If your project/activity will discharge pollutants to the air, land, water or sewers, you probably need a permit. Sometimes, whether you need a permit depends on the type and quantity of your emissions or discharge. If your business involves storage, disposal or treatment of hazardous wastes, you may need a permit as well. See Ohio EPA’s Guide to Environmental Permitting or the Permit Wizard as a starting point to help you identify where you need permits.
Before actually submitting any permit applications to Ohio EPA, contact your local district office to discuss your project. Depending on where the project is located, you may need to contact the local air agency to discuss air permitting requirements.
Our permitting staff can help you determine what permits you’ll need for a project. For larger projects, we recommend a pre-application meeting to discuss the project. A pre-application is a good opportunity to discuss the scope of the project and identify the technical information that will be needed as part of the permit application process. This also provides you with an opportunity to discuss the permit review process and convey any important time considerations related to your proposed construction schedule.
A lot of time and effort can be saved by discussing our mutual needs before you fill out any forms. This will help ensure that you file a complete application - one that contains all of the data and information needed to prepare a permit.
Yes! Contact Ohio EPA’s deputy director for business relations if you have a big project requiring multiple permits. The deputy director can help monitor the progress of your permit application reviews, help coordinate meetings with division staff to discuss permitting issues, and troubleshoot any problems that arise during the permit review process. We want to work with you to help ensure that your permits are all on track and moving forward.
This depends on many factors. For some permits, such as air and water, Ohio law generally sets a maximum of 180 days to act on a permit after receiving a complete application, so we recommend that you submit your application six months before you want to start construction. The permit review process generally goes faster than 180 days and we can try to further expedite the review if you are facing significant scheduling/construction constraints.
It’s important to know, though, that Ohio’s permitting laws require mandatory public notice and hearing requirements for some types of permits. These are important steps that cannot be skipped or shortened.
The best approach is to plan ahead and talk with us early, so that we understand your time tables for wanting to begin construction and can try to meet these needs.
It depends on the type of permit. For permits to construct sources, you usually have 18 months to initiate construction after you get your permit. For air and water permits, you can submit a request for a 12-month extension to this time period.
Operating and discharge permits typically last five years. If your operating permit is set to expire, you are required to get it renewed. Your issued permit and the regulations outline the time frames and when a renewal application is required. Your Ohio EPA local district office can also help you determine when renewal applications are due.
If you make changes to your process or operations, this may require that you modify any existing permits for these activities.
You should definitely work with Ohio EPA staff during the permit application process to ensure that your application is complete. In a pre-application meeting, we’ll talk about what should be contained in the application, what other data may be needed, etc. The responsibility for actually filling out the forms, however, remains with the applicant.
If you operate a small business with fewer than 100 employees, you can also contact Ohio EPA’s Office of Compliance Assistance and Pollution Prevention (OCAPP) for help in filling out application forms at 1-800-329-7518.
This depends on the technical skills of you and/or your staff. Some permits are fairly simple. For those that are complex, outside help can be beneficial. Ohio EPA cannot make recommendations on specific consulting firms to use. If you belong to a business or trade association, they may be able to help you locate consulting resources.
As a general rule, you should seek help from someone who specializes in the particular permitting area that you need assistance with (e.g., air permitting, air modeling, wastewater system design and installation). If you can get consulting help from someone with technical expertise in writing permits for operations similar to yours, this may also help save you time in getting permits.
In 2006, Senate Bill 265 expanded Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) rule 3745-31-33 to identify activities that are permissible prior to obtaining an air permit-to-install. Under the previous version of this rule, you were allowed to clear a site of vegetation and old buildings, dig holes for building or equipment footers, but you could not pour concrete or perform other activities of a permanent nature. These activities were allowed for all types of air projects (from large to small sites).
OAC rule 3745-31-33 now allows for additional activities prior to receiving an air permit. These activities can occur, provided that the owner or operator of the source has filed a complete application for a permit-to-install, the director or the director’s designee has determined that the application is complete, and the owner or operator of the source has notified the director that this activity will be undertaken prior to the issuance of a permit-to install. Activities undertaken by the source under this rule are at the risk of the owner or operator and are not a guarantee of final permit issuance. The rules do not authorize these activities if they are associated with a major source (Title V) or a synthetic minor air permit.
It’s important that you contact the permit writer at Ohio EPA to have them review pre-construction activities to help you decide what can and cannot be done before a final permit is obtained. You may need other Ohio EPA permits before beginning site activities, such as a construction storm water permit or 401 Water Quality Certification/404 permit.
Yes! If you operate a small business, contact Ohio EPA’s Office of Compliance Assistance and Pollution Prevention (OCAPP) for help.
OCAPP is an independent office within Ohio EPA that was established with a goal of providing information and resources to help businesses achieve compliance with environmental regulations. OCAPP can also help you identify and implement pollution prevention (P2) measures that can save money, increase business performance and benefit the environment.
OCAPP is a not a regulatory program at Ohio EPA. This means that information obtained by the office is not shared with Ohio EPA inspection or enforcement staff. Services of the office include:
- Toll-free hotline (1-800-329-7518) open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for your questions
- On-site compliance and P2 assessments
- Compliance and P2 workshops/training
- Library of publications that explain regulatory requirements in plain English
- Assistance in completing permit application forms
See our “Keys to Successful Permitting,” for tips to help you navigate Ohio EPA’s permitting processes and obtain the proper permits for your project.
We are continuously looking for ways to improve our permitting processes and strive to be responsive to our customers, while also meeting our important mission of environmental protection. If you have a positive experience that you would like to share, or suggestions on ways to improve our permitting processes, we invite you to provide us with your feedback.