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New Source Review (NSR) Permitting

Reactivation of a Shutdown Source

Date Title EPA Office Author Issues Addressed
06/18/1980 Old Sources being Brought On Line - PSD Applicability Region 4 Pfaff, Roger Answers the question of under what circumstances PSD applies to a source which had been shut down for an extended period, then restarted.
10/09/1979 PSD Requirements for Reactivated Sources Region 7 Spratlin, William Provides information on the length of the rebuttable presumption for which a source will have presumed to have been shutdown when ceasing operation.
08/08/1980 PSD Applicability Determination - Babylon 2 SSCD Reich, Edward Addresses PSD permitting requirements for municipal incinerator that wishes to reopen after having been shut down for 5 years and removed from the state’s emission inventory.
11/06/1987 Supplemental PSD Applicability Determination; Cyprus Casa Grande Corporation Copper Mining and Processing Facilities Region 9

Howekamp, David

Revisits a previous determination (5/27/1987) of whether the restart of a Roaster/Leach/Acid plant would be a major new source pursuant to EPA's shutdown/reactivation policy. Also addresses if the source is not a major new source, whether the restart activities would constitute a major modification under NSR.
05/27/1987 Reactivation of Noranda Lakeshore Mines' RLA Plant and PSD Review OAQPS Seitz, John Addresses whether a mining facility that ceased operation 10+ years, surrendered its permit to operate, and was removed from the state’s emission inventory was permanently shut down; reactivation of the operations would need to undergo PSD review and permitting. This issue was revisited in 11/6/1987 in the Casa Grande determination.
12/13/2000 Southern LNG, Inc., Elba Island Terminal, Savannah Georgia Draft Air Quality Permit and PSD Preliminary Determination Region 4 Neeley, R. Douglas Pertains to a draft PSD permit for reactivation of a liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal that involves replacing 5 LNG vaporizers with 5 larger capacity LNG vaporizers. Addresses how to treat emissions units for PSD applicability purposes under EPA’s Reactivation Policy and provides comments on several portions of the draft permit, including the vaporizer BACT, the air quality impact assessment, emission inventories used in the NAAQS and PSD compliance monitoring, and ozone ambient conditions.
07/31/1981 Policy Determinations Regarding PSD Questions Region 4 Devine, Thomas Responds to multiple PSD questions submitted to an EPA Region in 1981 including: (1) whether to treat a boiler that was shut down, but maintained, for 11 years as permanent for purposes of PSD applicability; (2) whether EPA’s addition of 7 compounds to be of negligible photochemical reactivity  impacts what compounds are considered VOCs; and (3) how to set PSD baseline emissions for 3- and 24-hour average rates.
04/05/2018 Limetree Bay Terminals, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands - Permitting Questions OAR Wehrum, William L. Whether specific refinery units that have been idled for several years should be considered permanently shut down or whether the company’s actions showed an intent to restart the units.  Also addresses whether new projects at the facility should be aggregated for NSR applicability, and whether addition of an offshore oil loading buoy should be treated as a modification to the existing loading dock at the refinery.
11/19/1991 Applicability of PSD to Watertown Power Plant, South Dakota; Shut Down For 9 Years OAQPS Rasnic, John Whether a combustion turbine power plant was permanently shut down or whether the company’s actions over the 9-year period of non-operation demonstrated that the shutdown was never intended to be permanent. 
11/02/1977 Request for Concurrence as to Applicability of PSD and NSPS Regulations to Marblehead Lime Company Proposed Lime Plant Region 5 McDonald, James Addresses NSPS and PSD requirements for a lime manufacturing plant that wishes to reopen after having been shut down for 5 years.
10/03/1980 PSD and NSPS Applicability to a Reactivated Source SSCD Reich, Edward Whether the shutdown of a rotary kiln is permanent because it had been shut down for more than 3 years and removed from the state’s emission inventory system.
07/09/1982 Reactivation of Amerada Hess Corporation's Port Reading Facility and PSD Review SSCD Reich, Edward Whether the shutdown of a refinery for 8 years was permanent and therefore the source needs to undergo PSD permitting as a new source. Also addresses what emissions the source is allowed to use as creditable emission decreases.

Return to Policy & Guidance Document Index

The “Relevant Guidance” index includes a collection of documents issued by EPA organized by topic area. These documents include memoranda, letters, orders, and other types of EPA actions that may provide guidance in one or more forms, such as an adjudication, statement of policy, interpretation of statutes or regulations, or technical information. Each collection is intended to be representative of EPA statements on the topic, but it may not be a complete listing of such statements. The collection does not reflect topic-specific statements that have been expressed by EPA though published rule preambles and Title V petition orders, nor does it include EAB decisions. Each document in the collection speaks for itself, and the inclusion or exclusion of a document in the collection is not intended by EPA to communicate anything more than what is expressed within each document. EPA makes no independent representations on this website as to the extent to which any document in the collection reflects EPA’s current views on the topic, is a final action by EPA, or has any legal effect or precedential weight. Readers are advised to review the documents in the collection and conduct their own assessment of such considerations based on the content of each document and other documents in the collection. Some of the information or views included in the documents may be affected by subsequent changes to the referenced statutory or regulatory language or by court decisions. In addition, many of the statements in these documents are based upon the federal regulations which may differ from rules that govern federally-approved programs. Permitting authorities are advised to consult with their EPA Regional Offices if there is a question as to the relevance of a particular statement to their NSR program.