Appendix S
IV. Sources That Would Locate in a Designated Nonattainment Area
A. Conditions for approval. If the reviewing authority finds that the major stationary source or major modification would be constructed in an area designated in 40 CFR 81.300 et seq as nonattainment for a pollutant for which the stationary source or modification is major, approval may be granted only if the following conditions are met:
Condition 1. The new source is required to meet an emission Limitation4 which specifies the lowest achievable emission rate for such source.
4 If the reviewing authority determines that technological or economic limitations on the application of measurement methodology to a particular class of sources would make the imposition of an enforceable numerical emission standard infeasible, the authority may instead prescribe a design, operational or equipment standard. In such cases, the reviewing authority shall make its best estimate as to the emission rate that will be achieved and must specify that rate in the required submission to EPA (see Part V). Any permits issued without an enforceable numerical emission standard must contain enforceable conditions which assure that the design characteristics or equipment will be properly maintained (or that the operational conditions will be properly performed) so as to continuously achieve the assumed degree of control. Such conditions shall be enforceable as emission limitations by private parties under section 304. Hereafter, the term emission limitation shall also include such design, operational, or equipment standards.
Condition 2. The applicant must certify that all existing major sources owned or operated by the applicant (or any entity controlling, controlled by, or under common control with the appplicant) in the same State as the proposed source are in compliance with all applicable emission limitations and standards under the Act (or are in compliance with an expeditious schedule which is Federally enforceable or contained in a court decree).
Condition 3 . Emission reductions ( offsets ) from existing sources5 in the area of the proposed source (whether or not under the same ownership) are required such that there will be reasonable progress toward attainment of the applicable NAAQS.6 Except as provided in paragraph IV.G.5 of this Ruling (addressing PM2.5and its precursors), only intrapollutant emission offsets will be acceptable (e.g., hydrocarbon increases may not be offset against SO2reductions).
5 Subject to the provisions of paragraph IV.C of this Ruling.
6 The discussion in this paragraph is a proposal, but represents EPA's interim policy until final rulemaking is completed.
Condition 4. The emission offsets will provide a positive net air quality benefit in the affected area (see Section IV.D. below). Atmospheric simulation modeling is not necessary for volatile organic compounds and NOX. Fulfillment of Condition 3 and Section IV.D. will be considered adequate to meet this condition.
B. Exemptions from certain conditions. The reviewing authority may exempt the following sources from Condition 1 under Section III or Conditions 3 and 4. Section IV.A.:
(i) Resource recovery facilities burning municipal solid waste, and (ii) sources which must switch fuels due to lack of adequate fuel supplies or where a source is required to be modified as a result of EPA regulations (e.g., lead-in-fuel requirements) and no exemption from such regulation is available to the source. Such an exemption may be granted only if:
1. The applicant demonstrates that it made its best efforts to obtain sufficient emission offsets to comply with Condition 1 under Section III or Conditions 3 and 4 under Section IV.A. and that such efforts were unsuccessful;
2. The applicant has secured all available emission offsets; and
3. The applicant will continue to seek the necessary emission offsets and apply them when they become available.
Such an exemption may result in the need to revise the SIP to provide additional control of existing sources.
Temporary emission sources, such as pilot plants, portable facilities which will be relocated outside of the nonattainment area after a short period of time, and emissions resulting from the construction phase of a new source, are exempt from Conditions 3 and 4 of this section.
C. Baseline for determining credit for emission and air quality offsets. The baseline for determining credit for emission and air quality offsets will be the SIP emission limitations in effect at the time the application to construct or modify a source is filed. Thus, credit for emission offset purposes may be allowable for existing control that goes beyond that required by the SIP. Emission offsets generally should be made on a pounds per hour basis when all facilities involved in the emission offset calculations are operating at their maximum expected or allowed production rate. The reviewing agency should specify other averaging periods (e.g., tons per year) in addition to the pounds per hour basis if necessary to carry out the intent of this Ruling. When offsets are calculated on a tons per year basis, the baseline emissions for existing sources providing the offsets should be calculated using the actual annual operating hours for the previous one or two year period (or other appropriate period if warranted by cyclical business conditions). Where the SIP requires certain hardware controls in lieu of an emission limitation (e.g., floating roof tanks for petroleum storage), baseline allowable emissions should be based on actual operating conditions for the previous one or two year period (i.e., actual throughput and vapor pressures) in conjunction with the required hardware controls.
1. No meaningful or applicable SIP requirement. Where the applicable SIP does not contain an emission limitation for a source or source category, the emission offset baseline involving such sources shall be the actual emissions determined in accordance with the discussion above regarding operating conditions.
Where the SIP emission limit allows greater emissions than the uncontrolled emission rate of the source (as when a State has a single particulate emission limit for all fuels), emission offset credit will be allowed only for control below the uncontrolled emission rate.
2. Combustion of fuels. Generally, the emissions for determining emission offset credit involving an existing fuel combustion source will be the allowable emissions under the SIP for the type of fuel being burned at the time the new source application is filed (i.e., if the existing source has switched to a different type of fuel at some earlier date, any resulting emission reduction [either actual or allowable] shall not be used for emission offset credit). If the existing source commits to switch to a cleaner fuel at some future date, emission offset credit based on the allowable emissions for the fuels involved is not acceptable unless the permit is conditioned to require the use of a specified alternative control measure which would achieve the same degree of emission reduction should the source switch back to a dirtier fuel at some later date. The reviewing authority should ensure that adequate long-term supplies of the new fuel are available before granting emission offset credit for fuel switches.
3. Emission Reduction Credits from Shutdowns and Curtailments.
(i) Emissions reductions achieved by shutting down an existing source or curtailing production or operating hours may be generally credited for offsets if they meet the requirements in paragraphs IV.C.3.i.1. through 2 of this section.
(1) Such reductions are surplus, permanent, quantifiable, and federally enforceable.
(2) The shutdown or curtailment occurred after the last day of the base year for the SIP planning process. For purposes of this paragraph, a reviewing authority may choose to consider a prior shutdown or curtailment to have occurred after the last day of the base year if the projected emissions inventory used to develop the attainment demonstration explicitly includes the emissions from such previously shutdown or curtailed emission units. However, in no event may credit be given for shutdowns that occurred before August 7, 1977.
(ii) Emissions reductions achieved by shutting down an existing source or curtailing production or operating hours and that do not meet the requirements in paragraphs IV.C.3.i.1. through 2 of this section may be generally credited only if:
(1) The shutdown or curtailment occurred on or after the date the new source permit application is filed; or
(2) The applicant can establish that the proposed new source is a replacement for the shutdown or curtailed source, and the emissions reductions achieved by the shutdown or curtailment met the requirements of paragraphs IV.C.3.i.1. through 2 of this section.
IV. Sources That Would Locate in a Designated Nonattainment Area
A. Conditions for approval. If the reviewing authority finds that the major stationary source or major modification would be constructed in an area designated in 40 CFR 81.300 et seq as nonattainment for a pollutant for which the stationary source or modification is major, approval may be granted only if the following conditions are met:
Condition 1. The new source is required to meet an emission Limitation4 which specifies the lowest achievable emission rate for such source.
4 If the reviewing authority determines that technological or economic limitations on the application of measurement methodology to a particular class of sources would make the imposition of an enforceable numerical emission standard infeasible, the authority may instead prescribe a design, operational or equipment standard. In such cases, the reviewing authority shall make its best estimate as to the emission rate that will be achieved and must specify that rate in the required submission to EPA (see Part V). Any permits issued without an enforceable numerical emission standard must contain enforceable conditions which assure that the design characteristics or equipment will be properly maintained (or that the operational conditions will be properly performed) so as to continuously achieve the assumed degree of control. Such conditions shall be enforceable as emission limitations by private parties under section 304. Hereafter, the term emission limitation shall also include such design, operational, or equipment standards.
Condition 2. The applicant must certify that all existing major sources owned or operated by the applicant (or any entity controlling, controlled by, or under common control with the appplicant) in the same State as the proposed source are in compliance with all applicable emission limitations and standards under the Act (or are in compliance with an expeditious schedule which is Federally enforceable or contained in a court decree).
Condition 3 . Emission reductions ( offsets ) from existing sources5 in the area of the proposed source (whether or not under the same ownership) are required such that there will be reasonable progress toward attainment of the applicable NAAQS.6 Except as provided in paragraph IV.G.5 of this Ruling (addressing PM2.5and its precursors), only intrapollutant emission offsets will be acceptable (e.g., hydrocarbon increases may not be offset against SO2reductions).
5 Subject to the provisions of paragraph IV.C of this Ruling.
6 The discussion in this paragraph is a proposal, but represents EPA's interim policy until final rulemaking is completed.
Condition 4. The emission offsets will provide a positive net air quality benefit in the affected area (see Section IV.D. below). Atmospheric simulation modeling is not necessary for volatile organic compounds and NOX. Fulfillment of Condition 3 and Section IV.D. will be considered adequate to meet this condition.
B. Exemptions from certain conditions. The reviewing authority may exempt the following sources from Condition 1 under Section III or Conditions 3 and 4. Section IV.A.:
(i) Resource recovery facilities burning municipal solid waste, and (ii) sources which must switch fuels due to lack of adequate fuel supplies or where a source is required to be modified as a result of EPA regulations (e.g., lead-in-fuel requirements) and no exemption from such regulation is available to the source. Such an exemption may be granted only if:
1. The applicant demonstrates that it made its best efforts to obtain sufficient emission offsets to comply with Condition 1 under Section III or Conditions 3 and 4 under Section IV.A. and that such efforts were unsuccessful;
2. The applicant has secured all available emission offsets; and
3. The applicant will continue to seek the necessary emission offsets and apply them when they become available.
Such an exemption may result in the need to revise the SIP to provide additional control of existing sources.
Temporary emission sources, such as pilot plants, portable facilities which will be relocated outside of the nonattainment area after a short period of time, and emissions resulting from the construction phase of a new source, are exempt from Conditions 3 and 4 of this section.
C. Baseline for determining credit for emission and air quality offsets. The baseline for determining credit for emission and air quality offsets will be the SIP emission limitations in effect at the time the application to construct or modify a source is filed. Thus, credit for emission offset purposes may be allowable for existing control that goes beyond that required by the SIP. Emission offsets generally should be made on a pounds per hour basis when all facilities involved in the emission offset calculations are operating at their maximum expected or allowed production rate. The reviewing agency should specify other averaging periods (e.g., tons per year) in addition to the pounds per hour basis if necessary to carry out the intent of this Ruling. When offsets are calculated on a tons per year basis, the baseline emissions for existing sources providing the offsets should be calculated using the actual annual operating hours for the previous one or two year period (or other appropriate period if warranted by cyclical business conditions). Where the SIP requires certain hardware controls in lieu of an emission limitation (e.g., floating roof tanks for petroleum storage), baseline allowable emissions should be based on actual operating conditions for the previous one or two year period (i.e., actual throughput and vapor pressures) in conjunction with the required hardware controls.
1. No meaningful or applicable SIP requirement. Where the applicable SIP does not contain an emission limitation for a source or source category, the emission offset baseline involving such sources shall be the actual emissions determined in accordance with the discussion above regarding operating conditions.
Where the SIP emission limit allows greater emissions than the uncontrolled emission rate of the source (as when a State has a single particulate emission limit for all fuels), emission offset credit will be allowed only for control below the uncontrolled emission rate.
2. Combustion of fuels. Generally, the emissions for determining emission offset credit involving an existing fuel combustion source will be the allowable emissions under the SIP for the type of fuel being burned at the time the new source application is filed (i.e., if the existing source has switched to a different type of fuel at some earlier date, any resulting emission reduction [either actual or allowable] shall not be used for emission offset credit). If the existing source commits to switch to a cleaner fuel at some future date, emission offset credit based on the allowable emissions for the fuels involved is not acceptable unless the permit is conditioned to require the use of a specified alternative control measure which would achieve the same degree of emission reduction should the source switch back to a dirtier fuel at some later date. The reviewing authority should ensure that adequate long-term supplies of the new fuel are available before granting emission offset credit for fuel switches.
3. Emission Reduction Credits from Shutdowns and Curtailments.
(i) Emissions reductions achieved by shutting down an existing source or curtailing production or operating hours may be generally credited for offsets if they meet the requirements in paragraphs IV.C.3.i.1. through 2 of this section.
(1) Such reductions are surplus, permanent, quantifiable, and federally enforceable.
(2) The shutdown or curtailment occurred after the last day of the base year for the SIP planning process. For purposes of this paragraph, a reviewing authority may choose to consider a prior shutdown or curtailment to have occurred after the last day of the base year if the projected emissions inventory used to develop the attainment demonstration explicitly includes the emissions from such previously shutdown or curtailed emission units. However, in no event may credit be given for shutdowns that occurred before August 7, 1977.
(ii) Emissions reductions achieved by shutting down an existing source or curtailing production or operating hours and that do not meet the requirements in paragraphs IV.C.3.i.1. through 2 of this section may be generally credited only if:
(1) The shutdown or curtailment occurred on or after the date the new source permit application is filed; or
(2) The applicant can establish that the proposed new source is a replacement for the shutdown or curtailed source, and the emissions reductions achieved by the shutdown or curtailment met the requirements of paragraphs IV.C.3.i.1. through 2 of this section.
4. Credit for VOC substitution. As set forth in the Agency's “Recommended Policy on Control of Volatile Organic Compounds” (42 FR 35314, July 8, 1977), EPA has found that almost all non-methane VOCs are photochemically reactive and that low reactivity VOCs eventually form as much ozone as the highly reactive VOCs. Therefore, no emission offset credit may be allowed for replacing one VOC compound with another of lesser reactivity, except for those compounds listed in Table 1 of the above policy statement.
5. “Banking” of emission offset credit. For new sources obtaining permits by applying offsets after January 16, 1979, the reviewing authority may allow offsets that exceed the requirements of reasonable progress toward attainment (Condition 3) to be “banked” (i.e., saved to provide offsets for a source seeking a permit in the future) for use under this Ruling. Likewise, the reviewing authority may allow the owner of an existing source that reduces its own emissions to bank any resulting reductions beyond those required by the SIP for use under this Ruling, even if none of the offsets are applied immediately to a new source permit. A reviewing authority may allow these banked offsets to be used under the preconstruction review program required by Part D, as long as these banked emissions are identified and accounted for in the SIP control strategy. A reviewing authority may not approve the construction of a source using banked offsets if the new source would interfere with the SIP control strategy or if such use would violate any other condition set forth for use of offsets. To preserve banked offsets, the reviewing authority should identify them in either a SIP revision or a permit, and establish rules as to how and when they may be used.
6. Offset credit for meeting NSPS or NESHAPS. Where a source is subject to an emission limitation established in a New Source Performance Standard (NSPS) or a National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPS), ( i.e., requirements under sections 111 and 112, respectively, of the Act), and a different SIP limitation, the more stringent limitation shall be used as the baseline for determining credit for emission and air quality offsets. The difference in emissions between the SIP and the NSPS or NESHAPS, for such source may not be used as offset credit. However, if a source were not subject to an NSPS or NESHAPS, for example if its construction had commenced prior to the proposal of an NSPS or NESHAPS for that source category, offset credit can be permitted for tightening the SIP to the NSPS or NESHAPS level for such source.
D. Location of offsetting emissions. The owner or operator of a new or modified major stationary source may comply with any offset requirement in effect under this Ruling for increased emissions of any air pollutant only by obtaining emissions reductions of such air pollutant from the same source or other sources in the same nonattainment area, except that the reviewing authority may allow the owner or operator of a source to obtain such emissions reductions in another nonattainment area if the conditions in IV.D.1 and 2 are met.
1. The other area has an equal or higher nonattainment classification than the area in which the source is located.
2. Emissions from such other area contribute to a violation of the national ambient air quality standard in the nonattainment area in which the source is located.
E. Reasonable further progress. Permits to construct and operate may be issued if the reviewing authority determines that, by the time the source is to commence operation, sufficient offsetting emissions reductions have been obtained, such that total allowable emissions from existing sources in the region, from new or modified sources which are not major emitting facilities, and from the proposed source will be sufficiently less than total emissions from existing sources prior to the application for such permit to construct or modify so as to represent (when considered together with the plan provisions required under CAA section 172) reasonable further progress (as defined in CAA section 171).
F. Source obligation. At such time that a particular source or modification becomes a major stationary source or major modification solely by virtue of a relaxation in any enforceable limitation which was established after August 7, 1980, on the capacity of the source or modification otherwise to emit a pollutant, such as a restriction on hours of operation, then the requirements of this Ruling shall apply to the source or modification as though construction had not yet commenced on the source or modification.
G. Offset Ratios.
1. In meeting the emissions offset requirements of paragraph IV.A, Condition 3 of this Ruling, the ratio of total actual emissions reductions to the emissions increase shall be at least 1:1 unless an alternative ratio is provided for the applicable nonattainment area in paragraphs IV.G.2 through IV.G.4.
2. In meeting the emissions offset requirements of paragraph IV.A, Condition 3 of this Ruling for ozone nonattainment areas that are subject to subpart 2, part D, title I of the Act, the ratio of total actual emissions reductions of VOC to the emissions increase of VOC shall be as follows:
(i) In any marginal nonattainment area for ozone—at least 1.1:1;
(ii) In any moderate nonattainment area for ozone—at least 1.15:1;
(iii) In any serious nonattainment area for ozone—at least 1.2:1;
(iv) In any severe nonattainment area for ozone—at least 1.3:1 (except that the ratio may be at least 1.2:1 if the State also requires all existing major sources in such nonattainment area to use BACT for the control of VOC); and
(v) In any extreme nonattainment area for ozone—at least 1.5:1 (except that the ratio may be at least 1.2:1 if the State also requires all existing major sources in such nonattainment area to use BACT for the control of VOC); and
3. Notwithstanding the requirements of paragraph IV.G.2 of this Ruling for meeting the requirements of paragraph IV.A, Condition 3 of this Ruling, the ratio of total actual emissions reductions of VOC to the emissions increase of VOC shall be at least 1.15:1 for all areas within an ozone transport region that is subject to subpart 2, part D, title I of the Act, except for serious, severe, and extreme ozone nonattainment areas that are subject to subpart 2, part D, title I of the Act.
4. In meeting the emissions offset requirements of paragraph IV.A, Condition 3 of this Ruling for ozone nonattainment areas that are subject to subpart 1, part D, title I of the Act (but are not subject to subpart 2, part D, title I of the Act, including 8-hour ozone nonattainment areas subject to 40 CFR 51.902(b)), the ratio of total actual emissions reductions of VOC to the emissions increase of VOC shall be at least 1:1.
5. Interpollutant offsetting . In meeting the emissions offset requirements of paragraph IV.A, Condition 3 of this Ruling, the emissions offsets obtained shall be for the same regulated NSR pollutant unless interpollutant offsetting is permitted for a particular pollutant as specified in this paragraph IV.G.5. The offset requirements of paragraph IV.A, Condition 3 of this Ruling for direct PM2.5emissions or emissions of precursors of PM2.5may be satisfied by offsetting reductions of direct PM2.5emissions or emissions of any PM2.5precursor identified under paragraph II.A.31 (iii) of this Ruling if such offsets comply with an interprecursor trading hierarchy and ratio approved by the Administrator.