Emission units authorized to operate under this general operating permit (GOP) shall meet each of the following criteria.

(1)  Emission units which are authorized to operate under this GOP shall NOT be located in Aransas, Bexar, Brazoria, Calhoun, Chambers, Collin, Dallas, Denton, El Paso, Fort Bend, Galveston, Gregg, Hardin, Harris, Jefferson, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Nueces, San Patricio, Tarrant, Travis, Victoria, or Waller County.

(2)  Sites and emission units authorized by any case-by-case New Source Review (NSR) permits under Title 30 Texas Administrative Code (30 TAC) Chapter 116 (Control of Air Pollution by Permits for New Construction or Modification) shall NOT be authorized under this GOP.  Permit holders that no longer qualify for this GOP are required to submit an application for a site operating permit by December 1, 2008.

(3)  Emission units which are authorized to operate under this GOP shall NOT use an alternative means of compliance which must be approved by the executive director of the commission or the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), unless otherwise stated in the GOP.

Your company may be subject to GOP #511, 512, 513, or 514 depending on your location in Texas.  Contact Argent directly for further information regarding this and all other GOP conditions. 

Permit holders that no longer qualify for these GOP’s ARE required to submit an application for a site operating permit by December 1. 2008

Contact us directly to get Argent working for you!

Implementation of AEMS lite is accomplished through the same click-and-build process of AEMS with drivers (rules, regulations, company policies, etc) being applied to sites and equipment individually, by applying them from another comparable asset or through the use of profiles.  Argent can quickly upgrade your AEMS lite implementations at any time in the future should you wish to further enhance your compliance assurance program with email reminders and web-based task management.  This process can go the other way just as quickly so users no longer have to fear the implementation and rollout of a task management system.

The release of AEMS lite provides one more reason to select AEMS as your compliance assurance tool.  Whether you are simply looking for a better way to generate compliance manuals, implementing a system to enhance your ISO program, fulfilling EMS certification objectives or allowing responsible officials to sleep better, there is no better alternative than AEMS.

Houston, Tx (May 14, 2008)  Major steps in the development of Argent’s web-based regulatory compliance system, AEMS, has resulted in a highly integrated application that allows users even more flexibility and ease of use than ever before.

            AEMS 2.8.6 gives users tremendous power when managing HOW they facilitate rules, regulations, policies, and procedures.  One of the steps taken to ensure proper functionality of the new AEMS system is the use of Online Help Screens that enable users at all levels to get the help they need, and the questions they need answered, on the spot with just the click of a button!   Global exemptions have also been made available for marking items as “Potentially Applicable”.  The new feature of showing the exemption for the “Potentially Applicable” rule helps keep track of exemptions for future reference when deciding if a rule is still deemed “Potentially Applicable”, or if it’s status should change.

            Enhancements to the MRT (Master Reassignment Table) have been made to include the ability to add addendums, mark tasks as inactive, assign multiple responsible parties, and filter a search by frequency…all on one screen!  An enhancement to the Reporting features of AEMS includes a new report option, the Task History Report, which is similar to the Task Summary Report, but allows specific completed tasks to be located and specific task lists to be created.  A second feature added to increase flexibility of reporting is the ability to convert Reports into pdf documents.

            One of the most impressive features of AEMS 2.8.6 is the ability to use the function of Profiles in order to instantly populate sites and equipment from an existing list of “Drivers”.  Sites can now be instantly created with just a few clicks of a mouse!  Argent has also added over 10,000 new rules, including safety, RMP, NERC, and CAIR.  The addition of these rules to our master repository allows for easier implementation of future company sites, and it significantly reduces the time of implementation allowing for faster delivery of a fully populated system.

Greg Haunschild, President of Argent Consulting Services, Inc. says, “This is one of our most exciting releases to date as it now allows Argent to provide all of the functionality we have envisioned for streamlining the compliance tracking process”. 

Contact Argent Consulting Services, Inc. for further information on how to get AEMS 2.8.6 up and running for your site!

Argent introduces “Profile-based” Implementation!

Argent pioneered the “Driver-based” approach to compliance to provide a badly needed alternative to the myriad cookie-cutter task-based systems that consistently resulted in a failure rate of greater than 80%.  Our Driver-based solution has proven to be just that – a “solution, not a burden”.  Argent has now progressed to another pinnacle of compliance management with the release of our “Profile” based approach to compliance.  Now you can implement your sites with the time-tested AEMS approach of simply clicking on a “Driver”, i.e. the regulation, permit condition, policy, etc. to build your system and you also have the option of utilizing profiles to click on a list of drivers that are representative of asset characteristics to populate your site in minutes!

The advantages to this new functionality are numerous and it leads us closer to our objective of making the old cliché “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you” a reality rather than a joke.  Agencies can now create lists of applicable rules – as the TCEQ has done with GOP Index Numbers – and regulated entities can simply follow the flow chart to apply exactly what pertains to their site and assets.  Industry groups can prepare Profiles for their members to capture representative environmental, safety, DOT or any other requirements in the form of Profiles to spare them the expense of deciphering regulations or hiring consultants to individually arrive at those determinations.  Corporate level staff can effectively assist and manage the compliance of their sites by providing them with Profiles rather than generalized guidance documents or with a mandate to figure out their own tasks and enter them into a task-based tracking system.  By simply clicking on the appropriate Profile in the AEMS Online Compliance System you will have a completely populated compliance system that will provide you with detailed information and with flexibility and functionality that is impossible with the task-based approach to compliance.

See why people who have been familiar with numerous compliance systems describe the AEMS Online System as “brilliant” and “exactly what the regulated industries need”.

Comments from two TCEQ staff in the Small Business Assistance Section:

Upon being invited to review the AEMS Online Compliance System…

“We have seen several systems like this but sure, we’ll take a look”

After reviewing the unique AEMS Online Compliance System…

“This is brilliant!  This is exactly what the agency needs and exactly what the regulated entities need.  I just don’t know how you would get it approved for use by the agency due to the bureaucratic challenges you would face.  What you need to do is set up meetings to present this to industry groups such as the TCC (Texas Chemical Council) and TXOGA (Texas Oil and Gas Association).  Their members would benefit tremendously from this system.”

Comments from a Title V permit writer:

“I have wondered for years why no one had developed a system like [AEMS].  There are too many bureaucratic hurdles to get the TCEQ to adopt it but you should focus on getting industry acceptance.  [AEMS] will resolve a lot of the inefficiencies that are so prevalent in the current environmental compliance process.”

Comments from an EPA contact:

“You have really come a long way with [AEMS] since we spoke three years ago.  You need to set up an appointment with the TCEQ, and maybe you should even take this to the EPA.”

Comments from a person with a provider of regulations:

“Wow!  [AEMS] provides way more information than the task-based systems.”

Our research led us to the belief that an effective compliance system must focus on the “driver” that leads to the requirement to complete a task rather than on the task itself.  The process of implementation and the end result of AEMS versus the multitude of task-based systems are consequently profoundly different.  By properly recognizing the tasks as a part of the overall compliance process rather than the driver for compliance itself, the users and owners of AEMS are not painted into a corner.  Instead, they enjoy virtually unlimited flexibility with the management of the compliance tasks and general compliance requirements.  The immediate benefits to the users of AEMS are:  reduced implementation costs, more thorough documentation, ease of updating requirements, and significantly greater flexibility to define and manage tasks.

 The AEMS approach to implementation is based upon the belief that “regulatory compliance is not rocket science, it is gobbledygook”.  The first step to managing this quagmire of compliance requirements is to identify and capture all of the requirements as opposed to “trashing” compliance requirements that do not fit into a task slot.  Those responsible for verifying and reporting on the compliance status of their sites-whether reporting to regulatory agencies or to share holders-can take more comfort in reports from AEMS that document the entire compliance picture than they can with a summary of tasks that result from a task-based system.

Capturing every applicable and potentially applicable requirement is simple in AEMS but virtually impossible in a task-based system.  AEMS is efficient, capturing every requirement and doing it in less time than it takes a  task-based system to capture just a small portion of the applicable requirements.  Yet another significant benefit with AEMS is that the end user/owner does not have to spend weeks with a consulting firm to determine where you want your end point to be.  The AEMS implementation experts apply their regulatory knowledge to identify the regulations, permit conditions, policies and company rules applicable to the site and to all regulated equipment.  The end result is a fully populated system with all of the tasks associated with each of those “drivers”.

In summary, users will experience the ease of performing a vast amount of actions in AEMS with the click of one or two buttons.  These features are not available in a task-based system or are possible but with a great deal more effort than with AEMS.