Publications Supporting Air Emissions Monitoring

Clean Air Act Amendments

The Clean Air Act (CAA) of 1970 set a national agenda for identifying areas of the nation with unhealthy air quality. It also established specific responsibilities for government and industry to promote healthy air quality nationwide. Twenty years later, the 1990 CAA Amendments (CAAA) clarified the direction for many of the established nationwide clean air programs and set out additional clean air program requirements deemed necessary to achieve the national agenda identified in 1970.

The CAA consists of sections, known as Titles, which direct: 1) EPA to establish national standards for ambient air quality, and 2) EPA and the States to implement, maintain, and enforce these standards through a variety of mechanisms. The CAA regulations appear in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) under 40 CFR Parts 50-99.

Learn more about the Clean Air Act

Learn more about the 1990 CAA Amendments (CAAA)

Compliance Assurance Monitoring (CAM) Technical Guidance Document

The Compliance Assurance Monitoring, or CAM, rule is designed to satisfy the requirements for monitoring and compliance certification in the Part 70 operating permits program and Title VII of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. The CAM rule includes a new Part 64 and associated revisions to the Part 70 (permits program) monitoring and compliance certification requirements. The rule establishes criteria that define the monitoring, reporting, and record keeping to be conducted by a source to provide a reasonable assurance of compliance with emission limitations and standards. These criteria address: 1) defining the applicable monitoring approach, 2) the obligation to complete corrective actions as indicated by the monitoring results, and 3) using the data in the annual compliance certification. The applicable monitoring approach for any operation or facility: 1) depends on the control technology used to meet the applicable emission limit, and 2) includes monitoring of operational control device parameters indicative of pollution control performance, and 3) includes record keeping of work practice and inspection procedures necessary to assure compliance operation. The final CAM Rule was published in the Federal Register on October 22, 1997.

The Compliance Assurance Monitoring (CAM) technical guidance document provides information on monitoring approaches for sources with active control devices (e.g., scrubbers, baghouses, thermal or catalytic oxidizers, or electrostatic precipitators).

The CAM Rule (pdf) (48 pp, 408 KB) - Federal Register - October 22, 1997