Small Business Technical Assistance Program
Helping Small Businesses Comply with Environmental Regulations

What is the Small Business Technical Assistance Program?

As a result of the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act (CAAA), many small businesses have been brought into the formal environmental regulatory process. Examples of small businesses that are affected by one or more of the programs under the CAAA include auto body shops, dry cleaners, furniture manufacturing and repair facilities, gasoline service stations and print shops. Small businesses are affected by regulations to control three types of air pollution: primary pollutants (ozone, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and lead), air toxic pollutants (chemical pollutants that are known to cause or are suspected of causing cancer and other serious health effects), and stratospheric ozone depleters (chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorcarbons).

Small businesses have, in many cases, limited financial and technical resources available for compliance activities to meet these regulations. In order to comply, they need low or no-cost compliance assistance. The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) responded to this need by establishing the Small Business Technical Assistance Program (SBTAP) to work with small business owners to develop solutions to environmental problems. This non-regulatory program provides confidential information about regulatory requirements and practical, cost-effective technical assistance to encourage compliance with environmental regulations.

Who is Eligible for Assistance?

The SBTAP is designed to provide assistance to small businesses that meet the following criteria:

• Have less than 100 employees.
• Are independently owned.
• Are not a major source of air pollution.
• Emit less than 50 tons of any air pollutant.
• Emit less than 75 tons of all air pollutants.
• Are not dominant in their field.

The SBTAP has three main components:

• The Small Business Ombudsman acts as the small business community's representative in matters that affect it under the CAAA. Other responsibilities include conducting studies to evaluate the effects of the CAAA on state and local economies, and on small businesses in general. The Ombudsman also provides comments and recommendations to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the N.H. Department of Environmental Services Air Resources Division regarding the development and implementation of regulations that impact small businesses.
• The Small Business Assistance Program provides the following services alone and in partnership with other assistance programs:
• Inform businesses of all requirements in the CAAA that apply to them, and the dates these requirements will apply.
• Help small businesses deal with specific technical, administrative and compliance problems.
• Disseminate up-to-date information about the CAAA to the small business community, including easy-to-understand public information materials.
• Provide pollution prevention information and assistance to reduce the amount of air emissions and other wastes created by a small business.
• Provide on-site evaluations of company work practices, monitoring procedures and record-keeping to determine effectiveness in complying with applicable clean air requirements.
• The Compliance Advisory Panel oversees the small business assistance program and the ombudsman, making recommendations for improvements and determining the overall effectiveness of the SBTAP. The panel consists of seven members: four small business owners or representatives selected by the legislature; two members of the "general public" selected by the Governor; and one member selected by the Commissioner of DES.

For more information on the SBTAP and the services it provides, please contact the Small Business Ombudsman in confidence at the address and/or telephone number below:

Small Business Ombudsman
NH Department of Environmental Services
29 Hazen Drive
PO Box 95
Concord, New Hampshire 03302-0095
1-800-837-0656
E-mail: sbo@des.state.nh.us