Cleaner Air Oregon is a health-based permitting program that regulates emissions of toxic air contaminants from facilities based on risk to nearby communities. CAO requires facilities to report toxic air contaminant emissions, assess potential health risks to people nearby and reduce toxic air contaminant risk if it exceeds legal limits.
As part of the Cleaner Air Oregon process, each facility has a dedicated web page to provide communities access to facility information and updates on where it is involved in the process.
- Each step of the CAO risk assessment process has a section that includes DEQ's communications and deliverables from the facility.
- The graphic below shows where a facility is in the Cleaner Air Oregon Process.
For additional information and history of the program, visit the
Cleaner Air Oregon web page.
The Emissions Inventory provides information on all the Toxic Air Contaminant emissions from a facility, and includes information on a facility's operations and activities, as well as fuel and material usage rates. This is often the longest step in the CAO risk assessment process as DEQ needs to verify that all activities have been accounted for, and that the most representative emissions data available are used. In some cases, DEQ will require a facility to perform source testing at this stage if insufficient data is available to estimate emissions. For an introduction to emissions inventories and why they matter, please see EPA's Fact Sheet.
June 27, 2024: Facility Called In to Cleaner Air Oregon
Sept. 23, 2024: Facility submits Emissions Inventory and supporting documentation (currently in DEQ review)
Oct. 29, 2024: DEQ responds to the Emissions Inventory submittal with request for revisions and additional information
Nov. 11, 2024: Facility Requests Extension
Nov. 19, 2024: DEQ Responds to Extension Request
About the Facility
Amazon Data Services, Inc. operates PDX-4, a data center (electronic data processing center), that houses computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and data storage systems. The facility includes data communications equipment, security systems, environmental controls, and backup emergency power supplies (engine-generator sets). The principal use of the facility is the storage, management, and dissemination of electronic data. To date, the facility has installed 98 emergency engine-generator sets. The data center was previously operated by Vadata, Inc. and has been operating since 2013.