Continuous Supervision of Compliance with EMC Standards
The Compliance Assurance Monitoring (CAM) Rule, codified at 40 CFR Part 64, is a crucial regulation that ensures compliance with emission limits and standards at major sources operating under the Part 70 operating permits program (Title V of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments).
The CAM Rule mandates affected facilities to implement and maintain a monitoring system that provides reliable data on emissions or related process parameters, serving as indicators of compliance with applicable emission limitations and standards. This monitoring typically involves continuous or periodic measurement of control device parameters or emissions.
The rule applies only to emission units at major sources required to have a Part 70 operating permit with emission limitations or standards that are not otherwise adequately monitored.
Facilities under the CAM Rule are required to identify appropriate indicators of emission control performance, such as flow rates, pressure drop, and temperature, and specify measurement techniques, monitoring frequency, and averaging times.
Regular reporting is a key aspect of the CAM Rule. Facilities must submit periodic reports to the permitting authority detailing monitoring results, including any deviations or excursions from CAM limits and corrective actions.
Records must be maintained for all monitoring data, calibration checks, and maintenance activities, along with documentation of any exceedances and responses to ensure transparency and facilitate compliance verification by regulators.
The objective of the CAM program is to fill monitoring gaps by requiring routine and credible monitoring where existing requirements lack adequate methods to assure compliance with emission standards under operating permits programs.
The rule was legally based on the Title V operating permits program of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, focusing on stationary sources subject to Clean Air Act emission limits and standards and operating under federally enforceable permits.
The CAM Rule includes a new Part 64 and revisions to the Part 70 monitoring and compliance certification requirements. The rule's knowledge base offers insights into the criteria for defining the applicable monitoring approach, the obligation to complete corrective actions as indicated by the monitoring results, and how such data are used in the annual compliance certification.
The CAM rule's knowledge base also provides information on operational and control device parameters indicative of pollution control performance, the annual compliance certification process, and the use of data from monitoring results in the annual compliance certification.
The final CAM Rule was published in the Federal Register on October 22, 1997. For more detailed information, the Air Emissions Monitoring Knowledge Base - Compliance Assurance Monitoring provides a valuable resource.
In the context of the Compliance Assurance Monitoring (CAM) Rule, environmental science plays a crucial role in identifying appropriate indicators of emission control performance, such as flow rates, pressure drop, and temperature, which are related to air quality and pollution. Furthermore, the financial aspect is significant as facilities under the CAM Rule are required to maintain and report monitoring data regularly, which may impact their operational costs and adherence to pollution regulations.
