New Air Emissions Reporting Requirements Are Coming

In today’s ever-evolving environmental landscape, regulatory requirements play a crucial role in ensuring sustainable practices and protecting our planet. As the world becomes more conscious of the need to reduce harmful emissions, new regulations are being introduced to enhance monitoring and reporting practices. 

One such set of regulations includes proposed revisions to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Air Emissions Reporting Requirements (AERR). These rule changes seek to improve the collection of certain emissions data critical for performing air quality exposure and risk analyses. 

In this blog post, we will explore how these new requirements will impact businesses in the industry and discuss the implications for their operations.

A Brief Overview of What’s Happening

On July 25, 2023, the EPA unveiled proposed AERR rule changes. These AERR revisions aim to enhance the EPA’s data collection of crucial emissions information, which serves as a vital component for conducting comprehensive air quality assessments, risk analyses, and various regulatory and non-regulatory undertakings.

The proposed updates are designed to ensure that the EPA has easy access to data for identifying areas where people are exposed to harmful air pollution and developing effective solutions. Additionally, these updates will provide communities with data that enables them to understand the major sources of air pollution that could be impacting their well-being, including highly toxic substances known to cause cancer and other serious health issues. 

To sum it up, the proposed amendments aim to bolster the EPA’s capacity to address air quality and exposure concerns, while also empowering communities by equipping them with essential information regarding significant environmental risks that may be affecting their surroundings.

What Are the EPA’s Proposed Rule Changes?

The key proposed air emissions reporting requirements and other proposed updates would‌: 

• Require mandatory reporting of Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) (beginning in 2027).
• Require electronic reporting of nearly all source tests using the EPA’s Electronic Reporting Tool (ERT).
• Make reporting requirements for point sources consistent every year.
• Phase in earlier annual reporting deadlines.
• Require industry to report emissions from certain facilities in Indian country and federal waters.Add fuel use data reporting requirements for certain sources of on-site electrical generation used to offset electricity demand during peak use.
• Add requirements for reporting “activity data” for prescribed fires, such as fire location, dates, and number of acres burned.

While many of the new requirements will be phased in over time, the amendment to electronically report nearly all source tests using the EPA’s ERT will begin as soon as the rules are finalized. This new ERT reporting requirement will immediately and dramatically increase electronic reporting. 

What Can You Do Right Now?

Right now, one of the best things you can do is to get ahead and get ready for these upcoming changes by chatting with a Montrose Stack Testing expert. Our air quality and regulatory compliance consultants are uniquely qualified to support clients with our best-in-class ERT capabilities.

Connect with us today to get ready and stay prepared for this big update.