JULY AIR QUALITY ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING RESCHEDULED

The Oklahoma Air Quality Advisory Council meeting scheduled for 9:00 a.m. at the DEQ headquarters, Wednesday, July 15, 2009 was cancelled. The proposed rule changes that were to have been considered at this meeting will be considered at the next Council meeting along with the annual update of federal regulations incorporated by reference in OAC 252:100, Air Pollution Control.

The following rule changes that were recommended for adoption at the April 2009 Council meeting were adopted by the Environmental Quality Board at its August 24, 2009 meeting in Tulsa.

Revocation of Subchapter 15, Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Devices. The Department actually lacks the legal authority to enforce this rule. Revocation of the rule will not change the federal prohibition on tampering with or removing emission control equipment from motor vehicles in Oklahoma.

Appendix E, Primary Ambient Air Quality Standards, and Appendix F, Secondary Ambient Air Quality Standards. The change will make Oklahoma’s standards for lead as protective as the new national standards. The new, tighter standards reduce the primary and secondary standards from 1.50 to 0.15 micrograms per cubic meter, and change the form of the measurement from a quarterly average to a rolling 3-month average.

DEQ has recently published revised rules for all its programs. These rules include recent changes that became effective in July 2009, and are available on the DEQ website at http://deq.state.ok.us/mainlinks/deqrules.htm.

The next Council meeting will be held at the DEQ headquarters in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, October 21, 2009.

AP-42 EMISSION FACTOR UPDATES

(As of 8-14-2009 the information on AP-42 updates from EPA was unchanged since March, 2009)

Currently, EPA lists three chapters under review. Comments on Chapter 2, Section 4: Municipal Solid Waste Landfills, were due by May 5, 2009. The comment period on Chapter 4, Section 12: Manufacture of Rubber Products, closed on February 2, 2009. Chapter 15: Ordance Detonation, was reopened with comments due by February 20, 2009. Instructions for using draft sections that have completed the comment period but are not designated as “final” are available on the webpage listed below.

Find more AP-42 information on EPA’s TTN-CHIEF Bulletin Board at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/ap42/index.html.

APPENDIX O REVIEW DOCUMENT ON DEQ WEBPAGE

The 2009 review of the Appendix O Toxic Air Contaminants (TAC) list has been posted to the Air Quality webpage. This document contains a discussion of each of the TACs on the list and information about monitored levels in Oklahoma. AQD currently operates five air toxic monitoring sites in Oklahoma and the amount of data available is steadily increasing. The annual review document is planned to be the first of several changes and additions to the air toxic portion of the webpage: http://www.deq.state.ok.us/aqdnew/toxics/index.htm

CROMERR Is Coming!

What is CROMERR? It’s the Cross-Media Electronic Reporting Regulation, a set of standards established by EPA for electronic submission of reports. Beginning in 2010, all reports submitted to DEQ by email, FTP transfer, or online web form must comply with these standards. This applies to all documents and reports that would normally require a signature if submitted as hardcopy. Currently, the Air Quality Division maintains two web applications for online reporting that are affected: Redbud, for reporting annual air emissions inventory, and the Excess Emissions Reporting Tool.

In order to report annual emissions inventory or excess emissions online, users must register with the Oklahoma Electronic Reporting System (ERS). This is a single portal for all document submission for both state and federal programs. The registration process is designed to establish the identity of the registrant and their affiliation with facilities and/or companies that submit reports to DEQ. Once registered, the user will be issued tools with which they can electronically sign any submitted document. This provides security and legal reliability for the both the user and DEQ.

At this time, submittal of emissions inventories or excess emissions reports through the web applications is not mandatory. If you wish to submit these reports via hard copy or disk you may do so. In the case of emissions inventories, you may use the Redbud application to prepare the inventory, then print and sign the document, and mail it to DEQ. However, to avail yourself of any sort of internet type submittal, it will be a federal requirement that you use the CROMERR system of verification.

For more information, or to register with the Oklahoma ERS, click the Oklahoma CROMERR Information link on the DEQ website, or go to http://www.cromerr.net/.

LBP PROGRAM HAS INCREASE IN ACTIVITY

The Lead-Based Paint Program (LBPP) in Oklahoma is experiencing an upswing in the number of exams given, course completions and abatements performed. So far this year, the Air Quality Division has given 30 exams. By comparison only 7 exams were given in 2008, 12 in 2007, and 23 in 2006 for the same period of time (January -August).

So far this year we have received notices of 12 abatements. This is up from 8 in 2008 and 6 in 2007. There has also been an increase in the total number of course completions over previous years.

FALL 2009 SMOKE SCHOOL

The Air Quality Division, in conjunction with CENSARA, is again offering the Visible Emissions Evaluation Training Courses for the fall of 2009. These courses will be offered at two locations: Oklahoma City (September 22, 23, 24) and Tulsa (October 20, 21, 22). In addition to the field certifications, a classroom lecture describing visible emissions evaluation procedures will be offered at both locations.

These courses will meet EPA Method 9, and Method 22 training requirements. Individuals successfully qualifying at the field certification will be certified to make valid visible emission readings. The specific information for both courses is listed below.

Please note that the lecture and field certification sites for OKC have changed.

Registration information is available from:
Ron Hensley
405-378-7377

Directions to the training sites are available on the ETA website:
www.eta-is-opacity.com

CHANGES TO EXCESS EMISSIONS REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

On January 21, 2009, the Air Quality Advisory Council ("Council") voted in favor of modifying ODEQ's excess emissions rule set forth in OAC 252:100-9. The new rule may be found at www.deq.state.ok.us. It became effective on July 1, 2009. The version of the rule approved by the Council results in the following significant changes to the current excess emissions rule:

Affirmative Defenses Established – *The new rule establishes affirmative defenses that may relieve industry of monetary penalties associated with excess emissions during periods of startup, shutdown, or malfunction. These affirmative defenses may be asserted by a facility at any time.

Reduction in Immediate Notice Reporting Requirements – The new rule reduces the amount of immediate notice reporting required by industry by providing exceptions to the immediate notice requirements for certain (low quantity) excess emissions that are not likely to pose a significant threat to human health or the environment. The exceptions to the immediate notice requirements also extend to all emissions that are the result of startup or shutdown activities.

Additional Time to Submit Written Reports – The new rule triples the amount of time facilities have to submit written reports for excess emissions to the ODEQ. The old rule allows a facility ten (10) days to submit a written report and the new rule allows up to thirty (30) days for the written report to be submitted to ODEQ.

Avoids Duplicative Reporting Requirements – The new rule potentially decreases the reporting burden on industry by providing a mechanism by which duplicative reporting may be avoided.

Maintenance Activities – The new rule does not contain an affirmative defense for excess emissions related to maintenance activities. Maintenance activities are typically activities for which emissions may be anticipated and planned; as such, the emissions related to maintenance activities should be accounted for in a facility’s air quality permit. Recognizing that many air quality permits do not currently account for emissions resulting from maintenance activities, the agency intends to provide a six month grace period (beginning July 1, 2009) for those facilities to submit applications for permit modifications that account for maintenance emissions.

The additions of these activities to Title V facility permits, particularly Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permits, can necessitate modeling and Best Available Control Technology (BACT) review. Short-term emissions from maintenance activities can consume PSD increment and adversely impact National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) compliance. The inclusion of the maintenance emissions are also considered a relaxation of the emission limits (hourly and/or annual) that were relied on for air quality assessments in the initial permit action. Therefore, facilities are required to evaluate their emissions for NAAQS compliance and potential consumption of increment as they would have done for any new construction permit with emissions greater than modeling thresholds. For BACT, facilities will need to work with the Air Quality Division to arrive at reasonable emission limits and or work practice standards for operations under maintenance events.

ODEQ is charged with the responsibility to routinely review increment consumption. Our guidance for new Title V sources and modifications of Title V sources with emission increases greater than 100 TPY, but still less than PSD thresholds, is that the facilities evaluate for NAAQS compliance and against the increment consumption levels. Any Title V facility requesting a relaxation of these type of permit limits to include routine excess emission events, should submit modeling which demonstrates continued NAAQS compliance and increment consumption within allowable levels. Once the ODEQ identifies an increment violation, all contributors are held to account for achieving the necessary reductions whether they were knowingly contributors or not. When permit relaxations affect State BACT limits, facilities will again need to work with the Air Quality Division to arrive at reasonable emission limits and/or work practice standards for operations under maintenance events.

*The affirmative defenses established by this rule for startup and shutdown activities do not apply to facilities with permits that already take into account emissions from startup and shutdown activities.

Contact List

About AQD

Air Quality Education

Fact Sheets

Search DEQ

DEQ Calendar of Events

DEQ Env. Education

Publications

DEQ Address

News Releases

Environmental License Tag

DEQ Forms

Permits for public review