The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977 requires that the USEPA considr specific criteria in determining priorities for setting NSPS for major source categories: quantity of air pollutant emissions, extent to which air pollutant emissions endanger public health and welfare and the mobility and competitive nature of each source category. This report describes a methodology that has been developed for prioritizing source categories using the Clean Air Act criteria. The methodology, which employs three distinct computer programs, was applied to a data set of over 150 major source categories for nine different air pollutant emissions (particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, lead, sulfuric acid mist, hydrogen sulfide, and fluorides). The methodology provides for giving different weight to each of the Clean Air Act criteria and the establishment of distinct future year goals of achievement for each pollutant. The program output is a prioritized list of source categories for NSPS promulgation over a ten year period based on a multipollutant source category emission analysis. Because the programs are computerized, the prioritized source category listing can be regenerated without great difficulty to reflect additional source categories or revised source category data.

"Argonne National Laboratory, Energy and Environmental Systems Division." "Emission Standards and Engineering Division." "April 1978." Includes bibliographical references. "Interagency agreement no. IAG-D7-0 1075." "EPA-450/3-78-019."