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The Office of Air Quality (“OAQ”) of the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment – Division of Air Quality issued a news release announcing a new assistance program (“Program”) for facilities subject to permitting for air emissions.

The Program is described as allowing:

. . . a facility to request a meeting shortly after issuance of a draft or final permit with an inspector from the facility’s area and an OAQ permit engineer to ensure a common understanding of permit requirements, DEQ policy, and inspector expectations.

The Program is managed through Division of Environmental Quality’s e-Portal.

The Program utilizes an on-line form. Using this form, facilities are stated to be able to request a meeting “shortly after the draft or final issuance of an initial permit, significant modification, or a permit renewal.” During the meeting OAQ personnel will discuss:

• Permit requirements
• How the Department of Environmental Quality interprets key provisions
• What the inspector will look for during an inspection

The stated objective of the program is to ensure that the facility, the OAQ permit branch, and the OAQ compliance branch have a common understanding of how to interpret permit provisions and prevent potential confusion that could result in unintentional violations.

A copy of the news release can be downloaded here.