Air pollution issues tend to revolve around regulations that define what facilities may and may not do, and how they demonstrate compliance with rules. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about air quality regulation and permits as well as, timely answers to them.
Who establishes federal air regulations?
The EPA is responsible for establishing standards for ambient air quality, as well as for air pollution emissions, criteria pollutants, and the industries that generate them.
What is the CAA (Clean Air Act and Amendments of 1990)?
The CAA is the primary basis for federal regulation of air pollutants. CAA programs vary widely, from attainment of ambient air quality standards to introducing market-based controls for sulfur dioxide as a cause of acid rain to promoting research on air quality impacts on the Great Lakes. The following discussion focuses on those regulations that have the most direct impact on building owners and managers.
Originally, the central goal of the CAA was to identify criteria pollutant levels and to ensure that they were achieved nationwide. The act required a mixture of federal and state programs. The EPA sets emission standards, requires permits, identifies criteria pollutants, and sets the concentrations that are the criteria of clean air. States, or sometimes counties or other regions, are responsible for regulating local industries to meet the EPA’s ambient standards. Therefore, each state’s regulations are different, addressing industries active in their jurisdictions.
What are the NSPSs (New Source Performance Standards)?
The EPA defines NSPSs for different industries that are sources of the criteria pollutants under 40 CFR 60. Although most NSPSs are targeted at industry, boilers with heat output greater than 100 MMBtu/hr and smaller units with heat outputs between 10 and 100 MMBtu/hr that were built after June 9, 1989, are covered by NSPSs for Commercial-Industrial-Institutional Steam Generating Units (refer to 40 CFR 60 D[b] and D[c]). These NSPSs define emissions standards for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter, as well as reporting and record-keeping requirements. Building owners with a boiler installed after 1988 should review their files for compliance.
What are MACT (maximum achievable control technology) emission standards?
MACT emission standards for hazardous air pollutants are also federal emission standards. As with the NSPS, most of the standards are directed at industry. However, in some cases tenants of commercial buildings can be affected. For example, dry cleaners are subject to a MACT standard. Eventually, the EPA will also set MACT or GACT (generally available control technology) emission standards for smaller area sources of hazardous air pollutants. The EPA will focus on 30 or more pollutants that account for 90 percent of area source emissions and reduce emissions to lower the incidence of cancer from HAPs by 75 percent. Commercial establishments such as gas stations, small printers, automobile repair shops, and others may be affected.
What are the NAAQSs (National Ambient Air Quality Standards)?
The EPA establishes NAAQSs for the criteria pollutants. It sets ambient concentrations that will protect health and welfare; if concentrations are below those levels, the air will be healthy to breathe and the environment will be in good condition. The EPA then designates nonattainment areas where the standards are not being maintained and works with the states to control pollution in those areas.
To decide what controls are needed where, the EPA measures the air at thousands of stations across the nation. Data from these stations are used to characterize areas as either attainment, nonattainment, or unclassifiable. The last category, where data are not available for the area, is treated as if it were attainment. Nonattainment areas must be brought into attainment, but the EPA must allow the state to decide how. The EPA also reviews states’ air quality regulations and can either approve them or disapprove them.
Who is required to obtain air permits?
Air permits are required for major sources, defined by the quantity of air emissions they produce. The emission level that defines a major source varies by the permit and pollutant. Depending on the industry, criteria pollutant emissions of 250 (attainment area) or 100 tons/yr (nonattainment area) qualify a facility as a major source for PSD (Prevention of Significant Deterioration) permitting. A facility is major source under Title V if it has criteria pollutant emissions of 100 ton/year or lower emissions of VOCs or nitrogen dioxide in ozone nonattainment areas. A source of hazardous air pollutants is major if it emits 25 tons/yr of total hazardous air pollutants or 10 tons/yr of any one hazardous air pollutant.
Most commercial buildings are not classified as major sources, subject to Title V permitting requirements. However, some building complexes could be considered major sources for Title V permitting, especially those in ozone nonattainment areas.
If your complex has emergency generators, air emissions from maintenance shops, or other emissions, the boiler size classified as a major source would be smaller. In some cases, a paint spray booth or large emergency generator by itself could make a complex a major source.
Who requires and issues air permits?
PSD construction permits and Title V Operating Permits are often thought to be required by the EPA. In most cases they are actually issued by the state. These permits are federally enforceable, however, and are more of a compliance risk than specific state or local requirements.
What are typical state and local air regulations?
States have developed their own air pollution regulations, in some cases with the review and approval of the EPA. In some areas, cities, counties, or special air pollution control districts have taken this responsibility. In other areas, local agencies have regulations that apply in addition to state requirements. A facility in Chicago could be subject to separate regulations of the City of Chicago, Cook County, and the State of Illinois. Other areas have combinations of the above approaches. Nassau County, a suburb of New York City, administers the regulations of the State of New York and coordinates enforcement, but Westchester County, another suburb of New York City, has separate regulations in addition to those of the state. Check with your local, county, and state officials concerning specific requirements for your facility.
This article is excerpted from BOMI Institute’s Clean Air and OSHA Compliance Reference Guide. For more information, please call 1-800-235-2664 or visit www.bomi.org.
