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Final Amendments Clarify Requirements for Industrial Facilities During Periods of Startup, Shutdown and Malfunction

Release Date: 03/31/2006
Contact Information: John Millett, (202) 564-4355 / [email protected]

(3/31/06) Final amendments to a set of requirements common to all air toxics regulations make clear that affected industries must minimize emissions during startup and shutdown, or at times when equipment is malfunctioning. The final amendments make changes to a rule known as the General Provisions. The General Provisions require facilities to develop plans that outline how they will operate to minimize emissions during times of startup, shutdown and malfunction. The final amendments allow a facility to deviate from the plan, but require facilities to minimize emissions at all times. Facilities must maintain these plans on site and must report to their state or local permitting authorities whether they have followed the plans and what actions were taken to control emissions. While this amendment gives the EPA Administrator discretion in determining when to obtain a copy of these plans in response to a public request, it ensures that the public continues to have access to plans already available to EPA and allows the public to review a facilities reports describing steps taken to minimize emissions during start up, shut down, and malfunction.

More information on action: epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t3/fact_sheets/generalprov_fsfinal.html