We appreciate the opportunity to comment on the proposed guidance regarding emergency generator operation during utility-planned electric outages. We support the issuance of this guidance, as consistent with regulatory requirements while providing relief in recognition of the emergency conditions created when a utility provides notice of 14 days or less of an upcoming outage.

While we support DEQ's effort to refine the definition of "emergency” to support real challenges associated with electric outages, we hope that there will be continuing discussion on this topic, as the guidance only addresses a small subset of the challenges and managing the balance of utility-planned outages will remain impractical.  

The proposed 14-day notice requirement does not account for significant operational realities. Short-order notices for outages are becoming increasingly common, and in some cases 30 days may not even suffice to support adequate compliance.  For industrial facilities requiring deployment of several temporary generators, procurement timelines alone span 10-15 days, including 7-10 days for delivery and 3-5 days for connection and testing, which frequently exceeds DEQ’s proposed notice period.  Additional barriers emerge regarding physical space limitations, fire code restrictions, and costs.

Federal EPA regulations define emergency situations based on a facility's lack of control over power interruptions, not on advance notice. Virginia's interpretation should align with this federal approach, recognizing that facilities cannot control when utilities execute repairs, outage duration, or complications—regardless of notification timing.  As all other states recognize, this federal alignment does not lead to excessive emissions as every stationary source is still governed by its air permit emissions limits.

We support efforts to reduce air emissions where possible, recognizing that the use of temporary generators can, in some cases, emit more pollution than permanent generators. These potential impacts are unnecessary when there are opportunities to manage air emissions more thoughtfully using existing permanent generators.

We thank the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality for this step forward.