The OEE has published a series of Air Guidance Notes on the general theme of air pollution. The series includes:
AG1 - Guidance Note on Site Safety Requirements for Air Emissions Monitoring
This guidance note is intended for use by the licensed operator, the environmental monitoring service provider and EPA staff that have an involvement in air emissions monitoring. It provides guidance on:
The Health and Safety aspects of stack testing must always receive priority. The importance of monitoring environmental emissions should never be placed ahead of the health and safety of personnel whose job it is to conduct the monitoring.
AG2 - Air Emissions Guidance Note
The guidance note is intended for use by all Agency staff, (e.g., licensing and enforcement staff), the licensed operator and test houses that provide an air emissions monitoring service. The Agency advises licensees to have regard to this guidance when outsourcing their emission monitoring programme.
The original version of this guidance note was prepared and published by the EPA in 2007. This document is the seventh revision of that original, and has been prepared to reflect the changes in regulatory and monitoring practices that have occurred in the interim.
AG3 - Air Guidance Note on the Implementation of EN 14181
This guidance note is intended for use by all Agency staff involved with Large Combustion Plant and Waste Incineration Plant, the licensed operator, and test houses that provide an air emissions monitoring service. The document is intended to give clear and practical guidance on how to implement EN14181 in Ireland.
AG4 - Air Dispersion Modelling from Industrial Installations Guidance Note
This guidance note seeks to present general principles and suitable methods that may be used to assess and report on the impact of air emissions from EPA licensed industrial installations. The original version of this guidance note was published by the EPA in 2010. This document is a revision of that original that has been prepared to reflect the changes in regulatory and modelling practices that have occurred in the interim. The document is aimed at practitioners, and as such, assumes a general understanding of the theory of air dispersion modelling and the tools available to undertake an assessment.
AG5 - Odour Impact Assessment Guidance for EPA Licensed Sites
This is the latest version of the Odour Impact Assessment Guidance (AG5), published in 2021
AG6 - Air Guidance Note - Surface VOC Emissions Monitoring on Landfill Facilities
This guidance note is intended for use by holders of EPA licences (licensees) and consultants. The Agency advises licensees to have regard to this guidance when undertaking or outsourcing any work relating to VOC emissions from landfill surfaces.
AG7 - Guidance Note on Landfill Flare and Engine Management and Monitoring
The Environmental Protection Agency has developed this Air Guidance Note (AG7) to assist waste licensed sites in the management and monitoring of landfill gas flares and engines emissions. It is designed to provide the relevant knowledge and guidance to licensees and their emission monitoring contractors.
The essential points of this guidance document relate to landfill gas production and composition along with the main components of a flare and landfill gas engine. It includes recommendations on parameters, frequency and associated emission limit values for both continuous and non-continuous monitoring programmes. It further explores the difficulties in undertaking monitoring of flares and engines emissions and the specific health and safety considerations which the licensee and monitoring contractors should take cognisance of.
AG8 - Air Guidance Note for In-house Air Monitoring Teams
The Environmental Protection Agency has developed this Air Guidance Note (AG8) in order to assist the small number of EPA licensed sites who are considering maintaining their in-house air monitoring team to develop a QMS and carry out monitoring after 2014.
The EPA policy statement recognises that periodic measurements of atmospheric emissions are carried out by both commercial test houses acting under contracts to IE site operators, and by in-house teams. The policy requires commercial test houses to be accredited to ISO 17025 for the periodic measurement of certain pollutants from January 2014. For in-house team's accreditation to ISO 17025 is not obligatory. Instead, any licensee proposing to monitor emissions to atmosphere from a licensed emission point for the assessment of compliance with a licence emission limit value must, by the 1st of January 2014, have a recognised quality management system (QMS) in place and notify the EPA, using a standard form available from the Agency, of:
This TGN provides guidance on how to develop a QMS modelled on ISO 17025 that should meet the Agency’s minimum requirements for in-house monitoring. It also provides the basis on which the EPA will audit an operator’s conformance with its policy requirements.
AG9 - Odour Emissions Guidance Note
The document sets out recommended approaches for the development of odour management plans, abatement strategies and test programmes and should allow for improved consistency and reliability in addressing odour at industrial and waste facilities.
This guidance aims to clarify the requirements for calculation of flue gas volume flow rate from energy consumption using Annex E of ISO EN 16911-1. Use of the calculation method is not a way to avoid the installation of sampling ports for standard reference method sampling.
AG11 - Guidance Note on Monitoring of Stack Gas Emissions from Medium Combustion Plants
This guidance note provides clarification on the registration and monitoring requirements, frequency and emission limit values for combustion plants in the 1-50 MW net rated thermal input range.
This guidance will apply mainly to those activities under Chapters III (Large Combustion Plants) and IV (incineration and co-incineration) of the Industrial Emissions Directive. In all cases, where licensees wish to propose, or have been requested to propose alternative monitoring arrangements, approval must be sought in advance from the EPA before implementation
AG13 - Air Emissions Guidance Note on CEMS maintenance and operation requirements
The objective of this guidance document is to provide information regarding Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (CEMS), used for the continuous monitoring of emissions to air. The guidance gives details of their applicability, and how to utilise them in accordance with best practice. The guidance provides details on the steps required to be followed to ensure that a CEMS is providing data that is representative of the process being monitored.
