On December 15, 2020 Governor Polis released a statement about his intentions to push for a downgrade for the Denver Metropolitan/North Front Range Area from serious to severe non-attainment for the area’s ozone levels.  The area has been unable to achieve a ground-level ozone standard of 75 ppb.  The statement said that state agencies and stakeholders should plan for the downgrade in 2022.

Currently, sources that have a potential to emit (PTE) over 50 tons per year of VOC and NOx need to have Title V permits.  However, this will likely soon change again.  The major source level was only recently moved down from 100 tons per year in January of 2020.  Sources that have air permits with VOC or NOx emissions between 25 and 50 tons per year are going to have to either limit their emissions to less than 25 tons per year or apply for a Title V permit within 1 year of the severe designation.

If a source intends to submit a synthetic minor permit, which would limit their emissions to less than 25 tons per year, then the permit needs to be ISSUED by the Air Pollution Control Division within the 12-month period after the change to avoid Title V permit application requirements.  Often permits take several (4-18) months to be issued by the Air Pollution Control Division, so applications for synthetic minor permits need to be submitted in the upcoming months.

If a source intends to submit a Title V permit application, the application will need to be submitted within 12 months of the redesignation date, so likely in 2023.

Sources should now be looking at their PTE accounting and deciding what will work best for them.

To help sources decide which direction to go with their air permit, Applewood has assembled the following table that outlines the benefits and disadvantages of each type of air permit:  Benefits and Drawbacks of Major or Minor Source Permits