Beginning in 1999, the regional budget will be allocated as allowances to each state in the region. NH will allocate 4,674 allowances to the existing individual budget sources. NH will retire at least 100 allowances for environmental benefit. The sum of the NOx emissions from budget sources should not exceed the number of allowances allocated during the control period months of May through September. Budget sources are allowed to buy, sell, or trade allowances to meet their individual needs.
Banking is defined as the carry-over of unused allowances from one control period to the next.
Use of banked allowances in future years could potentially result in regional exceedances of the budget. Budget sources are required to monitor and report NOx emissions during each control period. Monitored hourly emissions must be reported to a centralized emissions tracking system administered by the US EPA Acid Rain Division. Once the control period has ended, budget sources have a window of opportunity to evaluate their reported emissions and obtain any additional allowances they may need to balance their emissions during the period. Any new budget source will be subject to the cap and shall receive allowances to cover the lesser of its actual emissions or its permitted allowable emissions based on actual fuel use and the lowest achievable emission rate using the cleanest permitted fuel .