PADEP AIMS Alert
Posted: February 12th, 2014
Author: All4 Staff
If your company annually reports its air emissions to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) for inclusion in its Air Information Management System (AIMS), you will notice an additional pollutant in the forms for 2013: the condensable portion of particulate matter (listed on the AIMS forms as PM-CON). Based on the revised AIMs forms, it now appears that PM-CON should be reported as a separate speciated pollutant in conjunction with both PM2.5 and PM10. ALL4 contacted PADEP for clarification regarding the intent of this additional reportable pollutant. Based on the verbal response from PADEP, their intent is to split the reporting of particulate matter into PM2.5 (filterable), PM10 (filterable), and PM condensable (which includes both the condensable portion of PM2.5 and PM10 as the condensable portion is particulate less than 2.5 micron in size). PADEP is still finalizing revised AIMS Instructions that are not yet available. This change goes along with PADEP’s desire to gather more accurate information on the different forms of fine particulate matter that are emitted which started with the electric utility facilities a couple years ago. This will require reworking your regularly reported PM2.5 and PM10 emissions into filterable and condensable portions, even if you have already reported condensable PM emissions.
With only a few weeks left until the March 1, 2014 deadline, this change could represent a significant effort for facilities that operate many sources that emit particulate matter. Emission factors for condensable particulate matter may or may not be available for all types of sources, and emission testing data is likely even harder to come by. We’ll update this blog post as more information becomes available. In the meantime, start looking at your calculations and allowing for some additional time to complete your report.
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