On April 6, 2016, Governor Kate Brown launched the Cleaner Air Oregon program to protect Oregon communities through a health risk-based approach to protecting public health. On Nov. 15, 2018, the Environmental Quality Commission adopted the Cleaner Air Oregon rules [OAR 340-245].
Under CAO rules [OAR-340-245-0040(2)], DEQ may require Air Quality permitted and unpermitted facilities to submit an updated toxic air contaminant emissions inventory once every three years, with the intention that the reporting year generally corresponds to EPA's National Emissions Inventory reporting years (e.g., 2020, 2023, and 2026). DEQ uses these emissions inventories to:
- Establish and maintain long term trends in air toxics emissions across geographical areas and industrial sectors;
- Estimate Oregon's Hazardous Air Pollutants for the EPA's National Emissions Inventory;
- Improve our understanding of air toxics emissions in communities across the state; and
- Evaluate the effectiveness of various air toxics programs and policies.
Depending on the federal or state program, the terms air toxics, hazardous air pollutants, and toxic air contaminants are used interchangeably. DEQ primarily uses the term toxic air contaminants to refer to pollutants that are known to cause cancer and other serious health impacts.
2020 Toxic Air Contaminant Emissions Inventory
The
2020 State-wide Emissions Inventory for Title V and ACDP Simple and Standard facilities is now available. Individual, facility-wide emissions reports are available through the DEQ
Air Quality Permit Data Search page.
In January 2022, DEQ submitted air toxics and criteria emissions information to EPA for the 2020 National Emissions Inventory. EPA will review the data and eventually make it available online through EPA's
AirToxScreen and
EJScreen.
2016 Air Toxics Emissions Inventory
The 2016 state-wide emissions inventory for Title V and ACDP Simple and Standard facilities was the first year that DEQ made a state-wide air toxics emissions inventory request as a part of the Cleaner Air Oregon program. Individual, facility-wide emissions reports are available through the DEQ Air Quality Permit Data Search page. The reported 2016 air toxics information has already served several functions in helping protect Oregonians and informing national understanding of toxic air contaminant sources and activities, including to:
- Use as a screening tool for the Cleaner Air Oregon Prioritization process;
- Help identify emissions of specific air toxics and areas of concern;
- Inform risk-based updates to ACDP General and Basic permit categories; and
- Estimate Oregon's Hazardous Air Pollutants for the EPA's 2017 National Emissions Inventory.