On September 30, 2009, the EPA proposed a new rule under the Clean Air Act that would require permits certifying that the best-available control technologies have been implemented for new or significantly facilities emitting over 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases a year. This will cover almost 70% of stationary sources, and is tailored to avoid regulating small sources of CO2 emissions. The complete proposed rule can be found here.
From the EPA fact sheet:
- The rule proposes new thresholds for greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) that define when Clean Air Act (CAA) permits under the New Source Review (NSR) and title V operating permits programs would be required for new or existing industrial facilities.
- The proposed thresholds would “tailor” the permit programs to limit which facilities would be required to obtain NSR and title V permits and would cover nearly 70 percent of the national GHG emissions that come from stationary sources, including those from the nation’s largest emitters—including power plants, refineries, and cement production facilities.
- Small farms, restaurants and many other types of small facilities would not be subject to these permitting programs.
- This proposal addresses the emissions of the group of six greenhouse gases (GHGs) that may be covered by an EPA rule controlling or limiting their emissions:
- Carbon dioxide (CO2)
- Methane (CH4)
- Nitrous oxide (N2O)
- Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
- Perfluorocarbons (PFCs)
- Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)
- EPA is proposing carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) as the preferred metric for determining GHG emissions rates for any combination of these six GHGs, but we are requesting comment in this proposal on alternatives. Emissions of greenhouse gases are typically expressed in a common metric, so that their impacts can be directly compared, as some gases are more potent (have a higher global warming potential or GWP) than others. The international standard practice is to express GHGs in CO2e. Emissions of gases other than CO2 are translated into CO2 equivalents by using the gases’ global warming potentials.
- Under the Title V operating permits program, EPA is proposing a major source emissions applicability threshold of 25,000 tons per year (tpy) of carbon dioxide CO2e for existing industrial facilities. Facilities with GHG emissions below this threshold would not be required to obtain an operating permit.
- Under the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) portion of NSR—which is a permit program designed to minimize emissions from new sources and existing sources making major modifications—EPA is proposing a:
- Major stationary source threshold of 25,000 tpy CO2e. This threshold level would be used to determine if a new facility or a major modification at an existing facility would trigger PSD permitting requirements.
- Significance level between 10,000 and 25,000 tpy CO2e. Existing major sources making modifications that result in an increase of emissions above the significance level would be required to obtain a PSD permit. EPA is requesting comment on a range of values in this proposal, with the intent of selecting a single value for the GHG significance level.
- Operating permits contain air emissions control requirements that apply to a facility, such as national emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants, new source performance standards, or best available control technologies required by a PSD permit. In general, since there are currently no such air emission control requirements, existing facilities with GHG emissions greater than 25,000 tons per year that already have operating permits would not need to immediately revise them. At the end of a 5-year period when the operating permit must be renewed, these facilities would be required to include estimates of their GHG emissions in their permit applications. Facilities may use the same data reported to EPA under the Mandatory Reporting Rule to fulfill this requirement.
- New or modified facilities with GHG emissions that trigger PSD permitting requirements would need to apply for a revision to their operating permits to incorporate the best available control technologies and energy efficiency measures to minimize GHG emissions. These controls are determined on a case-by-case basis during the PSD process.
- Under the proposed emissions thresholds, EPA estimates that 400 new sources and modifications would be subject to PSD review each year for GHG emissions. Less than 100 of these would be newly subject to PSD. In total, approximately 14,000 large sources would need to obtain operating permits for GHG emissions under the operating permits program. About 3,000 of these sources would be newly subject to CAA operating permit requirements as a result of this action. The majority of these sources are expected to be municipal solid waste landfills.
- Municipal solid waste landfills are the second largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States, accounting for approximately 23 percent of these emissions in 2007. Landfill methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, can be captured, converted, and used as an energy source, reducing emissions and providing an important renewable energy source.
- The current thresholds for criteria pollutants such as lead, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, are 100 and 250 tons per year (tpy). These thresholds are in effect now, and are appropriate for criteria pollutants. However, they are not feasible for GHGs. Without the tailoring rule, these lower thresholds would take effect automatically for GHGs with the adoption of any EPA rule that controls or limits GHG emissions.
- The proposed thresholds would continue to preserve the ability of the NSR and title V operating permit programs to achieve and maintain public health and environmental protection goals while avoiding an administrative burden that would prevent state and local permitting authorities from processing CAA permits efficiently.
- EPA will accept comment on this proposal for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.