Clean Air Act/Applicability Determination Index: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency February 22nd Notice of Additions

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) maintains a Compendium of written responses to certain Clean Air Act inquiries from owners or operators of stationary sources.

The Compendium is known as the Applicability Determination Index (“ADI”).

EPA in a February 22nd Federal Register Notice announced that it had added documents to the ADI. See 86 Fed. Reg. 10567.

The ADI includes responses from EPA to source owners and operators as to a determination of whether certain intended actions constitute the commencement of construction, reconstruction or modification under the Clean Air Act program such as the General Provisions of the New Source Performance Standards and the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants.

The EPA also responds to written inquiries regarding other topics such as alternative monitoring/recordkeeping. The agency has also noted that inquiries may pertain, for example, to type of sources to which the regulation applies, or to the testing, monitoring, recordkeeping, or reporting requirements contained in the regulations.

State regulators and the regulated community often refer to the ADI for guidance even in states (such as Arkansas) that have been delegated the relevant programs.

The February 22nd notice lists the various documents by identifying:

• Control number
• Clean Air Act category
• Subpart
• Descriptive title

Examples of a few of the applicability determinations added to the Compendium include:

• Applicability Determination for Mainline Valve at a Compressor Station.
• Alternative Monitoring Plan to Allow Predictive Emissions Monitoring In lieu of Continuous Emission Monitoring of NOX Emissions from a Boiler at a Packaging Facility.
• Applicability Determination for Sweetening Units Installed on a Natural Gas Processing Plant.
• Waiver Request of the Frequency Particulate Matter Testing for Fluidized Catalytic Cracking Unit at a Refinery.
• Alternative Monitoring Plan for Biomass Boiler at Kraft Pulp Mill.

A copy of the Federal Register Notice can be downloaded here.