ICIS-Air Download Summary and Data Element Dictionary

The Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) system incorporates data from the Integrated Compliance Information System for Air (ICIS-Air).

• ICIS-Air Description
  • Air Program Code Definitions
• Guidance on ICIS-Air Downloads
• ICIS-Air Datasets
• ICIS-Air Data Element Definitions

 ICIS-Air Description

ICIS-Air contains emissions, compliance, and enforcement data on stationary sources of air pollution. Regulated sources cover a wide spectrum; from large industrial facilities to relatively small operations such as dry cleaners (automobiles and other mobile air pollution sources are tracked by a different EPA system).

While ICIS-Air maintains data at several levels of detail on an air source, ECHO focuses on the data at the plant level. Plant-level data treats the entire facility as one unit rather than looking at individual emission points, processes, or stacks. Data reported at the plant level include:

• General source information, e.g., identification number, name
• High Priority Violator (HPV) information
• Air Program Information - a repeating block of data addressing each regulatory area that a facility is subject to (e.g., SIP, NSPS, NESHAP, PSD).

ICIS-Air records included in the download files are those where the operating status is planned (has applied for a construction permit), under construction, operating, temporarily closed, seasonal, or permanently closed.

 Air Program Code Definitions

State Implementation Plan (SIP)

Section 110 of the Clean Air Act requires each state to adopt and submit to EPA for approval a SIP that provides for the maintenance, implementation and enforcement of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Each SIP must include a permit program to regulate the modification and construction of any stationary source of air pollution, including stationary sources in attainment and nonattainment areas of the state, as necessary to assure that NAAQS are achieved. SIP requirements are federally enforceable under Section 113 of the Act. Reference 40 CFR Part 52. The SIP air program is considered applicable to each Federally Reportable stationary source in ICIS-AIR. Additional reporting requirements for SIP are promulgated as standards for various industrial categories. These standards are reported as subparts to the SIP, and are identified using the same subpart identification as the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS). Reporting of SIP subparts are optional.

SIP Source Under Federal Jurisdiction (FIP)

Under current law, a federally implemented plan to achieve attainment of air quality standards is used when a state is unable to develop an adequate plan, or if jurisdiction does not exist. Sources located on Indian Land should reflect the Native American air program code.

Non-Federally Reportable

Used to report State/Local/Tribal requirements not defined as federally reportable [reference Section 1, Minimum Data Requirements (MDRs)].

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) Tracking

Under Title VI of the Clean Air Act, EPA is responsible for several programs that protect the stratospheric ozone layer. These programs include: Motor Vehicle Air Conditioning; Stationary Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, Halon Blends and Handling; Phase-out of Ozone Depleting Substances; Methyl Bromide; Nonessential Products Ban; Product Labeling, and Federal Procurement. Reference 40 CFR Part 82. This program is not delegated to State, Local, or Tribal agencies.

Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD)

Part C of the Clean Air Act sets requirements for the prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) of air quality in those areas designated as either attainment or unclassifiable for purpose of meeting the National Ambient Air Quality (NAAQS) standards. These requirements are designed to protect public health and welfare, to assure that economic growth will occur in a manner consistent with the preservation of existing clean air resources and to assure that any decision to permit increased air pollution is made only after careful evaluation of all the consequences of such a decision and after public participation in the decision making process. PSD prohibits the construction and operation of a major emitting facility in an area designed as attainment or unclassifiable unless a permit has been issued that compiles with Section 165 of the Act, including the requirement that the facility install the best available control technology for each pollutant subject to regulation.

New Source Review (NSR)

New Source Review is a preconstruction permitting program that serves two important purposes: (1.) it ensures the maintenance of air quality standards when factories, industrial boilers and power plants are modified or added. In areas with unhealthy air, NSR assures that new emissions do not slow progress toward cleaner air. In areas with clean air, especially pristine areas like national parks, NSR assures that new emissions fall within air quality standards. Emission calculations are completed using potential emissions. (2.) The NSR program assures that state-of- the-art control technology is installed at new plants or at existing plants that are undergoing a major modification.

In August 2003, EPA issued a final rule that creates a category of activities that automatically will be considered routine maintenance, repair and replacement (RMRR) under the NSR permitting program. The rule defines a process unit, delineates the boundary of a process unit, defines a “functionally equivalent” component, and defines basic design parameters for electric utility steam generating units and other types of process units.

National Emission Standards For Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP Part 61)

Section 112 of the Clean Air Act identifies substances that have been designated as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), known for serious health effects, including cancer, from ambient air exposure. HAPs include: Asbestos, benzene, beryllium, coke oven emissions, inorganic arsenic, mercury, radio nuclides and vinyl chloride. Reference 40 CFR Part 61. Additional reporting requirements for NESHAP are promulgated as standards for various industrial categories. These standards are identified as subparts to the NESHAP, and can be reported to ICIS-AIR in the 302/502 (Air Program) screen. Subpart reporting is not mandatory.

Acid Precipitation

The Acid Rain Program requires major reductions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions (key components of acid rain) from electric utilities, while establishing a new approach to environmental protection through the use of market incentives, a “cap and trade” process. Affected sources are required to install systems that continuously monitor emissions in order to track progress, ensure compliance, and provide credibility to the trading component of the program. Regulated sources must report all emissions as measured by continuous emissions monitors. EPA has established standard reporting procedures and has issued standard software for such reporting.

Federally Enforceable State Operating Permit Program (FESOP)

This program (usually through SIP revision) provides a mechanism for states to establish federally enforceable State operating permits limiting the potential to emit for sources to remain below the applicability threshold for the operating permits program of Title V of the Clean Air Act (CAA). This program is available to allow States to issue FESOPs to small sources and exempt them from the Title V review, as the large number of small sources could be a resource burden on both the agency and the small sources. FESOP provides the mechanism to establish federally enforceable limits on sources’ potential to emit below the Title V threshold. This air program is used for reporting sources classified as Synthetic Minor (SM).

Native American

This program is used to identify sources located on Indian Lands. Sources do not have to be operated by tribal entities, but are subject to Tribal authority. In the absence of a Tribal Authorization Rule (TAR) or Implementation Plan (TIP), this air program will be used to identify any source subject to Tribal rule. All other applicable air programs need to be identified.

Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT)

Part 63 The EPA is directed to use technology-based and performance-based standards to significantly reduce routine emissions of hazardous air pollutants of facilities within an industry group or source category. The NESHAP standards implemented in 1990 regulate specific categories of stationary sources. The standards of this part are independent of NESHAP. A MACT standard is based on emission levels that are already being achieved by the lower emitting sources of an industrial sector. Eight years after a MACT standard is issued, EPA must assess the remaining health risks in the categories and may implement additional standards to care for any remaining risk. Reference 40CFR Part 63.

Title V

Operating Permits Reference 40 CFR Part 70. The Final Rule (July 31, 1992) established an operating permit program for States to develop programs for issuing operating permits to all major stationary sources and to certain other sources. Title V does not impose new requirements, it does provide a permit to operate that assures compliance with all applicable requirements. It allows the delegated agency the authority to collect permitting fees. All permits are required to contain standard permit requirements that specify and reference the origin of authority for each applicable term or condition, the duration of the permit (not to exceed 5 years), the monitoring and related record keeping and reporting requirements, emissions trading allowed, Federally-enforceable and compliance requirements. Any operating source with Title V permit application pending should have the “V” air program code with the operating status of “P” for pending entered in ICIS-AIR. Once the permit has been issued, the operating status should be upgraded to "O"for operating.

 Guidance on ICIS-AIR Downloads

A subset of data elements from ICIS-Air is incorporated into ECHO. This document contains the ICIS-AIR Data Element table as well as definitions of those data elements in the ECHO download query.

The files may contain repeating data fields, which will cause records to repeat the key field(s), e.g., PGM_SYS_ID, where a permit has multiple values of the repeating field(s).

Key field columns are present in all CSV files and may be used to join and relate data between files. The following table describes how the tables may be joined:

 ICIS-Air Datasets

 Facility/Source Level Identifying Data (ICIS-AIR_FACILITIES.csv)

 Air Programs (ICIS-AIR_PROGRAMS.csv)

 Air Program Subparts (ICIS-AIR_PROGRAM_SUBPARTS.csv)

 Air Pollutants (ICIS-AIR_POLLUTANTS.csv)

 Air Full Compliance Evaluations (FCEs) and Partial Compliance Evaluations (PCEs) (ICIS-AIR_FCES_PCES.csv)

 Air Stack Tests (ICIS-AIR_STACK_TESTS.csv)

 Air Title V Certifications (ICIS-AIR_TITLEV_CERTS.csv)

 ICIS-Air Formal Actions (ICIS-AIR_FORMAL_ACTIONS.csv)

 ICIS-Air Informal Actions (ICIS-AIR_INFORMAL_ACTIONS.csv)

 Case File High Priority Violations (HPVs) and Federally Reportable Violations (FRVs) (ICIS-AIR_VIOLATION_HISTORY.csv)

 ICIS-Air Data Element Definitions

The following is a list of ICIS-AIR data elements and ICIS-AIR-derived elements contained in the download. The data elements are listed alphabetically by data element name.

ACHIEVED_DATE - The date on which an Informal Enforcement Action is achieved. For an informal action based on only oral notification, it is the date the regulated entity actually received such notification. 

ACTIVITY_ID - The unique identifier for an activity performed at or related to a particular site. 

ACTIVITY_PURPOSE_DESC - The description of the purpose of the compliance evaluation.

ACTIVITY_TYPE_CODE - A code describing the type of civil enforcement activity. Valid values are: 

ACTUAL_END_DATE - Identifies the calendar date of the listed inspection (MM/DD/YYYY). 

AGENCY_TYPE_DESC - The environmental agency responsible for CAA compliance and enforcement actions. 

AIR_OPERATING_STATUS_CODE - A three-character code representing the operational condition of the associated air program (PROGRAM_CODE), or in the facilities file the overall operating status of the facility. Air Operating Status values include:

AIR_POLLUTANT_CLASS_CODE - A three-character code that categorizes a source’s emission status according to the Alabama Power Decision’s definition of a Major Source, or the 1993 EPA Compliance Monitoring Branch Classification Guidance. If there is no EPA Classification Code present, this field displays the State Classification Code value. ICIS-AIR generates a plant classification reflecting the highest emission level classification of criteria pollutants regulated by an Air program. Valid codes for the plant/source level and the pollutant level include:

AIR_PROGRAM_CODE_SUBPARTS - A field indicating applicable air program subparts. Subpart code values can be found on the ICIS-Air Program Code Subpart Descriptions page. 

AIR_STACK_TEST_STATUS_CODE - Code indicating results of Stack Test. Values include:

BEGIN_DATE - The date that data were entered in the program system. Note that air program start dates are not a required field in ICIS-Air, and are usually the date the data were last updated (see also UPDATED_DATE), as opposed to the actual date that the plant or facility first began operating.

CHEMICAL_ABSTRACT_SERVICE_NMBR (CAPP) - The chemical abstract service number (CAS) for the pollutant, if applicable.

CITY - The city in which the plant is physically located.

COUNTY_NAME - The county in which the plant is physically located. 

COMP_DETERMINATION_UID - The unique identifier for the case file activity.

COMP_MONITOR_TYPE_CODE- Three-character code identifying the compliance monitoring action type.

CURRENT_HPV - A short description indicating whether plant is categorized as a High Priority Violator (HPV), whether the violation has been addressed by a formal enforcement action, and the lead agency. Values include:

DSCV_PATHWAY_DATE - The date the violation was discovered. 

EARLIEST_FRV_DETERM_DATE - The earliest determination date of a Federally Reportable Violation (FRV). 

ENF_IDENTIFIER - A number used to uniquely identify multiple occurrences of an enforcement action. 

ENF_RESPONSE_POLICY_CODE - The type of enforcement response policy for the case file.

• HPV - High Priority Violation
• FRV - Federally Reportable Violation

ENF_TYPE_CODE - A code that identifies the type of action being taken against a plant. 

EPA_REGION - A two-character code identifying the EPA Region in which the plant is located.

FACILITY_NAME - A field (up to 40 characters) that contains the official or legal name of the plant. 

FACILITY_RPT_DEVIATION_FLAG - The flag indicating whether the facility reported any deviations during the Title V Annual Compliance Certification review.

FACILITY_TYPE_CODE - A three-character code indicating if plant is government facility.

HPV_DAYZERO_DATE - The date on which the facility entered High Priority Violator (HPV) status (MM/DD/YYYY).

HPV_RESOLVED_DATE - The date on which the facility resolved High Priority Violator (HPV) status (MM/DD/YYYY).LOCAL_CONTROL_REGION (LCON) - A two character code identifying the Local Control Region Code with jurisdiction over a plant. Note: LCON codes have different meanings in each state.

NAICS_CODE - The Primary NAICS code is the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the plant. NAICS replaced the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system as the standard for industry classification in 1997.

NFTC_PATHWAY_DATE - The date the facility was notified. 

PENALTY_AMOUNT - Field that indicates the amount of the civil penalty associated with a national action type (NATIONAL_ACTION_TYPE) which was assessed, or agreed to by a facility in the final agreement between the enforcement authority and the plant.

PGM_SYS_ID - An alphanumeric program system identifier of varying length which uniquely identifies each air source. Most ICIS-AIR PGM_SYS_IDs are composed of the Census state code, the FIPS county code, Local Control District number, and a sequence number, however the format varies by state.

POLLUTANT_CODE - A numeric code that identifies a pollutant tracked at the air program level.

 PROGRAM_CODE - A nine-character code used to identify 1) the regulatory air program(s) that applies to a particular plant or point, and 2) the regulatory air program(s) authorizing and associated with an action taken by a local, state or federal regulatory agency. Code values include:

REGISTRY_ID - The Facility Registry Service (FRS) ID of the plant. FRS uniquely identifies a facility by assigning an identification number (FRS ID), and uses this FRS ID to link together all regulatory program database records (such as permit IDs and facility IDs that facilities uses in reporting to the EPA). 

SETTLEMENT_ENTERED_DATE -  The civil case date the settlement is signed by the presiding Judge and entered by the Clerk of the Court. It is the date the Clerk stamps on the document. Date format is MM/DD/YYYY. Where multiple settlements are associated with a single enforcement action, this represents the earliest date entered. 

SIC_CODE - The four-character Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code that classifies the main product produced or service performed at the plant.

SRS_ID - The Substance Registry Services (SRS) ID of the pollutant. The SRS uniquely identifies a substance by assigning an identification number to map substance data across EPA programs regardless of synonym.

STATE - Two-character postal abbreviation code to identify the state where the plant is located.

STATE_EPA_FLAG - One-character field to identify the agency (Local control region(LCON), state, or EPA) in charge of the activity.

STREET_ADDRESS - First line of the street address or other specific identifier describing the physical address of the primary site entrance.

 UPDATED_DATE - The date the corresponding information was last updated in the program system. 

ZIP_CODE - Field that contains the five or nine-digit zip code for the plant address.