When you think of electronic tools that support Clean Air Act (CAA) regulatory programs, what do you think of? Depending on your role, you may think of systems like the Compliance and Emissions Data Reporting Interface (CEDRI), the Electronic Reporting Tool (ERT), or maybe even the Combined Air Emissions Reporting System (CAERS), which are all used by industry to report emissions data. If you are at a regulatory agency, you may be thinking of the Air Quality System (AQS), the Emissions Inventory System (EIS), or the State Planning Electronic Collaboration System (SPeCS) and its many companion systems. Regardless, it’s an alphabet soup of acronyms with just as many different websites to get to the data you want.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) is working on an initiative that will combine these programs and more into a single platform so that when you think of electronic tools to support CAA programs, all you will think about is the EPA AirHub.
What is the EPA AirHub?
Formerly referred to as the “Unified Platform Project,” U.S. EPA is developing a new platform that will consolidate the existing federal systems used for CAA implementation. EPA AirHub will be a single, modern platform that can be used by state, local, and tribal (SLT) authorities and regulated entities to collect and maintain data to better inform permitting and regulatory decisions, report emissions and compliance data, and monitor and track ambient air quality data.
What is included in EPA AirHub?
U.S. EPA has identified the existing systems that will be rolled into EPA AirHub and categorized them based on three core functionalities that are necessary for CAA implementation. The programs and their core functionality are:
- Ambient
- AirNow (includes AirNow Tech)
- AQS (includes AQS DataMart)
- Emissions
- CEDRI
- ERT
- CAERS
- Web and Factor Information Retrieval Database (WebFIRE)
- Regulatory
- SPeCS for State Implementation Plans (SIPs)
- SPeCS for Exceptional Events (EE)
In addition, EPA AirHub is expected to include functionalities to address pain points associated with existing platforms. One such pain point is that facilities may have different identification numbers in each platform or facilities may have been inadvertently duplicated during initial set-up. EPA AirHub will compare facility information across the platforms that have been added, identify duplicate information or overlapping facility data, and allow users to consolidate facility information into a single source.
When will EPA AirHub be available?
EPA AirHub’s capabilities are being developed and rolled out in multiple steps over the next few years. By the end of 2027, SLT authorities will have access to SIP interfaces, regulated entities will see ERT reporting requirements move into EPA AirHub, and ambient monitoring systems will be available for configuration and data submission. Although U.S. EPA has not published the full implementation timeline on the EPA AirHub homepage, CEDRI and WebFire have been identified as the next systems to build and be implemented as early as 2028, followed by EIS/CAERS in 2029.
What does this mean for me and how can I stay in the loop?
As mentioned above, the new platform will be released in stages, so electronic reporting systems that you have become used to using to report test data or emissions will transition to the new platform one by one. If you have digital compliance solutions that produce output formatted for the current reporting systems, your internal procedures and programs may have to be adapted as EPA AirHub is rolled out.
U.S. EPA is hosting quarterly webinars to provide project updates and identify opportunities for engaging stakeholders. Your industry association may be engaged with U.S. EPA and providing periodic comments as the platform is developed. ALL4 will be following the progress of EPA AirHub and will publish update blogs periodically. Please follow along with ALL4 as we watch U.S. EPA design and implement this new platform to consolidate these systems and let us know if you would like assistance providing feedback to U.S. EPA! Reach out to Stacy Arner-Jenkins for more information.
