EPA Limits Greenhouse Gas Permitting Mandates

Dalton, GA, May 28, 2010--The EPA has “tailored” its permitting programs to limit the number of facilities that would be required to obtain New Source Review and Title V operating permits based on greenhouse gas emissions, according to Frank Hurd of the Carpet and Rug Institute.

Beginning next January, facilities that must already obtain New Source Review permits for other pollutants will be required to include GHGs in their permits if they increase their emissions of the gases by at least 75,000 tons of carbon dioxide/year.

On July 1, 2011, EPA will extend the requirements to new construction projects that emit at least 100,000 tons of GHGs and existing facilities that increase their emissions by at least 75,000 tons per year, even if they do not exceed thresholds for other pollutants.

Sources that emit at least 100,000 tons of greenhouse gases per year will also be required to account for greenhouse gas emissions in their Title V operating permits starting next July.

Between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2013, EPA estimates about 550 sources will need to obtain operating permits for the first time due to their greenhouse gas emissions. Most of those sources will likely be solid waste landfills and industrial manufacturers, according to EPA.

New and upgraded facilities that are subject to the requirements will be required to install the "best available control technology" (BACT) to control their greenhouse gas emissions. EPA is preparing to issue guidance for industries about how it will define that standard.

The Clean Air Act's current thresholds for regulating "conventional pollutants" like lead, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide are 100 or 250 tons a year. But while those thresholds are appropriate for those pollutants, EPA says, they are not feasible for greenhouse gases, which are emitted in much larger quantities.