Michigan Air Permits System

NOx Budget Permits Overview

The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s “NOx SIP Call” required Michigan to put regulations in place to address the regional transport of ground-level ozone by reducing emissions of oxides of nitrogen, commonly known as NOx.  These compounds are precursors to ozone formation.  To comply, Michigan promulgated Rules 802-816, which create a NOx budget allocation and trading program for electric-generating units and “large affected units.”  

Rule 808 requires subject sources to apply for a NOx Budget permit and requires the Department of Environmental Quality, Air Quality Division (AQD), to issue the initial permits by May 31, 2004.  A NOx Budget permit requires the subject units to meet the federal monitoring, testing and reporting requirements, as well as the emission allocations in the facility's state and federal account.  The source must submit compliance certification reports at the end of each ozone control period.  All NOx Budget permits will be given a specific permit number using the protocol of MI-NOx-{ORIS number}-{year of issuance}.  NOx Budget permits must also be issued and renewed in keeping with the Renewable Operating Permit (ROP) program procedures.

• Detailed information on the overall NOx budget program is available through the NOx (Oxides of Nitrogen) Program webpage. 
• All current NOx Budget Permit actions and associated documents are available through the Recent Actions web page.
• The list of all sources subject to Michigan's NOx Budget Permit program may be viewed sorted by name, county or State Registration Number by visiting the NOx List web page.

NOx Budget Permits' Interface with Renewable Operating Permits

For the initial round of NOx Budget permit issuance, many of these permits will be issued in a timeframe independent of that source’s ROP issuance/renewal cycle.  If a source has more than 3 years remaining before expiration of a current ROP, the AQD is initiating the reopening of that ROP to incorporate the entire NOx Budget permit as a new appendix upon issuance of the NOx Budget permit.

On February 9, 2004, a letter was sent to all subject sources that have less than three years remaining on a current ROP to inform the source of the need to apply to renew the NOx Budget permit in conjunction with the renewal of the ROP.  This letter further explains that the NOx Budget permit renewal will simultaneously follow the same formal review steps as the ROP renewal and allow for the NOx Budget permit to be concurrently incorporated into the ROP with the same expiration dates  - View.

An enclosure with that letter explains how to update an ROP application to address the NOx Budget permit as a new applicable requirement - View.

The NOx Budget Permit application form is available to view or to download as a Word document.