Norman J. Friedman, MS

Course Outline

This six-hour online course discusses the types of engineering skills, duties, and responsibilities generally applied to the preparation of air permit applications. Filing air permit applications will be required for installing new facilities at new sites, installing new equipment or increasing production capacity at existing sites, and changing air pollutant emission discharges when modifying, reactivating, or relocating existing emission sources. State and federal regulatory agencies provide outlines, checklists, instructions, blank forms, environmental rules, and resource information to guide the permit writer. Permit applications are processed more efficiently when the technical information is based on sound engineering principles. The duties, tasks, and responsibilities of the engineer start with developing clear descriptions of the planned new or modified equipment, process changes, or air pollution control equipment based upon Information from qualified suppliers, from state and federal regulatory agency guidance documents, and from environmental rule requirements. After determining the specific reasons for the permit application, the engineer alone or as a part of a work team will collect data and details for the changes planned at the facility; calculate production capacities, emissions, and air pollution control equipment efficiencies; prepare site, process, and equipment drawings; compare the environmental plans with existing information available from many state agencies and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), complete the required permit application forms, and provide the assembly in the checklist order specified by the specific reviewing agency. This course will enable the student to learn the engineering tasks, duties, and responsibilities that apply to the preparation of air permit applications meeting the requirements of state and federal regulatory agencies. This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end.

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will:

• Become familiar with the types of engineering skills, duties, and responsibilities that apply to the preparation of air permit applications.
• Learn methods for organizing the air permit application preparation process to expedite processing by federal and state government regulatory agencies.
• Develop the knowledge for preparing thorough, well-supported air permit application calculations, drawings, and technical documentation.
  

Course Introduction

Filing air permit applications is required for installing new facilities at new sites, installing new equipment or increasing production capacity at existing sites, or changing air pollutant emission discharges when modifying, reactivating, or relocating existing emission sources. State and federal regulatory agencies provide outlines, checklists, instructions, blank forms, environmental rules, and resource information to guide the permit writer. Preparing air permit applications requires a significant amount of engineering analysis, calculations, drawings, and technical skills. State and federal regulatory agencies prefer to review air permit applications that contain the type of information, drawings, exhibits, and attachments that are in the correct format, arranged in checklist order, if possible, and sufficiently reliable for preparing the final permit with minimal changes. Gaining the confidence of the regulatory agency staff with a professional, thorough, and detailed air permit application generally expedites agency evaluation and subsequent permit issuance. This course presents the types of engineering skills, duties, and responsibilities to achieve timely processing and accurate environmental permits based upon an acceptable air permit application.

Course Content

Course Summary

In addition to building roads, bridges, structures, and industrial equipment, applying engineering knowledge and skills learned in colleges, universities, and on the job also are used to prepare the technical sections of air permit applications. The first task, similar to starting any type of engineering project, is to plan an organized outline. A permit application that follows the regulatory agency completion checklist generally accelerates the review process since the information is presented in a familiar format. Following the outline as a guide to labeling the technical data and information collected about the project is the second step. Generating a "needs" list organizes the collection and processing of pertinent data required to generate design criteria and specifications to involve qualified suppliers to supply pertinent engineering and comparable emission data. Learning the planned process and related air pollution control methods and equipment is the next major step. Calculating emissions is the next most critical part for preparing an air permit application. The values generated are generally in terms of tons per year for comparison to the federal or state rules and regulations to determine the type of permit application to select. Determining the accuracy and applicability of the information collected is part of engineering any type of project. Procedures that include "reality check" reviews by experts, checking of calculations, and verifying that information is properly documented are just as important in the preparation of air permit applications as constructing a building. Minor permits require less information and documentation than major permits. Emissions of regulated air pollutants exceeding regulatory thresholds typically require air modeling, best available control technology (BACT) analysis, complete emission inventories, and possibly an environmental impact study. The facility with an accurate, well organized, and thoroughly documented submittal typically improves the regulatory agency staff review process.

Related Links

For additional technical information related to this subject, please visit the following website:

Search of permits and key terms including BACT, RBLC and air model at www.epa.gov.

References (Public Web Sites)

Table A http://www.airquality.utah.gov/PERMITS/FORMS/op_checklist.pdf
Table B http://home.pes.com/aermod.htm and http://www.epa.gov/scram001/7thconf/aermod/aermod_mfd.pdf
Table C http://ndep.nv.gov/bapc/permitd.html
Table D http://www.sbcapcd.com/eng/nsr/bact_aps.htm


Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.