Feed, Ingredient Manufacturers Handling Chromium, Manganese Reminded of May 5 Notification Deadline (4/22/10)

Feed and feed ingredient manufacturers subject to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) regulations governing emissions of chromium and manganese compounds are reminded of the requirement to provide an initial notification to the appropriate permitting authority by May 5.

As reported in the Jan. 14 edition of the NGFA Plant Operations Bulletin, EPA on Jan. 5 issued final regulations under the Clean Air Act pertaining to potential emissions of chromium and manganese compounds from feed and feed ingredient manufacturers (excluding pet food manufacturers and facilities manufacturing feed on-farm or at feedlots).  The regulations apply to facilities classified with a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code of 311119 (facilities "primarily engaged in manufacturing animal feed"), provided: 1) such facilities use a material containing 0.1 percent or more of chromium or 1 percent or more of manganese by weight; and 2) production of animal feed represents more than 50 percent of total annual production at the facility.

EPA's final regulations require that covered facilities comply with specified standards, monitoring and inspection requirements to minimize the potential for chromium and manganese emissions.  The final rule also contains the following notification and compliance dates:

• May 5, 2010:  Facilities are required to provide initial notification to EPA that they use materials containing chromium and/or manganese at levels equal to or exceeding the threshold level, and hence are subject to the regulations.
  
  
• Jan. 5, 2012:  Facilities covered by the rule are to be in compliance with all applicable regulations by no later than this date.
  
  
• May 4, 2012:  Existing facilities are required to submit a "notification of compliance status" to EPA on or before this date.  Newly constructed facilities subject to the regulations are to submit such notification within 120 days of initial startup.
  
  
• Annual Compliance Certification:  After providing the initial notification of compliance status, covered facilities are required every March 1 thereafter to submit to EPA annual compliance-certification reports for the previous calendar year.

As reported in the March 26 NGFA Newsletter, covered facilities may use an EPA-issued sample form to comply with the initial notification, which is to be provided to the agency by the May 5 deadline.  Regarding the sample form, EPA advises:  "There is no specific template required for the initial notification.  In the initial notification, the owner/operator simply needs to provide the information specified in the rule to their EPA Regional Office.  States where the rule has been delegated (by EPA), the initial notification needs to go to the EPA Regional Office and the delegated state or delegated local permitting authority.  You may submit the information required in another format.  It is highly recommended that you talk with your permitting authority before using any of these examples as potential templates."

Members receiving the NGFA Newsletter electronically may access the EPA sample initial notification form by clicking here.  Members also may access a comprehensive report on this issue published in the Jan. 14 edition of NGFA Plant Operations Bulletin by clicking here.  Questions about the sample form, or the requirements of EPA's final rule, may be directed to NGFA Director of Feed Services David Fairfield at 712-243-4035, or by email at dfairfield@ngfa.org.