On April 17, 2020, the EPA Administrator issued Continuous Emission Monitoring; Quality Assurance Requirements During COVID-19 National Emergency (40 CFR § 75.68), interim final rule (IFR) to temporarily amend the Part 75 emission monitoring and reporting regulations for the Acid Rain Program, Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) and the NOx SIP Call. A copy of the IFR can be found here. The interim rule allows affected sources that are unable to complete required quality assurance tests due to travel restrictions, plant access or other safety restrictions implemented to address the COVID-19 national emergency to continue to report valid data from the respective monitoring systems. The rule will be effective upon the date of publication in the Federal Register. Affected sources must complete the delayed QA tests no later than the earlier of the end of the COVID-19 national emergency plus a sixty (60) day grace period or the expiration of this rule 180 days from its publication date in the Federal Register.
The rule applies to required Part 75 CEMS QA tests, CEMS certification/recertification tests, Appendix D fuel flowmeter tests, Appendix E NOx correlation tests and required low mass emission (LME) unit tests. An affected source shall submit an email notification to camdpetitions@epa.gov no later than five (5) business days after the required test. A notification template is provided on the Clean Air Markets Division’s website and can be found here.
This IFR does not extend the deadline for the submission of your Q1 2020 emission files. If you need help accessing and reviewing your emissions data in preparation for submittal please don’t hesitate to contact us. Our COMPAS group is standing by to assist. Please E-mail COMPAS@vimtechnologies.com if you’ve got any questions.
The EPA Clean Air Markets Division will host a conference call to discuss details and answer questions regarding the rule on Thursday, April 23, 2020 at 1PM EST. Please monitor the ECMPS website for details on how to register and attend.
