These belching smokestack pictures never get old, right? Uh, right?
On June 29, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued “Step 3” of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Tailoring Rule, confirming that the GHG emissions thresholds for permitting under the New Source Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Title V Operating Permits programs would remain unchanged from the levels set in July 2011.
PSD permit requirements will continue to apply for new facilities that emit more than 100,000 tons per year (tpy) of carbon dioxide equivalents and for existing facilities subject to PSD that intend to increase GHG emissions by 75,000 tpy. Title V operating permit requirements apply to new and existing facilities that emit more than 100,000 tpy of CO2 equivalents.
EPA says that its decision to maintain the current permitting thresholds is meant to allow states additional time to develop permitting expertise and capacity. So, we can guess that extending the permit requirements to smaller sources is in the agency’s future plans.
For further information about the GHG permitting program, visit www.epa.gov/nsr/ghgpermitting.html or drop us a note…