Continue reading “Redesignation of the Atlanta Nonattainment Area to Attainment for the 2015 Ozone Standards”
Upcoming changes with the release of the GA EPD 2022 stormwater permit that may affect/impact your facility: Continue reading “What to expect with the release of the 2022 GA Stormwater Permit”
What is the General Stormwater Permit?
Most facilities that conduct industrial activity exposed to stormwater are familiar with the NPDES Industrial Storm Water General Permit and are aware that it is issued by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD). The current General Stormwater Permit was issued in March 2017 and will continue through May 2022. This is the earliest effective date for reissuance of the permit. Facilities with a permit are authorized to discharge stormwater associated with industrial activity to the waters of the state of Georgia in accordance with the limitations, monitoring requirements and other conditions set forth in the permit.
What is the Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan? Continue reading “Staying in Compliance with Your General Stormwater 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.
On January 31, 2013, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized amendments to the national emission standards (NESHAP) for the control of hazardous air pollutants (HAP) at major sources from new and existing industrial, commercial, and institutional (ICI) boilers and process heaters (Boiler MACT). Subsequently, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit), in a decision issued in July 2016, remanded several of the emission standards to the EPA based on the court’s review of the EPA’s approach to setting those standards. In response to these remands, this action proposes to amend several numeric emission limits for new and existing boilers and process heaters consistent with the court’s opinion and set compliance dates for these new emission limits. Continue reading “EPA’s Proposed Revisions to Emission Limits for Boiler MACT”
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GAEPD) have issued a draft of the “Air Permit Application & Annual Permit Fees” manual and associated proposed rules update. The fees manual is released annually detailing application fees, annual permit fees, and procedures for calculating the fees and emissions for facilities. With this change, the annual air permit fees will increase effective July 1, 2020 and will apply to the fees due on September 1, 2020. Additionally, the fees for air permit applications will increase effective March 1, 2021. This proposed change is still open for comment. The GAEPD held an online public meeting on Monday, March 30, 2020 at 2:00 pm. There were no comments received during the meeting. Written comments can still be submitted, but must be received by 4:30 PM on Monday, April 6, 2020. The proposed updates will then be voted on at the Board of Natural Resources meeting on May 19, 2020.
Continue reading “Georgia EPD Increases Air Permit Fees”
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GAEPD) has issued a draft “Air Permit Application & Annual Permit Fees” manual. Under this manual, the annual permit fees will be increasing, effective for fee payments this year. The fees for NSPS and Synthetic Minor Sources will be increasing by $500 and Title V Sources will now have an additional annual maintenance fee of $800. The GAEPD is also proposing to double the Air Permit Application fees, beginning March 1, 2021.
The GAEPD is hosting an online public hearing on these proposed amendments on Monday, March 30, 2020 at 2:00 pm. We at CTI will be participating in the public hearing and will post updates accordingly.
Check back with our blog for updates.
If your facility is a Large Quantity Generator (LQG), meaning it generated more than 2,200 lbs of hazardous waste and/or 2.2 lbs of acute hazardous waste per month during 2019, the upcoming deadline applies to you.
LQG are required to complete a Hazardous Waste Report (also called the Biennial Report) and a Hazardous Waste Reduction Plan for waste generated in 2019 by March 2, 2020.
Conversion Technology Inc. (CTI) is an environmental, health, and safety consulting firm with over 30 years experience covering the above reports and other aspects of permitting, and environmental, health, and safety regulatory compliance. If you need help preparing the waste reports, please contacts us at 770-263-6330 or cti@conversiontechnology.com.
On September 9, 2019, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released an Air Plan Approval that will grant approval of proposed changes to Georgia’s Nonattainment New Source Review (NNSR) permitting rules, proposed in Georgia’s July 2, 2018 SIP revision. The proposed changes have already been implemented by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA EPD), and this Air Plan Approval is the EPA saying that it is okay for the GA EPD to continue implementation and begin enforcement.
Continue reading “EPA Nonattainment New Source Review Updates – Georgia”