On August 19, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit struck down a 2006 U.S. EPA rule indicating that the Title V operating permit program does not require additional testing or monitoring beyond what is required in State Implementation Plans (SIPs) or older federal rules that do not include adequate periodic monitoring provisions. The court ruling indicates that where an applicable requirement under the Clean Air Act does not contain adequate monitoring requirements to ensure continuing compliance, States must add such requirements to the Title V permits that they issue. The D.C. Circuit decision is the latest in over a decade of litigation on the part of industry, states, and environmental groups on this issue.
For more information, contact EQ’s Kent Berry at (800) 229-5299 or Jeff Slayback at (800) 229-7495.
On September 4, 2008, U.S. EPA announced a final rule intended to cut nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbon emissions from engines used in lawn mowers, chain saws, and other small equipment by 35 percent, and a 45 percent reduction in evaporative emissions.
For marine engines, the rule will result in a 70 percent reduction in emissions of both hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides and a 20 percent reduction in carbon monoxide emissions, and would cut evaporative emissions by 70 percent.
The reductions take effect in 2011 for lawn and garden equipment engines of 25 horsepower or less. For gasoline-powered personal watercraft and inboard and outboard engines, the reductions take effect in 2010, one year later than originally proposed in 2007.
To meet the new exhaust emissions standards, EPA will require manufacturers to use catalytic converters for the first time in many types of small watercraft, lawn, and garden equipment.
Small engines and marine engines are among the last major mobile emissions sources without strict emissions controls. According to U.S. EPA, a push mower emits as much hourly pollution as 11 cars, and a riding mower emits as much as 34 cars. These account for about 26 percent of mobile source emissions of volatile organic compounds and 23 percent of mobile source carbon monoxide emissions.
For more information, contact EQ’s Kent Berry at (800) 229-5299 or Jeff Slayback at (800) 229-7495.
The U.S. EPA has failed to publish a mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting rule by September 30, 2008, as directed by Congress.
In its Fiscal Year 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act, Congress directed U.S. EPA to publish this rule, using its existing authority under the Clean Air Act. The proposed rule would cover emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen dioxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride above appropriate thresholds in all sectors of the economy. U.S. EPA is responsible for determining those thresholds and the frequency of reporting from upstream production (e.g., fossil fuel and chemical producers and importers) and downstream sources (e.g., large industrial facilities).
The Appropriations language instructs the U.S. EPA to publish a proposed rule by September 30, 2008, and a final rule by June 2009.
When finalized, the rule will represent the first broad-based mandatory greenhouse gas reporting requirements by the federal government.
For more information, contact EQ’s Tom Robertson at (800) 229-5299 or Jeff Slayback at (800) 229-7495.
On June 30, 2008, Ohio EPA unveiled its new Air Services Program under the eBusiness Center web portal. Air Services is a web-based program for completing and filing various air reports and permit applications, and for paying fees.
As of June 30, all Title V and Synthetic Minor facilities in Ohio are required to use this on-line submittal program, in place of STARSHIP and/or hard copies, for annual emissions reporting, annual compliance certifications, Title V and other permit applications.
These facilities can opt to use the Air Services program for quarterly compliance reporting.
To use the new system, your facility must gain access to the data which Ohio EPA has transferred from existing databases to Air Services. This is a multi-step process which can take some time to complete. For Title V facilities, this process MUST be initiated by the site’s responsible official. For Synthetic Minor facilities, the process can be initiated by a high level company official (president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, general partner) or a plant manager.
Experience with several clients has shown that it can take 4-6 weeks for facilities to gain access to facility data. Once a site has access to their facility’s data, the quality and completeness of the data which has been pulled by Ohio EPA into the program will need to be reviewed. The information in the system will need to be supplemented to fill in gaps and add information which has not been required in the past. This is especially true for Synthetic Minor facilities because they had very little electronic data available for Ohio EPA to pull into Air Services. This quality assurance/data supplementation process could take an additional 4-6 weeks.
EQ has helped many clients through this process already and can answer any questions you may have or help you through the process. EQ has also attended Ohio EPA’s beta testing of the new Air Services program and can help you with air permit applications and fee reports in the eBusiness Center system.
For more information or assistance, contact EQ’s Sheri Bussard at (800) 229-7495.
The U.S. Department of Energy has provided funding to various universities to allow them to conduct energy audits of industrial facilities. Here are the criteria for the “free” audits:
To qualify for a no-charge assessment, your plant must have:
And either:
For more information, visit this website to find a list of the various nniversities that are participating in the DOE Industrial Energy Audit program.
For more information or assistance, contact EQ’s Ken Hardesty at (800) 229-7495.
On August 25, 2008, 12 states, New York City, and the District of Columbia sued the U.S. EPA for failing to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from petroleum refineries (New York v. EPA, D.C. Cir., docket number unavailable).
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, alleges U.S. EPA violated the Clean Air Act when it declined to add greenhouse gas emissions to the new source performance standards for petroleum refineries.
New York was joined in its lawsuit by California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia and the City of New York.
U.S. EPA declined to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from refineries when it issued the final new source performance standards in June.
According to the U.S., EPA, the Clean Air Act does not require it to review air pollutants not covered under previous versions of the new source performance standards for refineries.
EPA published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on the possibility of regulating greenhouse gas emissions on July 30, and it is accepting public comment until Nov. 27.
For more information, contact EQ’s Kent Berry at (800) 229-5299 or Jeff Slayback at (800) 229-7495.
EQ recently completed its acquisition of EQ Engineers (EQE). Located just outside of Chicago in Hammond, Indiana, EQE provides design engineering services to a variety of customers, including the steel industry.
EQ purchased 52% of the company in August 2003, and acquired the remaining 48% on September 12, 2008.
EQE will continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of EQ. Rich Trzcinski will continue to manage EQE as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.
To date, EQ E&D has 65 employees. Total gross sales for 2008 are projected to be $5 million.
For more information, contact EQ’s Ron Hawks or Bob McCullough at (800) 229-7495.
The Ohio EPA recently awarded a $4.2 million contract to EQ to remove, process, and dispose of or recycle buried tires from four sites in Ohio. The work began at the end of August 2008 and is expected to continue through 2009.
The four sites include:
For more information, contact EQ’s John Mullane at (800) 229-7495.
Turn off lights if you plan to be gone for more than 15 minutes.The facts are simple: Being "bright about light" uses less electricity / energy. When we use less energy, we reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and help protect our environment from the risks of global climate change.
According to the Energy Information Administration, lighting is responsible for 44% of the overall electricity in office buildings. Together we have the chance to make a big difference. See figure below:
For more information about reducing your carbon footprint or to learn more about EQ’s Sustainability Program, visit our website or contact EQ’s Tom Robertson at (800) 229-5299.
For your engineering needs, please contact EQ Engineers at 219-844-3500, or email Ron Hawks
For questions about EQ's capabilities, please contact
Bob McCullough or Laurie Buckman, or call (800) 229-7495.
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