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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Environmental compliance guide. Guidance manual for Department of Energy compliance with the Clean Air Act: nonattainment areas

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6944202· OSTI ID:6944202

The purpose of this manual is to identify information requirements associated with air quality permit applications in areas for which ambient pollutant levels currently exceed the national ambient air quality standards (nonattainment areas). The manual is to be used by project managers at the US Department of Energy (DOE), in conjunction with the DOE Environmental Compliance Guide, to provide preliminary estimates of information required to obtain air quality permits for DOE projects. An analysis of nonattainment area permitting found that permitting of all sources in such areas is done on the state or local levels; the Environmental Protection Agency does not grant permits in nonattainment areas. As a result, Federal information requirements for permitting in nonattainment areas are somewhat vague. To provide a more realistic picture of nonattainment area permitting, selected state and local regulations were surveyed, and were found to contain more detail on the information required for permit approval. The most potentially demanding information requirements associated with nonattainment area permitting are the determination of Lowest Achievable Emission Rate, the negotiation of external emission offsets, and the consideration of the environmental impacts of project alternatives in ozone and carbon monoxide nonattainment areas. In any state, a few information requirements for nonattainment area permitting are likely to overlap with information requirements of other permitting processes, such as those in the Prevention of Significant Deterioration procedure. These requirements are emissions data and air quality modeling and its associated input data requirements (meteorology, topography, etc.).

Research Organization:
USDOE Assistant Secretary for Environmental Protection, Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Washington, DC. Office of Environmental Compliance
OSTI ID:
6944202
Report Number(s):
DOE/EP-0065-Vol.3F; ON: DE83001104
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English