Regional Reports: Region 1

Kenneth Reich
Seth Handy
Edwards & Angell, LLP
Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island
Kreich@ealaw.com; Shandy@ealaw.com

1. Maine (Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Air Quality – Mark Coen 207/287-7647)

Title V: Maine has issued 50 Title V permits and has 25 left to issue that are at varying stages in the completion process. They have agreed to issue all of their permits by the end of 2003. Maine does not have any outstanding issues with EPA’s certification of its Title V program except that Region 1 enforcement has said it is inappropriate to include permit shields in the licenses and Maine has used them. Maine expects to develop guidelines dictating when it is appropriate to include permit shields in the licenses and establishing a more thorough foundation for the inclusion of the shields.

Other News: Maine joined eight other northeastern states that filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia challenging U.S. EPA’s rule amending the New Source Review provisions of the Clean Air Act immediately after they were published on December 31.

II. Vermont (Agency of Environmental Conservation, Air Quality Division, Dick Valentinetti 802/241-3860)

Title V: Vermont has 40 sources subject to Title V. Permits have been issued for 38 of those sources and the other 2 permits are in draft. Vermont is not aware of any outstanding and unresolved issues raised by EPA in their certification of Vermont’s Title V program.

Other News: Vermont continues its participation in the Northeast Climate Change Initiative. This initiative is currently finalizing its inventory and planning to establish a registry (base on the California model) by the end of the year.

Vermont has been focusing on the New Source Review issue as of late. The state joined eight other northeastern states that filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia challenging U.S. EPA’s rule amending the new source review provisions of the Clean Air Act immediately after they were published on December 31. Vermont had also filed substantial comments during U.S. EPA’s rulemaking process.

II. Rhode Island (Department of Environmental Management, Office of Air Resources, Doug McVay 401/222-2808, ext. 7011)

Title V: Rhode Island has no outstanding issues with U.S. EPA and the Title V program certification process. The state has 49 Title V sources and has issued 26 Title V permits. EPA has approved one permit that is awaiting issuance, two permits are at EPA for final review, and one permit is about to go to EPA. RIDEM has agreed to issue all of its Title V permits by June 2004. On the permit-compliance front, permittees are working through the semi-annual monitoring reports and the annual certification process.

Other News: On Dec. 20, 2002, the RI Resource Recovery Corp. agreed to spend more than $5 million on air pollution measures as part of a settlement for Clean Air Act violations related to failures to properly collect and control landfill gas emissions at its landfill in Johnston. The quasi-public agency will pay a $321,000 penalty and install pollution control systems to improve the collection and control of landfill gas at the 190-acre site. The new pollution control system will capture and control about 30,350 tons of methane and 215 tons of VOCs between installation and 2010, boosting the capture rate to more than ninety percent. The RI Resource Recovery Corp. had previously bought or surrendered 175 tons of emissions credits to mitigate excess emissions. According to Robert W. Varney, EPA’s Region 1 administrator, this was one of the nation’s first enforcement actions for violation of New Source Review at a solid waste landfill.

On Feb. 14, 2003 EPA proposed to approve RIDEM’s plan to attain the one-hour ozone standard by 2007. The plan, which relies largely on federally-mandated emissions reductions in upwind areas, will become a revision to the state implementation plan.
Rhode Island joined eight other northeastern states that filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia challenging U.S. EPA’s rule amending the new source review provisions of the Clean Air Act immediately after they were published on December 31.

III. New Hampshire (Department of Environmental Services, Air Resources, Michelle Andy 603/271-6793)

Title V: New Hampshire has no outstanding issues with regard to EPA’s certification of its Title V program. They have issued 85 percent of their Title V permits (47 final of a total of 55 sources) and expect to have the remaining permits either final or in public comment by the end of 2003. They are still processing modifications and have started working on renewals. Compliance certification is ongoing and the state recently issued guidance for that process. New Hampshire also initiated EPA’s compliance monitoring strategy a year ago, including comprehensive, full-compliance inspections of Title V sources every two years.

Other news: New Hampshire joined eight other northeastern states that filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia challenging U.S. EPA’s rule amending the New Source Review provisions of the Clean Air Act immediately after they were published on December 31.

IV. Connecticut (Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Air Management, Ellen Morris 860/424-3027)

Title V: Connecticut does not have any outstanding issues with EPA’s certification of its Title V program. Connecticut received 111 Title V applications. Thirteen applicants withdrew their application for assorted reasons (limiting potential to emit, etc.). Sixty-five permits have been issued and Connecticut has committed to issuing the rest by the end of 2003.

Other News: Connecticut joined eight other northeastern states that filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia challenging USEPA’s rule amending the new source review provisions of the Clean Air Act immediately after they were published on December 31.

U.S. EPA approved Connecticut’s regulations implementing its State Implementation Plan in February.

V. Massachusetts (Department of Environ-mental Protection, Karen Regas 617/292- 5624)

Title V: Massachusetts does not have any outstanding issues with EPA’s certification of the State Title V program, except that the state is working with EPA to modify the definition of “major source” in the state regulations to conform to EPA’s revised definition.

Massachusetts has agreed to have all of its Title V permits either issued or out to public comment by December 2003. In federal fiscal year 2000 (ended October), MADEP enforced against 12 high priority air violations and in this fiscal year (beginning October 1), MADEP is enforcing against three high priority air violations so far. Massachusetts is also conducting routine inspections of Title V sources every three years and has adopted a compliance monitoring strategy that incorporates stack test and compliance reporting reviews as part of the inspections.

Other News: The new director of MADEP, Ellen Roy Herzfelder, has announced that Massachusetts will stick to its own program for regulating emissions from factories and utilities and reject a relaxed federal program. The Massachusetts regulatory program, adopted by former Governor Jane Swift, requires large industrial polluters to install state-of-the-art control systems on an accelerated schedule. The current Governor, Mitt Romney, signals that he intends to continue his predecessor’s initiative.

Massachusetts joined eight other Northeastern states that filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia challenging U.S. EPA’s rule amending the new source review provisions of the Clean Air Act immediately after they were published on December 31.

On Dec. 3, 2002 USEPA announced that it had approved the Massachusetts and New Hampshire plans for compliance with the one-hour ozone standard for the metropolitan Boston area by 2007. The plan includes vehicle inspection and maintenance programs (effective since the late 1990s), cleaner burning reformulated gasoline (effective 1995 but enhanced 2000), vapor recovery requirements for gas pumps (effective early 1990s), and substantial emission reduction requirements for nitrogen oxide pollution from power plants and large industrial sources. In 2002, the 8-hour ozone standard was exceeded on 29 days in Massachusetts.

On Dec. 18, 2002 Massachusetts finalized regulations to include a zero-emission vehicle plan in its low-emission vehicle program based on the California model.

On Jan. 15, 2003 the city of Lawrence announced an initiative to train owners and employees of more than 130 auto body repair shops in the city on basic permitting requirements and equipment/material handling strategies to minimize pollution impacts. An EPA study conducted two years ago identified non-compliance at these shops as a contributor to the city’s poor air quality and highest childhood asthma rate in the state.