Category: Industry News

DC Circuit Court of Appeals Vacates Ace Rule

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On January 19, 2021, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule. The Court concluded, “Because promulgation of the ACE Rule and its embedded repeal of the Clean Power Plan rested critically on a mistaken reading of the Clean Air Act, we vacate the Ace Rule and remand to the Agency. We also vacate the amendments to the implementing regulations that extend the compliance timeline.” A copy of the Court’s decision is available here.

UPDATE: On February 12, 2021, EPA issued a memorandum to all EPA Regional Administrators to clarify that states do not have any obligations under the ACE Rule or the previous Clean Power Plan.  A copy of the EPA memorandum is available here.

EPA Publishes Revisions to the Civil Monetary Penalty Inflation Adjustment Rule

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On December 23, 2020, EPA published revisions to 40 CFR Part 19, Civil Monetary Penalty Inflation Adjustment Rule in the Federal Register which increased violations to the Clean Air Act from $101,439 per day per violation to $102,638 per day per violation. The rule also increases the monetary penalty for violations to the Clean Water Act from $55,800 to $56,460. This civil penalty applies to violations that occurred after November 2, 2015, where penalties are assessed on or after December 23, 2020. The rule becomes effective on December 23, 2020. A copy of the rule is available here.

 

Alberta Publishes Draft Revisions to 1998 CEMS Code

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On October 13, 2020, Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP) published a second draft of the 1998 Continuous Emission Monitoring System (CEMS) Code.  On the same day, AEP hosted a webinar to provide information concerning the proposed revisions to the CEMS Code.  AEP intends to issue the final CEMS Code after January 1, 2021 and the CEMS Code would tentatively become effective on January 1, 2022.  A copy of the draft CEMS Code, supporting documents as well as a recording of the AEP webinar is available at www.alberta.ca/continuous-emissions-monitoring.aspx.  A brochure summarizing the significant revisions to the CEMS code is available here.

EPA Publishes Updates Correcting Inaccurate Testing Provisions, Outdated Procedures, and More

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On October 7, 2020, the EPA published updates in the Federal Register to correct inaccurate testing provisions and outdated procedures, as well as adding approved alternative procedures which allow more flexibility to testers. It includes performance specifications in 40 CFR 51, 60, 61, and 63.

One noteworthy addition includes the clarification of response time from “must not exceed 2 minutes” to “must not exceed 240 seconds” in 40 CFR 60, Appendix B, PS4B, section 4.5.

There is also a stipulation on the 40 CFR 60, Appendix F, Procedure 1, section 5.2.3(2) the criteria for CGAs as applicable to diluent monitors is included. For sites subject to 40 CFR 63, Subpart LLL, the units of measure in Equations 12 (THC operating limits), 13, 17, 18, and 19 are revised for clarity.

The rule is effective on December 7, 2020. Please review the rule under 85 FR 63394 for more details.

If you have any questions on the recent update or how they may impact your facility, contact VIM COMPAS at COMPAS@vimtechnologies.com. The VIM COMPAS Team is ready to assist you.

EPA Signs Final Revisions to 40 CFR Part 63

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EPA Seal

On October 1, 2020, the EPA Administrator signed final revisions to 40 CFR Part 63, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Source Categories.

The rule will become effective sixty (60) days after publication in the Federal Register.  The rule is designed to formalize EPA’s 2018 guidance memorandum which overturned EPA previous policy of “once in, always in” (OIAI), which is often referred to as the May 1995 Seitz Memorandum.

The rule also finalizes revisions to the Part 63 General Provisions clarifying “that a major source can be reclassified to area source status at any time upon reducing its potential to emit (PTE) hazardous air pollutants (HAP) to below the major source thresholds (MST) of 10 tons per year (tpy) of any single HAP and 25 tpy of any combination of HAP.”

Additionally, the final rule specifies compliance dates, notification, and recordkeeping provisions applicable to sources electing to reclassify to area source status or to sources reverting back to major source status.  A copy of the prepublication version of the rule is available here.

Clean Air Markets Division Updates Part 75 Policy Manual

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On September 28, 2020 the Clean Air Markets Division (CAMD) posted an update to the Part 75 Emissions Monitoring Technical Q&A (also known as the ‘Part 75 Policy Manual’) that contains five new questions and two revised questions. You can access the new and updated questions here.

The new questions center around Like-Kind monitors, Low Mass Emitters (LME) and Part 75 Appendix D Fuel Flowmeters. The most notable question, Question 23.22, provides clarification on the minimum data capture requirements for Appendix D certifiable fuel flowmeters. EPA has now stated that each fuel flowmeter must meet the minimum data capture requirement for continuous monitoring systems in 75.10(d)(1), the same requirement for CEMS.Read more »