Permitted to Pollute
I often get the impression that many people do not understand what an environmental permit is - and that's OK because few people ever deal with them. Well, permits and figuring out how to comply with them happens to bring home my bacon.
A permit is just a document issued by a regulatory agency. An environmental permit is the same, but the issuing agency has some authority over the air, water, or land. So an air permit is issued by an agency (usually the state) to a facility and describes how much of a list of pollutants that facility may emit, legally, into the air.
For example, your local dry cleaner has an air permit that may list VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds - many solvents fall into this) and may give a limit of 2.0 pounds per hour. That means that your dry cleaner may legally release up to 2 pounds per hour of VOCs into the air, or up to 17,520 pounds per year (2 pounds/hour * 8760 hours/year). They have to demonstrate compliance with that limit by testing the stack once in a while.
Water permits work in much the same way - describing what that maximum concentration of a pollutant may be in the water they discharge to a body of water.
For more info on permits, let me know what specifically you're curious about and I'll send you the info. For general info, start at the US EPA.
3 comments:
I have often wondered about the permits. I have a question.
Let's say one lives close to a large dry cleaners and constantly live with that smell. Say they have expanded, added three more machines and some employees, and seem to be cleaning all night long.
Can you use the EPA to view their permit? Can you find out how long since they've been tested? Further, can a citizen request a fresh test, and see the results?
Obviously, the same questions apply to any facility.
when you see the actual stats (small though those emission are) it is sobering
is there a business in the land that does not know the equation? polluting is intrinsic, even here at my house (where one person lives)
Your state or local agency has the authority, but yes. Any permit is in the public domain and are actually open to comment for 30 days before being issued to the facility. If you read the super small print legal notices in your paper, you will see notices for any draft permits for facilities in your area. It will tell you how to view the permit and how to submit comments. Once issued, all permits are available from the agency also - all it takes is a phone call. If you want to find out their compliance history (if they've ever been in trouble and for what), you can go to www.epa.gov and work your way to the ECHO database (search for ECHO), and then you'll be able to find every cleaner, gas station, and factory anywhere in the country will a full listing of their compliance status, contact information, etc. EPA also has a few mapping programs so you type in your address and it will show you all the emitters, landfills, water permittees, etc. within whatever radius of your home you choose.
A citizen could request a new test, but the regulator would need more than your hunch to require the test. Regulators, by law, can force a facility to test at any time, but it's rare unless there are substantiated compliants. Again, stack tests are public documents and available on request.
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