Title V: Clean Air Act Permits

At a recent seminar, the head of Compliance Assurance for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Bureau of Air described the numerous problems they are observing in Title V certification, reporting and record keeping.

Many of these problems relate to the "hidden traps." These are the detailed maintenance, monitoring, reporting, record keeping, and disclosure requirements, in addition to the detailed certification of compliance/non-compliance by responsible corporate officials imposed in all Title V permits. Violations, including incomplete records or reports, are severely punishable with civil and criminal penalties.

These requirements may be listed as special conditions or general conditions. For example, these conditions may require a log book including the operating time of the facility, the operating time of the units, the operating time of the control system, and the maintenance log detailing routine and non-routine maintenance performed, including dates and duration of outages, etc. They may also include detailed conditions related to malfunction or breakdown with or without permission to operate under such circumstances. These could include the date and duration of malfunction breakdowns, detailed explanation of the malfunction; explanation of why the damaged features could not be repaired; steps taken to prevent such occurrences in the future; and the amount of any release. It may also include detailed limits on the operations and the period of time a facility may run during operation or malfunction of breakdown. Immediate reporting of non-compliance followed up within 30 days by a written report and including the causes of violation is often required. Requirements may be made for non-compliant fugitive sources or other sources within the facility.

Quarterly reports detailing periods of compliance and non-compliance and corrective action taken are required in almost all permits.

General conditions require numerous reports and records. All records must be maintained so that they are available for five (5) years for immediate inspection by the Illinois or USEPA. General conditions also require immediate reporting of non-compliance, as well as an annual admissions report.

General conditions further provide the general duties to comply, a duty to maintain the equipment and to maintain a log, a duty to cease operations in the event of a malfunction or breakdown if there is no specific permission to operate; a duty to dispose of contaminants in accordance with the law; and, of course, a duty to pay fees. A maintenance record must be kept on the premises for each item of air pollution and control equipment.

Annual certification of compliance must be submitted by the EPA and the USEPA. It must be signed by a responsible corporate officer and detail all instances of non-compliance. Title regulations can be read to require that the means for determining compliance with each condition be detailed on a permit.

Impact - Report all violations:

Violations of Limits

• Whether by monitoring; or
• Calculation; or
• Observation; or
• Operational conditions.

• Failure to maintain;
• Failure to have spare parts where required; or
• Failure at any point to have required maintenance logs

• Operating during malfunction without permission permit;
• Operating during malfunction in circumstances or time not allowed by permit;
• Failure to take steps to correct malfunction; or
• Failure to file required reports.

• Failure to file any required report of emission or exceedance;
• Failure to file compliance reports; or
• Failure to report change in operations.

• Failure to keep records required by permit;
• Failure to produce them when required.

Suggestions

• Review permit in detail;
• List all obligations as they apply to each unit in facility;
• Designate person at each facility responsible for compliance;
• Insure that the "Designee" knows his responsibilities under permit and corporate and legal consequences of failure;
• Designate a "policeman" or compliance person to assist designees in understanding the obligation and follow through to see that compliance is carried out;
• Have "designees" report all possible noncompliance to "compliance person" to determine whether immediate report is necessary;
• Have each designee keep a running summary of all incidents, including all information on annual certification form, whether, to whom, how and when reported; and any basis there may be for claiming it was not noncompliance;
• Have designees certify to responsible corporate officer that facility was in compliance except for fully described incidents of potential noncompliance;
• Review certificates against corporate records and collective memory;
• File an honest and accurate annual certification; and
• Maintain a complete record of how compliance/noncompliance was determined for each permit condition.