United States Asbestos and Small EPA-180-F-93-001
Environmental Protection Business Ombudsman November 1993
Agency (1230C)
&EPA What A
Small Business
Should Know About
The New Clean Air Act
Air pollution is one of this nation's principal health and environmental concerns. State and local
governments, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the nation's business community are
hard at work to implement the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. These amendments strengthen
existing Federal controls on motor vehicle pollutants and on major sources of air pollution. They also contain
new requirements for smaller sources of air pollution, which are very often small businesses.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must oversee the 1990 Act but State and local
governments will ultimately manage and enforce most of the programs that affect small businesses. Each
State must also develop specific technical assistance programs to help small businesses comply with the
Act's requirements.
How Your Small Business Could be Affected by the Act: The specific requirements affecting your
company will most often depend on how badly your local air is polluted, and the kinds and quantities of
pollutants your business emits into the air. No single list can detail every kind of small business that will be
affected by the 1990 Clean Air Act, but you could be subject to one or more controls if your business:
• Emits volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides in areas where ground level ozone
(commonly known as "smog") has been identified as an air quality problem.
• Sells or distributes gasoline, heating oil, or other kinds of petroleum products.
• Services and repairs motor vehicles, or operates a centrally fueled fleet of 10 or more vehicles in
an urban area.
• Performs work involving the coating or painting of metal surfaces, or the degreasing of machinery.
• Uses or transports chemicals that are hazardous when emitted into the air or which are particularly
dangerous if accidentally released into the air by an explosion, fire, or other kind of accident.
• Services or repairs air conditioning systems, or uses refrigerants in the production of goods and
services.
• Uses asphalt, rubber, metal finishers, plastics or synthetic materials in the manufacturing or
construction trades.
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Clean Air Programs Affecting Small Businesses
If your business is affected by one or more of the programs described below, you will have to take steps
to comply with certain requirements in the Act, and some of these requirements may occur in the very near
future. They may involve reducing the air pollutants your business currently emits, and/or obtaining an
operational permit from your state or local air pollution control agency.
1. Controlling Ground Level Ozone (Smog): Ground level ozone will be a major air quality challenge
for many small businesses in more than 90 urban areas where levels of the pollutant exceed EPA's air
quality standards for health. Ozone forming pollutants (volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides)
are emitted from many small businesses.
2. Reducing Emissions of Toxic Air Pollutants: Thousands of small businesses may be affected by
new controls on 189 toxic air pollutants that will be phased in over the next decade. Toxic air pollutants are
chemicals that are known or suspected causes of cancer, or other serious health problems such as birth
defects and gene mutations. Specific controls will generally depend on how much of one or more of these
pollutants your company routinely emits into the air. The size of your facility, the volume of goods and
services it produces, and the number of people you employ do not always correlate with how much of these
pollutants your business generates.
3. Preventing the Accidental Release of Hazardous Chemicals: The 1990 Clean Air Act also requires
companies to develop procedures for preventing the inadvertent release of hazardous substances into the
air by an explosion, fire, or other kind of accident. EPA will publish a list of at least 100 hazardous substances
for which these regulations will apply. Small businesses are affected because the kinds and quantities of
the listed chemicals that a facility uses rather than the size of the company itself will generally determine
what it will be required to do to prevent or minimize these releases.
4. Protecting the Upper Ozone Layer: The 1990 Act requires the rapid phaseout of chemicals that
deplete the stratospheric ozone layer, which acts as the Earth's protective shield from harmful ultraviolet
radiation. This is another area of concern for small businesses which use these substances to produce
goods, and to service or repair refrigeration equipment. The substances include:
Class I substances, which are the most damaging to the ozone layer and include 15 kinds of
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), as well as halons, carbon tetrachloride and methyl chloroform.
• Class II substances, known collectively as hydrochlorofluorocarbons or (HCFCs), which are less
harmful to the ozone layer.
Most Class I substances must be phased out by the end of 1995 while production of Class II substances
will be phased out shortly after the year 2000. Several interim controls are also required before these dates
to restrict production, and to regulate their use, emission, and disposal. These include recycling of
refrigerants and other controls to reduce the use of ozone depleting substances to the lowest level possible.
EPA is also identifying the production of certain nonessential products where the use of ozone depleters
will be banned.
5. Fleet Vehicle Controls: Beginning in 1998, fleet vehicles in 22 of the more polluted urban areas will
be required to use clean burning fuels, or to purchase new cars, trucks or vans that emit virtually no pollution.
The regulations will affect centrally-fueled fleets of 10 or more vehicles including taxis, delivery trucks, vans,
and service vehicles which are often owned or operated by small businesses.
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6. Requirements for Private Service Garages: Private service garages that sell gasoline or repair
motor vehicles in areas with unhealthful air may also be affected by severalof the new Act's requirements.
These include the following programs that will generally be administered by State governments under the
1990 Clean Air Act:
• Emission Inspection/Maintenance (I/M) programs which will test the tailpipe emissions of most
registered vehicles, and require repairs for those vehicles which exceed specific federal emission
standards. Major changes are in the offing for many private service and repair garages that currently
conduct I/M programs and for those that will operate new programs in the future.
• Stage II Vapor Controls which will involve the installation of new nozzles and other special
equipment on fuel pumps to prevent the release of gasoline vapors into the air. These controls
affect facilities that sell more than 10,000 gallons of gasoline each month, and independent dealers
that sell 50,000 gallons or more each month.
• Clean Fuels Programs which will regulate the retail sale of reformulated gasoline and other new
"clean fuels" that emit little or no pollution. In some cases, special storage tanks or fuel pumps may
be needed for new fuels.
7. Title V Operating Permit Program: Title V of the 1990 Clean Air Act requires each State and many
local governments to develop and administer programs for the permitting of air pollution sources. The EPA
has granted States the authority to permanently exempt asbestos removal and demolition operations and
woodstoves from these permitting requirements but States may still permit these sources if they so choose.
Motor vehicle owners will not be required to obtain permits, but must comply with other provisions in the
Act.
An approved permit will be issued for up to five years, and will list in one document all of the requirements
concerning air emissions that apply to any source that is subject to the program. EPA regulations, setting
the minimum requirements for State permit programs, were published in the Federal Register on July 21,
1992. They include provisions to minimize the operating permit program's immediate and long-range impact
on small businesses by:
Deferring permitting for "non-major" sources of air pollution until EPA issues a rule determining
how to structure the program for such sources. EPA intends to issue this rule in the late 1990's.
• Providing for the use of general permits that may be issued by a State to cover similar kinds of
small sources or industrial processes. Sources the State qualifies under a general permit could
meet the requirements for a permit by filing a simplified application or letter.
• An Important Note About Existing State Permit Programs:
State and local governments can build on programs they already have established for permitting
sources of air pollution when developing their operating permit programs under the 1990 Act. They
can also add more stringent requirements to these State specific programs beyond what the Title
V program requires. All sources of air pollution including small businesses must continue to comply
with these existing State permitting programs and with new State-only requirements as they are
established.
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Where Small Businesses Can Get Help
1. EPA Small Business Ombudsman: Call or write the EPA Small Business Ombudsman for more
specific information about the programs under the 1990 Clean Air Act that affect small businesses.
2. State Small Business Assistance Programs: The 1990 Clean Air Act requires each State
government to develop and implement a Small Business Technical and Environmental Compliance
Assistance Program. States are moving to put these assistance programs into place. These State programs
will include the following components to help small businesses comply with the Act.
• A small business ombudsman to advise the small business community on matters that affect it
under the Act, and to provide help on individual problems and grievances.
• A technical assistance program within State or local government to help small businesses deal
with specific problems they encounter when trying to comply with any of the Act's provisions.
• A State compliance advisory panel to monitor and evaluate the overall effectiveness of the state
small business assistance program.
3. Business Associations: Contact the small business association or trade group that represents you
for industry specific details about what your State and local governments will be doing to implement the
Act in your area.
4. EPA Technical Support Centers: Several of EPA's Technical Support Centers and telephone
"hotlines" are expanding their services to provide support to State and local air pollution control agencies
as they develop and carry out the small business assistance programs. The EPA Technical Control Center
at (919)-541 -0800 will be the contact point for general business assistance questions, or will refer callers
to other sources of technical support within EPA. These involve support on matters such as pollution
prevention methods and technologies, including emission measurement, and pollution monitoring.
This pamphlet was produced by the EPA Small Business Ombudsman. Our office welcomes letters
and telephone calls from small business owners and managers who have questions about all EPA's
environmental programs that affect the nation's small business community.
EPA Small Business Ombudsman
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization
401 M Street S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460
Toll Free "Hotline"— 1-800-368-5888
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