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Technical Support Document (TSD)

for the final Transport Rule

Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0491

Acid Rain Program NOX Averaging Plans Final Rule TSD

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Office of Air and Radiation

June 2011
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Acid Rain Program NOX Averaging Plans Final Rule TSD

This Technical Support Document (TSD) provides information on owners’ and operators’ use of 

common designated representatives for purposes of complying with emissions limitations in the 

Acid Rain Program, particularly in circumstances involving multiple owners and operators and 

multiple sources. 

Under 40 CFR part 76 of the Acid Rain Program regulations, certain units (specifically, coal-fired 

boilers of certain types) are subject to individual NOX emissions limitations expressed in 

lb/mmBtu. In lieu of unit-level compliance with individual NOX emissions limitations, owners 

and operators may elect under '76.11 to submit a compliance plan in which a group of such units, 

which the owners and operators select, must meet a group NOX emissions limitation, rather than 

individual NOX emissions limitations for each unit. Such compliance plans are referred to as 

Acid Rain Program NOX averaging plans (NOX averaging plans). Under such NOX averaging 

plans, the Btu-weighted annual average emission rate for all the units in the plan must be less than 

or equal to the Btu-weighted annual average emission rate for the same units had they each been 

operated, during the same period of time, in compliance with their applicable individual NOX

emissions limitation under ''76.5, 76.6, or 76.7 (see 40 CFR 76.11(a)(5)).

A NOX averaging plans gives owners and operators greater flexibility to comply with Acid Rain 

Program NOX requirements. Units that might have difficulty meeting their individual NOX

emissions limitations can be grouped with units that are operating, or can more easily operate,

below their individual NOX emissions limitations. As long as the annual average group NOX rate 

is at or below the annual average group NOX emissions limitation, each unit in the averaging plan 

is deemed to be in compliance with its individual NOX emissions limitation, even if a unit operated 

above its individual NOX emissions limitation under ''76.5, 76.6, or 76.7.

Among the requirements that an averaging plan must meet under '76.11 is that all of the units in a 

specific NOX averaging plan must be under the control of the same owner and operator (e.g., have 

the same majority owner or the same operator) and must have a common designated representative

(see 40 CFR 76.11(a)). The three averaging plans described below (and attached, along with the 

applicable EPA Source Management System printout identifying the owners and operators, to this 

TSD) are examples of averaging plans that were in effect under the Acid Rain Program for 

calendar year 2010.

San Juan Averaging Plan (Plant Code 2451), New Mexico, Signature Date: July 23, 2010.

One approach that owners and operators take in designing NOX averaging plans is to group the 

units at a specific source (facility) into one NOX averaging plan. Such is the case for plan for the 

San Juan facility, in which all four units at the facility are covered for calendar years 2010 through 

2014.1 Note that the four units in the NOX averaging plan have the same individual as the 

 

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The referenced NOX averaging plan is the most current plan submitted for inclusion in the 
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designated representative (i.e., Gregory D. Smith, who is the common designated representative), 

as reflected in the NOX averaging plan, and are owned by nine separate owners and operated by 

one owner/operator, as reflected in the EPA Source Management System printout dated June 27, 

2011.

Each source, and all units at the source, must have one designated representative, who makes, 

signs, and certifies all submissions to EPA or the permitting authority under the Acid Rain 

Program concerning any of the affected units at the source. See 40 CFR 72.20(a)). The 

designated representative for a source, or group of sources, is designated through submission to 

EPA, by the individual selected by the owners and operators, of a certificate of representation. 

See 40 CFR 72.20(b). While in order to participate in a single NOX averaging plan a group of 

units must be under the control of the same owner or operator as well as having a common 

designated representative, a group of units can have a common designated representative, for 

purposes other than participation in a NOX averaging plan, whether or not they are controlled by 

the same owner or operator. A certificate of representation includes, among other things, 

information on the identification of the sources involved, the affected units at each such source, the 

owners and operators of each such unit and source, and the individual who is selected as the 

designated representative and authorized to submit, sign, and certify each submission under the 

Acid Rain Program. See 40 CFR 72.24(a). The responsibilities, and requirements for 

designating an individual as the designated representative are analogous under the Acid Rain 

Program and the Transport Rule trading programs. 

J.H. Campbell (et al.) Averaging Plan (Plant Code 1710), Michigan, Signature Date: June 

20, 2007.

Another approach that owners and operators take in designing NOX averaging plans is to group 

units from multiple sources into one NOX averaging plan. Such is the case for the NOX averaging 

plan covering units at the J.H. Campbell facility, which also covers 19 units at the B.C. Cobb, Dan 

E. Karn, J.C. Weadock, and J.R. Whiting facilities, for calendar years 2007 through 2011.2 Note 

that the 15 units at five sources in the NOX averaging plan have the same individual as the

designated representative (i.e., James R. Coddington, who is the common designated 

representative), as reflected in the NOX averaging plan, and are owned by 13 separate owners and 

operated by one owner/operator, as reflected in the EPA Source Management System printouts

dated June 27, 2011. 

Rockport (et al.) Averaging Plan (Plant Code 6166), Indiana, Signature Date: December 19, 

 

renewal of the permit covering San Juan. The same four units have been in identically configured 

NOX averaging plans since 2000, when the units first became subject to Acid Rain Program NOX

emissions limitations.

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The referenced NOX averaging plan is the most current plan submitted for inclusion in the 

renewal of the permits covering J.H. Campbell and the other facilities identified in this plan. The 

same 15 units have been in identically configured averaging plans since 2001.
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2007.

This is another example of the approach that owners and operators take in designing NOX

averaging plans of grouping units from multiple sources into one NOX averaging plan. This NOX

averaging plan covering units at the Rockport facility covers 53 units at 21 facilities in eight states. 

Note that the 53 units at the 21 facilities in averaging plan have the same individual as the 

designated representative (i.e., John M. McManus, who is the common designated representative), 

as reflected in the NOX averaging plan, and are owned by nine separate owners and operated by 

eight owner/operators that are wholly owned subsidiaries of American Electric Power Company,

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as reflected in the EPA Source Management System printouts dated June 27, 2011. 

 

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In tabulating the number of different owners whose units are covered by the referenced NOX

averaging plan, the companies (and their subsidiaries, if any) that are directly or indirectly owned 

by American Electric Power Company, Inc. (i.e., Appalachian Power Company, Central Operating 

Company, Columbus Southern Power Company, Indiana Michigan Power Company, Kentucky 

Power Company, Ohio Power Company, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, Southwestern 

Electric Power Company, and West Texas Utilities Company) were counted as a single owner. 

The eight other owners (Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation, City of Brownsville, 

Buckeye Power, Inc., Central Power and Light Company, Cincinnati Gas & Electric Power 

Company, Dayton Power and Light Company, Northeast Texas Electric Cooperative, and 

Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority) are not owned by American Electric Power Company, Inc.