EPA Policy Memo Revisits “Once In, Always In” and Offers Regulatory Relief

From the desk of Gavin Biebuyck, Principal at Liberty Environmental

The US EPA issued a policy memo on January 25, 2018 revisiting their longstanding “Once In, Always In” (OIAI) policy for hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). This new EPA policy provides regulatory relief for major air emissions sources like painting and printing operations that have reduced the use of HAP emissions but still have onerous federal MACT standards in their air permits as a result of the former OIAI policy. Under the new policy these sources can accept a cap on HAP emissions and be reclassified as area sources in order to avoid the major source MACT requirements. Visit EPA.gov for complete details.

The OIAI policy dates back to 1995 and required sources to cap their facility-wide HAP emissions (less than 10/25 tons per year for any single/combination of HAPs) before the compliance date of the MACT standard in order to avoid applicability. Sources failing to cap emissions by that date were forever subject to the MACT standard monitoring, recordkeeping, reporting, and testing requirements (“Always In”) even if they subsequently reduced or even eliminated HAP emissions.

The new EPA policy provides the opportunity for regulatory relief for sources that hold Title V Air Permits and have reduced HAP emissions over the past 20 years. For more information or to discuss your Title V air permit, federal MACT standards, or HAP emission reduction strategies, contact the air quality experts at Liberty Environmental at 800.305.6019 or via email at info@libertyenviro.com.