Archived: Proposed guidelines: reducing nitrogen oxide emissions from stationary combustion turbines: chapter 1

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1. Foreword

The development of the Guidelines for the Reduction of Nitrogen Oxide Emissions from Natural Gas-fuelled Stationary Combustion Turbines (henceforth “the Guidelines”), to be published under section 54 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA), follows the agreement made by federal, provincial and territorial environment ministers to better protect human health and the environment by endorsing and implementing a new Air Quality Management System (AQMS). The AQMS includes Canadian Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particulate matter and ground-level ozone, Base Level Industrial Emissions Requirements (BLIERs) and local Air Zone Management by the provincial/territorial jurisdictions.

Environment and Climate Change Canada led a multi-stakeholder BLIERs working group that developed consensus-based NO_x emission requirements for new natural gas-fuelled combustion turbines. These requirements form the foundation for the emission limits in the Guidelines.

The Guidelines introduce a nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emission limit that is up to 50% more stringent than emission limits set out in the National Emission Guidelines for Stationary Combustion Turbines published by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Envirnonment (CCME) in 1992.

The Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada recommends that the appropriate regulatory authorities adopt the Guidelines as a baseline emission limit for NO_x from natural gas-fuelled stationary combustion turbines. However, the Guidelines do not prevent provinces or territories from setting more stringent emission requirements for combustion turbines via of their own provincial policies.