Quality-Assurance Requirements During the COVID-19 National Emergency (Emergency Request)

EPA has determined that existing provisions of the emissions monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting provisions at 40 CFR part 75 are inconsistent with public health measures currently being implemented to address the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) national emergency. The part 75 regulations apply to almost all electricity generating units in the contiguous 48 states, as well as several hundred industrial units, pursuant to the Acid Rain Program, Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) trading programs, and the NOX SIP Call. Affected units must monitor and report their mass emissions of SO2 and/or NOX for every operating hour and in most cases must surrender SO2 and/or NOX emission allowances equal to their reported emissions under one or more EPA trading programs. The part 75 regulations require affected units to perform a variety of tests for certification of monitoring systems, ongoing quality assurance, and other purposes. In order to provide a self-enforcing incentive for units to perform required tests in a timely manner, the regulations provide that if a unit fails to complete a required test by the applicable deadline, the unit must report substitute emissions data higher than the unit’s actual monitored emissions data until the test has been completed. As the degree of lateness grows, the required substitute data become more conservative, eventually reaching the unit’s maximum potential emissions in every operating hour. Higher reported emissions data will cause the unit to surrender larger quantities of emission allowances under EPA trading programs, at increased cost to the unit’s owners. As presently written, the part 75 provisions that automatically require an affected unit to report substitute data when a test deadline is missed do not take the unit’s reason for missing the test deadline into account. In the current COVID-19 emergency there is a widespread effort to limit social interactions for public health reasons. However, many part 75 tests are performed by outside contractors which would necessarily result in interactions between plant staff and outside personnel even during the current emergency. Accordingly, EPA believes there is an urgent need to revise these provisions to facilitate plant operation in light of the COVID-19 public health emergency. The temporary amendments allow an affected unit to continue to report monitored emissions data as valid instead of requiring the unit to report higher-than-actual substitute data in instances where data from a monitoring system would otherwise be considered invalid solely because of failure to complete a required test and where the unit’s failure to complete the test is attributable to a national emergency. The amendments apply to all types of tests for which a missed deadline would otherwise automatically result in requirements to report substitute data, but only during an emergency period (as defined in the amendments). The amendments do not apply to tests where a deadline is missed for non-emergency reasons, do not alter any other emissions monitoring or reporting requirements, and do not alter any existing emissions limitations. Every unit is required to complete any deferred tests as soon as practicable after any emergency-related restrictions relevant to that unit are lifted. The amendments expire 180 days year after promulgation.

The latest form for Quality-Assurance Requirements During the COVID-19 National Emergency (Emergency Request) expires 2020-10-31 and can be found here.