EPA Awards Over $1.6 Million to the State of Oklahoma to Support Environmental Programs

Press release:

EPA Awards Over $1.6 Million to the State of Oklahoma to Support Environmental Programs

(DALLAS – July 27, 2012) The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $1,603,137 to the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality to assist with environmental permitting, enforcement and facility inspections. This Performance Partnership Grant will also be used to perform outreach and education, accreditation of training providers and certification of firms and individuals performing lead-based paint abatement activities.

The EPA and states share responsibility for protecting human health and the environment. This unique relationship is the cornerstone of the nation's environmental protection system. Working together, we have made enormous progress in protecting our air, water and land resources. Under traditional environmental program grants, states receive funds to implement the various water, air, waste, pesticides and toxic substances programs.

Additional Information on EPA grants is available at http://www.epa.gov/region6/gandf/index.htm

More about activities in EPA Region 6 is available at http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/region6.html

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EPA Greenhouse Gas Permitting Requirements Maintain Focus on Largest Emitters

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 3, 2012

EPA Greenhouse Gas Permitting Requirements Maintain Focus on Largest Emitters
Steps to streamline process will ease burden on state and local permitting authorities
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that it will not revise greenhouse gas (GHG) permitting thresholds under the Clean Air Act. Today’s final rule is part of EPA’s common-sense, phased-in approach to GHG permitting under the Clean Air Act, announced in 2010 and recently upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The final rule maintains a focus on the nation’s largest emitters that account for nearly 70 percent of the total GHG pollution from stationary sources, while shielding smaller emitters from permitting requirements. EPA is also finalizing a provision that allows companies to set plant-wide emissions limits for GHGs, streamlining the permitting process, increasing flexibilities and reducing permitting burdens on state and local authorities and large industrial emitters.

After consulting with the states and evaluating the phase-in process, EPA believes that current conditions do not suggest that EPA should lower the permitting thresholds. Therefore, EPA will not include additional, smaller sources in the permitting program at this time.

Today’s final rule affirms that new facilities with GHG emissions of at least 100,000 tons per year (tpy) carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) will continue to be required to obtain Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permits. Existing facilities that emit 100,000 tpy of CO2e and make changes increasing the GHG emissions by at least 75,000 tpy of CO2e, must also obtain PSD permits. Facilities that must obtain a PSD permit, to include other regulated pollutants, must also address GHG emission increases of 75,000 tpy or more of CO2e. New and existing sources with GHG emissions above 100,000 tpy CO2e must also obtain operating permits.

EPA’s GHG permitting program follows the same Clean Air Act process that states and industry have followed for decades to help ensure that new or modified facilities are meeting requirements to protect air quality and public health from harmful pollutants. As of May 21, 2012, EPA and state permitting authorities have issued 44 PSD permits addressing GHG emissions. These permits have required new facilities, and existing facilities that make major modifications, to implement energy efficiency measures to reduce their GHG emissions.

The GHG Tailoring Rule will continue to address a group of six greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). The PSD permitting program protects air quality and allows economic growth by requiring facilities that trigger PSD to limit GHG emissions in a cost effective way. An operating permit lists all of a facility’s Clean Air Act emissions control requirements and ensures adequate monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting. The operating permit program allows an opportunity for public involvement and to improve compliance.

More information: http://www.epa.gov/nsr/

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EPA Approves Southern Ute Air Permitting Program

EPA approves Southern Ute Indian Tribe’s air permitting program

Southwest Colorado Tribe is first in nation to operate Clean Air Act program for large sources of air emissions 

Contact Information:

U.S. EPA: Carl Daly, 303-312-6416; Richard Mylott, 303-312-6654

Southern Ute Indian Tribe: Andrea Taylor, 970-563-0100 x 2250

(Denver, Colo. - March 5, 2012) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced its approval of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe’s air permitting program, making the Tribe the first in the nation to operate an EPA-approved Clean Air Act program for large sources of air emissions. The Tribe’s headquarters are located near Ignacio, Colorado.  

The Clean Air Act operating permits program allows the Tribe to issue permits and perform inspections at large stationary sources of air emissions on the Reservation, the majority of which are associated with oil and gas production. EPA will continue to work with the Tribe in an oversight capacity, as it does for State permitting programs.

  

“The assumption of this program is a significant step forward for the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and the environment,” said Jim Martin, EPA’s Regional Administrator in Denver.   “EPA’s approval reflects the Tribe’s exceptional effort to build the expertise and capacity to manage air quality on the Reservation.”

The Tribe’s effort to obtain authority to implement the program has been underway for nearly a decade and has involved extensive communication and outreach with industry, the State of Colorado and surrounding communities. Previously, EPA had served as the permitting authority on behalf of the Tribe.

In commenting on the approval, Tribal Chairman Jimmy R. Newton, Jr. stated that, “EPA approval of this program is an achievement that was envisioned by many past tribal leaders and is the culmination of extensive cooperation among the Tribe, EPA, State of Colorado, La Plata County, and oil and gas industry operators. The Tribe looks forward to administering the program in a manner that ensures protection of the Reservation air shed and contributes positively to regional air quality.”

Clean Air Act operating permits are legally enforceable documents that authorities issue to air pollution sources after the source has begun to operate. This requirement comes from Title V of the Clean Air Act, as amended in 1990.

The Southern Ute Indian Tribe is located on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in southwest Colorado. The Reservation land area includes more than a thousand square miles in La Plata, Archuleta and Montezuma counties.

More on the Clean Air Act operating permits program: http://www.epa.gov/oaqps001/permits/

Southern Ute Indian Tribe: http://www.southern-ute.nsn.us/

News Release from EPA - GHG Permitting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 27, 2012

EPA Proposes to Keep Greenhouse Gas Permitting Requirements Focused on Largest Emitters
Options to streamline process would help state and local permitting authorities

WASHINGTON –The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing not to change the greenhouse gas (GHG) permitting thresholds for the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Title V Operating Permit programs. Today’s proposal is part of EPA’s common-sense, phased-in approach to GHG permitting under the Clean Air Act. EPA is also proposing steps that would streamline the permitting process for large emitters already covered by the agency’s program, including sources that account for nearly 70 percent of the total GHG pollution from stationary sources.

EPA’s proposal is consistent with its phased-in approach, announced in 2010, to “tailor” the requirements of the Clean Air Act to ensure that industrial facilities and state governments have the tools they need to minimize GHG emissions and that only the largest emitters need permits.

After consultation with states and evaluating the process, EPA believes that the current approach is working well, and that state permitting authorities are currently managing PSD permitting requests. Therefore, EPA has proposed not to include additional, smaller sources in the permitting program at this time.

EPAs GHG permitting program follows the same Clean Air Act process that states and industry have followed for decades to help ensure that new or modified facilities are meeting requirements to protect air quality and public health from harmful pollutants. As of December 1, 2011, EPA and state permitting authorities have issued 18 PSD permits addressing GHG emissions. These permits have required new facilities, and existing facilities that have chosen to make major modifications, to implement energy efficiency measures to reduce their GHG emissions.

The GHG Tailoring Rule would continue to address a group of six greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). The PSD permitting program protects air quality and allows economic growth by requiring facilities that trigger PSD to limit GHG emissions in a cost effective way. An operating permit lists all of a facility’s Clean Air Act emissions control requirements and ensures adequate monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting. The operating permit program allows an opportunity for public involvement and to improve compliance.

Under the approach maintained in this proposal, new facilities with GHG emissions of at least 100,000 tons per year (tpy) carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) continue to be required to obtain PSD permits. Existing facilities that emit 100,000 tpy of CO2e and make changes increasing the GHG emissions by at least 75,000 tpy CO2e, must also obtain PSD permits. Facilities that must obtain a PSD permit, to include other regulated pollutants, must also address GHG emission increases of 75,000 tpy or more of CO2e. New and existing sources with GHG emissions above 100,000 tpy CO2e must also obtain operating permits.

EPA will accept comments on this proposal for 45 days after it is published in the Federal Register. A public hearing will be held on March 20, 2012, in Arlington, Virginia to listen to public comment about the proposal.

More information: http://www.epa.gov/nsr/

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