Air Construction Permit Exemptions Approved by the Environmental Protection Commission

February 27, 2006

Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and representatives from Iowa industrial facilities, the Iowa Department of Economic Development, the University of Northern Iowa Air Emissions Assistance Program, and Region VII of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) met in July 2005 to develop exemptions from construction permitting. This workgroup resulted in six proposed exemptions, which the Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) approved to be adopted and finalized at the February 20, 2006, EPC meeting.

The workgroup was first convened in January 2005 to specify how "indoor" sources of air pollution are addressed in construction permitting. "Indoor" sources are sources of air pollution that are not directly vented to the outside but have emissions that leave the building through doors, vents, or other means. The department has historically required that equipment or processes at these sources be permitted only if they were part of a significant project, or if the emissions were exhausted indoors in a manner that was intended to circumvent the requirement to obtain a construction permit. Based on the recommendations of the workgroup, the department is further clarifying through these rules which equipment or processes are exempted from the requirement to obtain a construction permit. The first workgroup meeting resulted in twelve new exemptions that were approved at the August EPC commission meeting.

The second workgroup meeting resulted in the following proposed exemptions: research & development, storage tanks, equipment using hot melt adhesives, product labeling, regional collection centers, and cold solvent cleaning machines. Technical justifications were prepared by the workgroup members to support the validity of exempting each of these equipment and processes from the requirement to obtain a construction permit. As a result of the technical reviews, additional safeguards were built into some of the exemptions to further protect human health and the environment.

For more information, please review the EPC agenda at www.iowadnr.com/epc or call Jim McGraw at 515-242-5167 or Wendy Rains at 515-281-6061.