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Vandenberg Air Force Base (AFB)
Questions and Answers Document
Vandenberg Air Force Base Project
XL/ENVVEST Qs and As
Q: What is this project?
A: This is EPA's first Project XL for a government
agency and the first XL project for a Department of Defense facility
nationwide. This project is known as ENVVEST, which is the DoD
implementation of Project XL. ENVVEST stands for "environmental
investment" and Vandenberg is the prototype installation for XL.
Q: What are the opportunities for pollution
reduction?
A: The project mostly involves the retrofitting of boilers rated between
2 MMBtu/hr and 5MMBtu/hr with advanced pollution control technology. This
equipment is presently exempt from the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution
Control District (District) permitting requirements. The emission
reduction plan will identify the specific emission units (e.g., boilers)
subject to retrofitting.
Q: What are the environmental benefits of the ENVVEST project?
A: Minimum 10 tons per year of ozone precursors emission reductions by
November 2002.
Q: Is the ENVVEST final project agreement (FPA) enforceable?
A: No. The FPA is not an federally-enforceable document, however,
the agreed upon project milestones will be enforceable by incorporation
of the rule revisions that contain the project milestones, which have
been adopted by the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District,
into the California State Implementation Plan.
Q: Is Vandenberg AFB relieved from the requirements of the Title V operating
permits program?
A: Yes, if Vandenberg AFB agrees to the project milestones as outlined
in the FPA, and achieves 10 tons per year of ozone precursor emission
reductions by November 2002, then the base will be exempt from the requirements
of title V. If any of the agreed upon project milestones are not
achieved, then the agreement automatically terminates/expires. The
base will then become subject to title V requirements.
Q: How will this project be affected by the redesignation of Santa Barbara
County from moderate to serious ozone nonattainment status?
A: The new major source threshold for title V sources will be lowered
from 100 to 50 tons/year of NOx. This project was designed to address
the redesignation of the County to serious ozone nonattainment, and thereby
comply with the more stringent threshold of 50 tons/year of NOx.
Q: How does this project meet the goals of the Administration's Reinventing
Environmental Regulation.
A: This project meets the goal of alternative strategies for agencies
by achieving cost-effective environment results while providing regulatory
and policy flexibility.