Air Permitting and Regulatory Analysis
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Project Objective

A toy production company planned to build a new manufacturing facility in the United States in the Richmond, Virginia, area and needed a qualified firm to evaluate air permitting and other environmental compliance requirements for the proposed facility. The client wanted a firm that understood the importance of the local requirements and the urgency of obtaining the required air permit to enable facility construction to proceed on the pre-determined tight schedule. The client also needed a firm that could quantify emissions for the planned equipment and operations and navigate the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VaDEQ) regulations and requirements. The main objective of this project was to accurately and completely assess the air permit requirements and expeditiously submit a complete and accurate air permit application to VaDEQ.

Geosyntec’s Scope of Services

Using anticipated production information, including quantities of chemicals (mostly plastic resins, inks, glues, and solvents) used and generated as waste and equipment specifications, along with Geosyntec’s knowledge of industrial operations, we accomplished the following:

• Reviewed test reports and permit applications at similar facilities in China, Vietnam, and Mexico; analyzed various documents from those international facilities to understand the potential emissions sources that would be regulated or that would be exempt from permitting requirements.
• Quantified actual air emissions per source, taking into account the planned air pollution control devices such as filter units for particulate matter, and quantified emissions facility-wide based on anticipated operating schedules and material throughputs.
• Quantified the facility’s potential to emit, based on maximum operating hours, maximum source capacities, and material throughputs assuming no air pollution control devices.
• Determined the appropriate type of air emissions permit required for the construction and operation of the planned facility’s stationary sources.
• Prepared and submitted to VaDEQ a complete synthetic minor new source review permit application.

Notable Accomplishments

Relying on our expertise in manufacturing facility and air permitting environmental compliance and in federal and state regulations and our ability to pivot, we achieved success for our client..