UPDATE: Revision 8 of the Pennsylvania Continuous Source Monitoring Manual

Comments are being accepted until October 13, 2008 on the DRAFT Technical Guidance concerning the “Applicability Determination and Implementation Procedures for Continuous Source Monitoring Manual Revision 8” published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on September 13, 2008.  The objective of the DRAFT Technical Guidance is to:   

• Supersede the previous version of the document that was finalized on December 2, 2006, and posted in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on December 27, 2006.
• Address concerns and issues that were not identified or adequately covered in the 2006 version of this document.
• Incorporate a comprehensive implementation plan that was developed following the completion and testing of the new Continuous Emission Monitoring Document Processing System (CEMDPS).
• Serve as the official announcement that the upgraded CEMDPS has become functional.

After the revision is published as final, any owner/operator of a source that must comply with the monitoring requirements of 25 Pa. Code §139.102(3) will be required to meet the certification, recording, and reporting requirements of Revision 8 of the Manual.  As noted in the DRAFT Technical Guidance, the owners/operators of a facility may comply with all the requirements of Revision No. 8 of the Manual as early as January 1, 2009 and must comply with the requirements of Revision No. 8 of the Manual beginning April 1, 2009.  Please note that extensions may be granted to a facility who submits a Revision 8 implementation plan by January 31, 2009.

Revision 8 of the Continuous Source Monitoring Manual will require all affected sources to:

• Upgrade the current data acquisition and handling system (DAHS) to meet the new recordkeeping and reporting requirements, and
• Demonstrate compliance with the more stringent monitoring and quality assurance requirements of Revision 8 of the Manual (especially those monitoring systems currently approved under Revision 6 of the Manual).

If your facility is not currently planning for the implementation of Revision 8 of the Continuous Source Monitoring Manual, time is running out.  Your facility should already be working on DAHS upgrades, revising QA/QC Plans, DAHS formula verification, notification requirements, extension requests, implementation plans, monitoring plan review, etc.