Responding to a Section 114 Request for a Wood Products Facility, 1999 Environmental Conference Proceedings

Peter H. Wyckoff, Esquire

Gardner, Carton, and Douglas

Clayton W. Raasch

Trinity Consultants

In recent years the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) has issued a number of requests under Section 114 of the Clean Air Act (the Act) for information to forest products companies, as well as those in other industries. Many of those requests were made with the underlying intent of ensuring compliance with the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) provisions of the Act. The information-gathering powers granted to US EPA by Congress are surprisingly broad, and US EPA appears to have utilized those broad powers, as evidenced by the nature and invasiveness of the requests.

This paper provides a methodology for responding to a Section 114 request, using a 10-step process developed on the basis of actual responses the authors have helped prepare. First, a straw man scenario is set up. Then, the suggested process is detailed, with rationale provided for each step.