Orange County NC Website
2 . 4 Sources of Air Contaminants in Orange County <br /> There are two primary categories of sources of air pollutants - stationary and mobile . <br /> Stationary sources include power plants , manufacturing facilities , gas stations , incinerators , etc . <br /> Large stationary sources , such as power plants and large manufacturing facilities , must have <br /> permits from the State to operate if their emissions exceed certain threshold amounts . Smaller <br /> sources may also require permits , but the requirements for application and reporting are less <br /> stringent than for larger emitters . However, some sources , e . g . , dry cleaners , generally do not <br /> require permits due to the small volume of emissions . Mobile sources include cars , trucks , <br /> buses , planes, trains , motorcycles , and gasoline -powered lawn mowers . Mobile sources may be <br /> classified as on-road (e . g . , cars and trucks) and off-road (trains , lawn mowers , tractors , and <br /> construction equipment) . In addition to the stationary and mobile sources , air pollutants , for <br /> example particulate matter, may be generated from agriculture activities , construction activities , <br /> or open burning . <br /> 2 . 4 . 1 Stationary Sources <br /> Stationary sources may emit criteria pollutants (e . g . , S02 from a power plant) or <br /> hazardous air pollutants (HAPs ) . The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to address 188 HAPs . <br /> The State of North Carolina is responsible for issuing permits to facilities that emit air pollutants . <br /> Each facility prepares an application for a permit with a list of emitted pollutants and estimates of <br /> annual emissions . Actual emissions are reported by the facility . <br /> For this report, the NC Division of Air Quality provided the NC Emissions : Facility <br /> Detail report for 1997 for the 20 permitted facilities in Orange County . These data are also <br /> available from the EPA Aerometric Information Retrieval System (AIRS ) and can be accessed <br /> via the Internet at http : //www. eDa . gov/enviro/html/airs/airs_guery_iava . html . <br /> The first obs6rvation that can be made about permitted sources in Orange County is the <br /> small number . Compared to adjacent counties , Orange County has very few permitted facilities . <br /> The number of permitted facilities listed in AIRS for adjacent counties is as follows : <br /> • Orange 20 <br /> • Alamance 159 <br /> • Chatham 69 <br /> • Durham 163 <br /> • Person 36 <br /> • Wake 309 <br /> The mass of air pollutants emitted in a County may not be directly related to the number of <br /> facilities , but the number of permitted facilities is a good indicator of the relative significance of <br /> stationary sources in the adjacent counties . Data on the mass of pollutants emitted by each <br /> permitted facility is available , but compilation of the data was beyond the scope of this report . <br /> 6 <br />