Perchloroethylene (PCE) dry cleaners

Dry cleaners in Georgia that use perchloroethylene (PCE) answer to the air quality rules of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD), through its Air Protection Branch. EPD says the federal dry cleaning standard, 40 CFR Part 63 Subpart M, applies to all dry cleaning facilities that use PCE, that Georgia adopts it by reference in Chapter 391-3-1-.02(9)(b)(27) of its Rules for Air Quality Control, and that the regulation requires each such facility to submit two forms. EPD's form for later changes is titled PCE Dry Cleaner Registry Change.

In a Phase I ESA

ASTM E1527-21 does not name dry cleaner lists among its standard record sources. These air filings are the Georgia dry cleaner record that the EPD pages read describe. How to weigh a cleaner is on the Dry cleaner on the subject property and A dry cleaner next door or nearby pages.

• Two notifications. EPD says the regulation requires every dry cleaning facility using PCE to submit a Notification of Compliance Status (NOCS), which certifies compliance with the monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting requirements. The page gives its due date as on or before July 28, 2008, or within 30 days of the facility's start up date. It says a new facility also submits an Initial Notification within 30 days of start up, asks an existing facility that never sent one to send it with the NOCS, and says both are to be sent by registered mail to the addresses listed on the forms, which the pages read do not give. Ask EPD whether it holds either form for the cleaner's name and address.
• Two pages disagree on the permit. EPD's dry cleaner page says EPD issues generic permits to PCE dry cleaners and that the generic permit was updated on January 4, 2008. EPD's Generic Air Permits page says the Air Protection Branch currently has no issued generic permits. Ask the Air Protection Branch which permit, if any, covered the cleaner.
• A change form marks the end of PCE use. EPD asks for the PCE Dry Cleaner Registry Change form when a PCE cleaner changes name, owner or address, or ceases to use PCE. Its examples of ceasing are becoming a drop-off store and replacing the PCE machines with non-PCE machines. A drop-off store or a cleaner using another solvent today may have used PCE before, so ask whether a change form is on file for the address.
• Air rules are not cleanup rules. The pages read describe how a cleaner operates under the air rules and do not describe a cleanup program for dry cleaner sites. For a current or former cleaner, check the Hazardous Site Inventory, the release notifications, the Voluntary Remediation Program and the Brownfield Program as well.

What the record shows

The forms EPD posts show what a cleaner may have filed: the Initial Notification, the NOCS and any registry change form, which EPD says goes to the Division. The registry change form can be faxed to the attention of the Air Toxics Unit Manager or mailed to the address on the form. The Air Toxics Unit is part of the Stationary Source Compliance Program, which lists among its duties ensuring that sources of air toxics comply with air toxics rules, inspecting stationary sources and responding to citizen complaints about air quality.

The pages read do not link a list of PCE dry cleaners.

Where to look a site up

• The forms and the generic permit are on EPD's Dry Cleaners Perchloroethylene (PCE) Requirements page, which the Stationary Source Compliance Program page links as Georgia Air Quality Requirements for Perchloroethylene (PCE) Dry Cleaners.
• EPD's eServices page links Search Issued Air Permits. The pages read do not say whether it covers dry cleaners. Air permits in general are on the Air Quality Permits page.
• For questions about the forms, EPD gives the Georgia Small Business Environmental Assistance Program at 404-363-7000.

Getting the file

The pages read do not describe a file room for air records. EPD's Air Protection Branch page says that since March 30, 2026, requests under the Georgia Open Records Act go through its Open Records Request Portal, and that after the first 15 minutes, fees are assessed for the search, retrieval, duplication and supervised inspection of the requested documents. Give the cleaner's name and address, and ask for the notifications and any registry change form.

Sources

Georgia Environmental Protection Division pages, read October 15, 2026:

• Dry Cleaners Perchloroethylene (PCE) Requirements, last modified March 25, 2026.
• Stationary Source Compliance Program, last modified March 25, 2026.
• Generic Air Permits, last modified March 26, 2026.
• Air Protection Branch, no modified date in the saved page.

Georgia Environmental Protection Division page, read October 7, 2026:

• eServices, last modified March 30, 2026.