Current through Register Vol. 24-06, March 15, 2024
300.1 A Notice of
Construction and/or PSD permit application must be filed by the owner or
operator and an Order of Approval and/or PSD permit issued by the NWCAA, or
other designated permitting agency, prior to the establishment of any new
source, except for:
a) Those stationary
sources exempt under NWCAA 300.4 (categorical) or NWCAA 300.5 (emission
thresholds); and
b) Relocation of
any temporary source operating in accordance with NWCAA Section 301.
For purposes of this section "establishment" shall mean to
"begin actual construction", as that term is defined in NWCAA Section 200, and
"new source" shall include any "modification" to an existing "stationary
source", as those terms are defined in NWCAA Section 200.
300.2 Regardless of any other
subsection of this section, a Notice of Construction or PSD permit application
must be filed and an order of approval or PSD permit issued by the NWCAA prior
to establishment of any of the following new sources:
a) Any project that qualifies as
construction, reconstruction or modification of an affected facility, within
the meaning of 40 CFR Part 60 (New Source Performance Standards), except
Subpart AAA (Wood stoves) and such provisions of Subpart IIII pertaining to
owners and operators of emergency stationary compression ignition internal
combustion engines;
b) Any project
that qualifies as a new or modified source within the meaning of 40 CFR 61.02 (National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants), except for asbestos
demolition and renovation projects subject to 40 CFR 61.145;
c) Any project that qualifies as a new source
within the meaning of 40 CFR 63.2 (National Emission Standards for Hazardous
Air Pollutants for Source Categories), except Subpart M (Dry Cleaning
Facilities) pertaining to area source perchloroethylene dry cleaners, and
Subpart ZZZZ pertaining to emergency and limited-use stationary reciprocating
internal combustion engines;
d) Any
project that qualifies as a new major stationary source, or a major
modification;
e) Any modification
to a stationary source that requires an increase either in a plant-wide cap or
in a unit specific emission limit.
300.4 Emission unit and
activity exemptions.
Except as provided in NWCAA 300.1 and 300.2 of this section,
establishment of a new emission unit that falls within one of the categories
listed below is exempt from new source review. Modification of any emission
unit listed below is exempt from new source review, provided that the modified
unit continues to fall within one of the listed categories. The installation or
modification of a unit exempt under this subsection does not require the filing
of a Notice of Construction application.
a) Maintenance/construction:
1) Cleaning and sweeping of streets and paved
surfaces;
2) Concrete application,
and installation;
3) Dredging wet
spoils handling and placement;
4)
Paving application and maintenance, excluding asphalt plants;
5) Plant maintenance and upkeep activities
(grounds keeping, general repairs, routine house-keeping, routine plant
painting, welding, cutting, brazing, soldering, plumbing, retarring roofs,
etc.);
6) Plumbing installation,
plumbing protective coating application and maintenance activities;
7) Roofing application;
8) Insulation application and maintenance,
excluding products for resale;
9)
Janitorial services and consumer use of janitorial products.
b) Storage tanks:
Note: It can be difficult to determine requirements for storage
tanks therefore it is recommended that the owner or operator contact the NWCAA
to determine the exemption status of storage tanks prior to their
installation.
1) Lubricating oil
storage tanks except those facilities that are wholesale or retail distributors
of lubricating oils;
2) Polymer
tanks and storage devices and associated pumping and handling equipment, used
for solids dewatering and flocculation;
3) Storage tanks, reservoirs, pumping and
handling equipment of any size containing soaps, vegetable oil, grease, animal
fat, and nonvolatile aqueous salt solutions;
4) Process and white water storage
tanks;
5) Operation, loading and
unloading of storage tanks and storage vessels, with lids or other appropriate
closure and less than 260 gallon capacity (35 cft);
6) Operation, loading and unloading of
storage tanks, less than or equal to 1100 gallon capacity, with lids or other
appropriate closure, not for use with materials containing toxic air
pollutants, as defined in chapter 173-460 WAC, max. VP 550 mm Hg @21°
C;
7) Operation, loading and
unloading storage of butane, propane, or liquefied petroleum gas with a vessel
capacity less than 40,000 gallons;
8) Tanks, vessels and pumping equipment, with
lids or other appropriate closure for storage or dispensing of aqueous
solutions of inorganic salts, bases and acids.
c) A project with combined aggregate heat
input capacity from combustion units, less than or equal to any of the
following:
1) Less than or equal to 500,000
Btu/hr coal with less than or equal to 0.5% sulfur or other fuels with less
than or equal to 0.5% sulfur;
2)
Less than or equal to 500,000 Btu/hr used oil, per the requirements of RCW 70.94.610;
3) Less than or equal to
400,000 Btu/hr wood waste or paper;
4) Less than 1,000,000 Btu/hr kerosene, #1,
or #2 fuel oil and with less than or equal to 0.05% sulfur;
5) Less than or equal to 10,000,000 Btu/hr
natural gas, propane, or LPG.
Note: the heat input capacity of each combustion unit shall be
based on the higher heating value of fuel to be used.
d) Material handling:
1) Continuous digester chip
feeders;
2) Grain elevators not
licensed as warehouses or dealers by either the Washington State Department of
Agriculture or the U.S. Department of Agriculture;
3) Storage and handling of water based
lubricants for metal working where organic content of the lubricant is less
than or equal to 10%;
4) Equipment
used exclusively to pump, load, unload, or store high boiling point organic
material in tanks less than one million gallon, material with initial
atmospheric boiling point not less than 150°C or vapor pressure not more
than 5 mm Hg @21°C, with lids or other appropriate closure.
e) Water treatment:
1) Septic sewer systems, not including active
wastewater treatment facilities;
2)
NPDES permitted ponds and lagoons used solely for the purpose of settling
suspended solids and skimming of oil and grease;
3) De-aeration (oxygen scavenging) of water
where toxic air pollutants as defined in chapter 173-460 WAC are not
emitted;
4) Process water
filtration system and demineralizer vents;
5) Sewer manholes, junction boxes, sumps and
lift stations associated with wastewater treatment systems;
6) Demineralizer tanks;
7) Alum tanks;
8) Clean water condensate tanks.
f) Environmental chambers and
laboratory equipment:
1) Environmental
chambers and humidity chambers not using toxic air pollutant gases, as
regulated under chapter 173-460 WAC;
2) Gas cabinets using only gases that are not
toxic air pollutants regulated under chapter 173-460 WAC;
3) Installation or modification of a single
laboratory fume hood;
4) Laboratory
calibration and maintenance equipment.
g) Monitoring/quality assurance/testing:
1) Equipment and instrumentation used for
quality control/assurance or inspection purpose;
2) Hydraulic and hydrostatic testing
equipment;
3) Sample gathering,
preparation and management;
4)
Vents from continuous emission monitors and other analyzers.
h) Dry Cleaning: Unvented,
dry-to-dry, dry-cleaning equipment that is equipped with refrigerated
condensers and carbon absorption to recover the cleaning solvent.
i) Emergency Stationary Compression Ignition
(CI) Internal Combustion Engines (ICE): Any stationary internal combustion
engine whose operation is limited to emergency situations and required testing
and maintenance and operating less than 500 hours a year. Examples include
stationary ICE used to produce power for critical networks or equipment
(including power supplied to portions of a facility) when electric power from
the local utility (or the normal power source, if the facility runs on its own
power production) is interrupted, or stationary ICE used to pump water in the
case of fire or flood, etc. Stationary CI ICE used to supply power to an
electric grid or that supply power as part of a financial arrangement with
another entity are not considered to be emergency engines.
j) Miscellaneous:
1) Single-family residences and
duplexes;
2) Plastic pipe
welding;
3) Primary agricultural
production activities including soil preparation, planting, fertilizing, weed
and pest control, and harvesting;
4) Comfort air conditioning;
5) Flares used to indicate danger to the
public;
6) Natural and forced air
vents and stacks for bathroom/toilet activities;
7) Personal care activities;
8) Recreational fireplaces including the use
of barbecues, campfires, and ceremonial fires;
9) Tobacco smoking rooms and areas;
10) Noncommercial
smokehouses;
11) Blacksmith forges
for single forges;
12) Vehicle
maintenance activities, not including vehicle surface coating;
13) Vehicle or equipment washing (see c) of
this subsection for threshold for boilers);
14) Wax application;
15) Oxygen, nitrogen, or rare gas extraction
and liquefaction equipment not including internal and external combustion
equipment;
16) Ozone generators and
ozonation equipment;
17) Solar
simulators;
18) Ultraviolet curing
processes, to the extent that toxic air pollutant gases as defined in chapter
173-460 WAC are not emitted;
19)
Electrical circuit breakers, transformers, or switching equipment installation
or operation;
20) Pulse
capacitors;
21) Pneumatically
operated equipment, including tools and hand held applicator equipment for hot
melt adhesives;
22) Fire
suppression equipment;
23) Recovery
boiler blow-down tank;
24) Screw
press vents;
25) Drop hammers or
hydraulic presses for forging or metal working;
26) Production of foundry sand molds,
unheated and using binders less than 0.25% free phenol by sand
weight;
27) Kraft lime mud storage
tanks and process vessels;
28) Lime
grits washers, filters and handling;
29) Lime mud filtrate tanks;
30) Lime mud water;
31) Stock cleaning and pressurized pulp
washing down process of the brown stock washer;
32) Natural gas pressure regulator vents,
excluding venting at oil and gas production facilities and transportation
marketing facilities;
33) Nontoxic
air pollutant, as defined in chapter 173-460 WAC, solvent cleaners less than 10
square feet air-vapor interface with solvent vapor pressure not more than 30 mm
Hg @21°C;
34) Surface coating,
aqueous solution or suspension containing less than or equal to 1% (by weight)
VOCs, and/or toxic air pollutants as defined in chapter 173-460 WAC;
35) Cleaning and stripping activities and
equipment using solutions having less than or equal to 1% VOCs (by weight); on
metallic substances, acid solutions are not exempt;
36) Dip coating operations, using materials
less than 1% VOCs (by weight) and/or toxic air pollutants as defined in chapter
173-460 WAC.
37) Gasoline
dispensing facilities subject to chapter 173-491 WAC are exempt from toxic air
pollutant analysis pursuant to chapter 173-460 WAC.
300.5 Exemptions Based on
Emissions Thresholds
a) Except as provided in
NWCAA 300.1 and 300.2 of this section and in this subsection:
1) A new emissions unit that has an
uncontrolled potential to emit below each of the threshold levels listed in the
table contained in (d) of this subsection is exempt from new source review
provided that the conditions of (b) of this subsection are met.
2) A modification to an existing emissions
unit that increases the unit's actual emissions by less than each of the
threshold levels listed in the table contained in (d) of this subsection is
exempt from new source review provided that the conditions of (b) of this
subsection are met.
b)
The owner or operator seeking to exempt a project from new source review under
this section shall notify, and upon request, file a brief project summary with
the NWCAA thirty (30) days prior to beginning actual construction on the
project. If the NWCAA determines that the project will have more than a de
Minimus impact on air quality as defined in 300.5 d), the NWCAA shall require
the filing of a Notice of Construction or PSD permit application. The NWCAA may
require the owner or operator to demonstrate that the emissions increase from
the new emissions unit is smaller than all of the thresholds listed below. In
accordance with NWCAA 324.2, a filing and NOC applicability determination fee
shall apply when the NWCAA issues a written determination that a project is
exempt for new source review.
c)
The owner or operator may begin actual construction on the project thirty-one
(31) days after the NWCAA receives the project summary, unless the NWCAA
notifies the owner or operator within thirty (30) days that the proposed new
source requires a Notice of Construction or PSD permit application.
d) Exemption threshold table:
POLLUTANT THRESHOLD LEVEL (ton per year)
1) Total Suspended Particulates:
1.25
2)
PM10: 0.75
3) PM2.5:
0.5
4) Sulfur Oxides: 2.0
5) Nitrogen Oxides: 2.0
6) Volatile Organic Compounds: total
2.0
7) Carbon Monoxide:
5.0
8) Lead: 0.005
9) Ozone Depleting Substances: total 1.0 (in
effect on July 1, 2000)
10) Toxic
Air Pollutants: as specified in chapter 173-460 WAC.
(e) Greenhouse gas emissions are exempt from
new source review under this section except to the extent required under WAC
173-400-720, prevention of significant deterioration. The owner or operator of
a source or emissions unit may request that NWCAA impose emission limits and/or
operation limitations for greenhouse gas in any new source review Order of
Approval.
300.6 The
Control Officer may require that a new source, that would otherwise be exempt
under this section, submit a Notice of Construction application and be granted
approval as specified in this section. This discretionary determination shall
be based on the nature of air pollution emissions from the stationary source
and its potential effect on health, economic and social factors, or physical
effects on property. Upon request, the proponent shall submit to the Control
Officer, appropriate information as necessary to make this
determination.
300.7 Notice of
Construction - Submittal Requirements Each Notice of Construction application
shall:
a) be submitted on forms provided by
the NWCAA;
b) be accompanied by the
appropriate fee specified in NWCAA 324.2;
c) be accompanied by a completed State
Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) checklist consistent with NWCAA 155;
and
d) include a "top down" BACT
analysis, as defined at the time of submittal, except where the Federal Clean
Air Act requires LAER; and
e) An
applicant filing a Notice of Construction application for a project described
in WAC 173-400-117(2), Special protection requirements for Class I areas, shall
send a copy of the application to the responsible federal land manager.
300.8 Notice of
Construction - Completeness Determination.
a)
Within thirty (30) days after receiving a Notice of Construction or PSD permit
application, the NWCAA shall either notify the applicant in writing that the
application is complete or notify the applicant in writing of additional
information necessary to complete the application.
b) For a project subject to the Special
protection requirements for federal Class I areas in WAC 173-400-117(2), a
completeness determination includes a determination that the application
includes all information required for review of that project under WAC
173-400-117(3).
c) For a project
subject to PSD review under WAC 173-400-720 through -750, a completeness
determination includes a determination that the application provides all
information required to conduct the PSD review.
300.9 Notice of Construction - Final
Determination
a) Within sixty (60) days of
receipt of a complete Notice of Construction or PSD permit application, the
NWCAA shall either issue a final decision on the application or initiate public
notice under NWCAA Section 305 on a proposed decision, followed as promptly as
possible by a final decision.
b) A
person seeking approval to construct or modify a stationary source that
requires an operating permit may elect to integrate review of the operating
permit application or amendment required under RCW 70.94.161 and the Notice of
Construction or PSD permit application required by this section. A Notice of
Construction or PSD permit application designated for integrated review shall
be processed in accordance with operating permit program procedures and
deadlines in chapter 173-401 WAC. A PSD permit application under WAC
173-400-720 through -750, a notice of nonattainment area construction
application for a major modification in a nonattainment area, or a Notice of
Construction application for a major stationary source in a nonattainment area
must also comply with WAC 173-400-171.
c) Every final determination on a Notice of
Construction or PSD permit application shall be reviewed and signed prior to
issuance by a professional engineer or staff under the direct supervision of a
professional engineer in the employ of the NWCAA.
d) If the new source is a major stationary
source or the change is a major modification, the application shall be
processed in accordance with the applicable sections of WAC 173-400-112, 113,
117 and 171. The permitting agency shall:
1)
Submit any control technology determination included in a final Order of
Approval or PSD permit to the RACT/BACT/LAER clearinghouse maintained by EPA;
and
2) Send a copy of the final
Order of Approval or PSD permit to EPA.
300.10 Order of Approval - Appeals
An Order of Approval or PSD permit, any conditions contained in
an Order of Approval or PSD permit, or the denial of a Notice of Construction
or PSD permit application may be appealed to the Pollution Control Hearings
Board as provided in chapter 43.21B RCW. The NWCAA shall promptly mail copies
of each order approving or denying a Notice of Construction or PSD permit
application to the applicant and to any other party who submitted timely
comments on the application, along with a notice advising parties of their
rights of appeal to the Pollution Control Hearings Board.
300.12 Order of
Approval - Change of Conditions.
a) The owner
or operator may request, at any time, a change in conditions of an Order of
Approval or PSD permit and the NWCAA may approve the request provided the NWCAA
finds that:
1) The change in conditions will
not cause the stationary source to exceed an emissions standard;
2) No ambient air quality standard or PSD
increment will be exceeded as a result of the change;
3) The change will not adversely impact the
ability of Ecology or the NWCAA to determine compliance with an emissions
standard;
4) The revised order will
continue to require BACT, as defined at the time of the original approval, for
each new source approved by the order except where the Federal Clean Air Act
requires LAER; and
5) The revised
order meets the requirements of this section and WAC 173-400-110, 173-400-112,
173-400-113 and 173-400-720 through -750, as applicable.
b) Actions taken under this subsection are
subject to the public involvement provisions of NWCAA Section 305 or WAC
173-400-171 as applicable.
c) This
rule does not prescribe the exact form such requests must take. However, if the
request is filed as a Notice of Construction application, that application must
be acted upon using the timelines found in NWCAA 300.8 and NWCAA 300.9 and the
fee schedule found in NWCAA 324.
300.13 Replacement or Substantial Alteration
of Emission Control Technology at an Existing Stationary Source.
a) Any person proposing to replace or
substantially alter the emission control technology installed on an existing
stationary source or emission unit shall file a Notice of Construction
application with the NWCAA. Replacement or substantial alteration of control
technology does not include routine maintenance, repair or similar parts
replacement.
b) For projects not
otherwise reviewable under NWCAA Section 300, the NWCAA may:
1) Require that the owner or operator employ
RACT for the affected emission unit;
2) Prescribe reasonable operation and
maintenance conditions for the control equipment; and
3) Prescribe other requirements as authorized
by chapter 70.94 RCW.
c)
Within thirty (30) days of receipt of a Notice of Construction application
under this section the NWCAA shall either notify the applicant in writing that
the application is complete or notify the applicant in writing of all
additional information necessary to complete the application. Within thirty
(30) days of receipt of a complete Notice of Construction application under
this section the NWCAA shall either issue an Order of Approval or a proposed
RACT determination for the proposed project.
d) Construction shall not "commence," as
defined in NWCAA Section 200, on a project subject to review under this section
until the NWCAA issues a final Order of Approval. However, any Notice of
Construction application filed under this section shall be deemed to be
approved without conditions if the NWCAA takes no action within thirty (30)
days of receipt of a complete Notice of Construction application.
e) Approval to replace or substantially alter
emission control technology shall become invalid if construction is not
commenced within eighteen months after receipt of such approval, if
construction is discontinued for a period of eighteen months or more, or if
construction is not completed within a reasonable time. The NWCAA may extend
the eighteen-month period upon a satisfactory showing that an extension is
justified. This provision does not apply to the time period between
construction of the approved phases of a phased construction project; each
phase must commence construction within eighteen months of the projected and
approved commencement date.
