Exemptions/General Permits

Small Business Permitting Information

Many permitting programs have different levels of permits depending on the size or significance of the facility´s emissions. Small businesses are usually better off to pursue the least time consuming, least costly, and least complicated permitting for which they can qualify.

Exemptions:

Small businesses are more likely to be exempt from permitting than larger businesses. For this reason, any search for applicable permits should include a concentration on exemptions. This sometimes provides a quick and easy resolution to permitting concerns. For example, a sawmill that process less than two million board feet of lumber per year is exempt from air permitting entirely.

The following permitting agencies publish permit exemptions online:

General Permits:

"General" or "Special" permits typically apply to facilities whose impacts to the environment are less significant or whose permitting procedures can be greatly simplified. For example, nearly all cotton gins are eligible to have their permitting fees cut in half. They simply fill out an application form that doesn´t ask for much more information than the total number of bales of cotton processed per year.