Facility Toxic Emissions and Prioritization Tool

Learn about the toxic air contaminants emissions and prioritization scores for permitted facilities within the Bay Area for the latest available year.

Introduction

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (Air District) is providing this tool which contains the latest year toxic air contaminants emissions and prioritization scores for all permitted facilities within the Bay Area. The tool includes the following information:

Facility ID: The unique facility identification (facility ID) as assigned by the Air District.

Facility Name: The facility name as listed in the Air District’s permit to operate (PTO).

Prioritization Score: The prioritization score for a facility is a conservative preliminary indicator of the relative potential for health impacts from a facility based on the amount of toxic air contaminants (TACs) emitted from a facility, the relative toxicity of the TACs emitted, and the proximity of the facility to possible receptors. The Air District calculates each facility’s prioritization score annually, during the permit renewal process based on the facility’s most recent TAC emissions, according to the Air District’s Prioritization Score Procedures.

The prioritization score is represented visually and tabulated in the tool:

Size of Bubbles: When the user opens the tool, the prioritization scores are represented by bubbles over each permitted facility. The size of the bubbles represents the relative magnitude of each facility’s prioritization score in relation to other facilities shown on the map. The bubbles will resize when a county filter is selected.
Tabular Form: The numerical score can be viewed by a user in tabular format when a user hovers over a bubble.

Priority Rank: A priority ranking of either high, intermediate, or low priority is assigned to a facility as defined by the California Air Pollution Control Officers Association (CAPCOA) Guidelines.

High Priority – A facility is assigned a High Priority ranking when its prioritization score is 10 or greater (PS => 10). A high priority ranking does not necessarily indicate the facility’s operations pose a health risk to the community as other factors including distance to receptors, meteorological conditions, abatement equipment, terrain, and release parameters can significantly reduce potential exposures to the receptors. The Air District is reviewing all high priority facilities and is conducting new or updated facility-wide health risk assessments .
Intermediate Priority – A facility is assigned an Intermediate Priority ranking when its prioritization score is 1 or greater but less than 10 (PS => 1 and < 10). Facilities with an Intermediate Priority ranking are further evaluated by considering site-specific factors that may reduce the potential health impacts before the Air District determines if a new or updated health risk assessment is required.
Low Priority – A rank of Low Priority is assigned to any facility with a prioritization score below 1 (PS < 1). Facilities assigned a low priority ranking generally indicate minimal health impacts to the community and no additional review is required by districts. In the Bay Area, the Air District does not require health risk assessments for low priority facilities.

For all permitted facilities, the Air District does not solely rely on the prioritization scores to assess potential health impact and will perform facility-wide health assessment, as warranted on a case-by-case basis after considering site information and community concerns.

Toxic Emissions: A breakdown of estimated toxic air contaminant emissions by pollutant in pounds per year. Toxic air contaminants are identified in Table 2-5-1 of Regulation 2 - Rule 5.

Please note that data cannot be downloaded directly from the tool. The annual data presented in this tool, and for previous years, can be downloaded on the Toxic Air Contaminants main page.

Please review the Caveats for important information concerning the data presented

How to Use

Watch the How-To video for this tool, or follow the steps below:

Optional: Navigate to and click on the diagonal arrow icon located at the lower right-hand corner of the tool to access full-screen mode (depending on screen size, a user may have to scroll down until this icon appears). When the user opens the tool, the Disclaimer will appear. Press the "X" when finished reviewing and ready to use to the tool.
Select a county from the lower right-hand menu or zoom-in on a section of the map. When none is selected, the map will display data for all counties. Users may also use the + and – icons to control the zoom.
Hover over a bubble to view the facility’s ID, facility name, prioritization score, and priority ranking.
Right click on a bubble/circle and select “Drill through -> Facility Toxic Emissions” to view the facility emissions by toxic air contaminant. To download the emissions, please go to the Toxic Air Contaminants page.