On August 26, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule to restructure the stationary source audit program. The purpose of this program is to allow the use of private audit samples for compliance tests to ensure that emissions tests accurately measure a facility’s emissions standards under Clean Air Act.
• This action outlines minimum requirements for:
1. Audit samples;
2. Accredited audit sample providers, the private companies that prepare and distribute audit samples; and
3. Third-party organizations that accredit and monitor the performance of the audit sample providers.
• This action amends the General Provisions of Parts 51, 60, 61 and 63 and test methods 5I, 6, 6A-C, 7, 7A-D, 8, 15A, 16A, 18, 23, 25, 25C, 25D, 26, 26A, 104, 106, 108, 108A-C, 204A-F, 306, 306A, and 308. These amendments add language to the General Provisions that:
o Allows accredited audit sample providers to supply the samples used for audits,
o Requires emissions sources to obtain and use samples from these accredited audit sample providers instead of from EPA, as was the practice in the past;
o Shifts audit requirements from EPA rules enumerating individual requirements for different test methodologies to the more generalized requirements contained in the General Provisions sections of Clean Air Act regulations.
• The General Provisions establish general requirements for implementing the Standards of Performance for New Stationary Sources and the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants. This action adds essential requirements for an audit sample to the General Provisions.
• This action places the burden of obtaining an audit sample on the industrial emissions sources, rather than on the state and local air agencies responsible for assuring that sources are complying with Clean Air Act requirements.
BACKGROUND
• Audit samples are one method used to ensure that emissions testing procedures meet EPA requirements. Audit samples are analyzed alongside samples collected in the field during compliance testing to evaluate objectively the quality of the data. The exact chemical composition of audit samples is known to the supplier, but not to the user. This precaution helps increase the integrity of the audit.
• In the past, there were no private companies supplying stationary source audit samples, so EPA provided them free of charge to state regulatory agencies. The state regulatory agencies would then send them to the requesting company. With the recent establishment of field sampling and laboratory accreditation programs, a number of private providers have emerged.  Industrial facilities and laboratories can now buy samples. As a result, it is no longer necessary for EPA to supply audit samples for free.
• Under the new system, states will have the opportunity to comment on the specific type of audit sample requested by a facility conducting emissions tests before it is sent from the accredited audit sample provider. This check will allow states to control whether the composition of a requested audit sample is appropriate for evaluating the expected emissions from each facility.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
• Interested parties can download the rule from EPA’s website on the Internet under “Recent Actions” at the following address: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg.
• For more information about today’s rulemaking, contact Candace Sorrell at EPA’s Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards at (919) 541-1064 or sorrell.candace@epa.gov.