Current through Register Vol. 24-06, March 15, 2024
(1)
Applicability.
(a) WAC
173-400-110,
173-400-111,
173-400-112, and
173-400-113 apply statewide
except where a permitting authority has adopted its own new source review
regulations.
(b) This section
applies to new sources and stationary sources as defined in
RCW
70.94.030, and WAC
173-400-030, but does not include
nonroad engines.
(c) For purposes
of this section:
(i) "Establishment" means to
begin actual construction;
(ii)
"New source" includes:
(A) A modification to
an existing stationary source, as "modification" is defined in WAC
173-400-030:
(B) The construction, modification, or
relocation of a portable source as defined in WAC
173-400-030, except those
relocating in compliance with WAC
173-400-036;
(C) The establishment of a new or modified
toxic air pollutant source, as defined in WAC
173-460-020; and
(D) A major modification to an existing major
stationary source, as defined in WAC
173-400-710 and
173-400-810.
(d) New source review of a
modification is limited to the emission unit or units proposed to be modified
and the air contaminants whose emissions would increase as a result of the
modification. Review of a major modification must comply with WAC
173-400-700 through
173-400-750 or
173-400-800 through
173-400-860, as
applicable.
(e) The procedural
requirements pertaining to NOC applications and orders of approval for new
sources that are not major stationary sources, as defined in WAC
173-400-710 and
173-400-810, shall not apply to
any person conducting a remedial action at a facility pursuant to a consent
decree, order, or agreed order issued pursuant to
chapter
70.105D RCW, Model
Toxics Control Act, or to the department of ecology when it conducts a remedial
action under
chapter
70.105D RCW. The
department of ecology shall ensure compliance with the substantive requirements
of this chapter through the consent decree, order, or agreed order issued
pursuant to
chapter
70.105D RCW using the
procedures outlined in WAC
173-340-710(9)
or during a department-conducted remedial action, through the procedures
outlined in WAC
173-340-710(9).
(2)
Preconstruction approval
requirements. The applicant must evaluate the proposed project and
submit an application addressing all applicable new source review requirements
of this chapter.
(a) A notice of construction
application must be filed and an order of approval must be issued by the
permitting authority prior to the establishment of any new source or
modification except for those new sources or modifications exempt from
permitting under subsections (4), (5), and (6) of this section.
(b) If the proposed project is a new major
stationary source or a major modification, located in a designated
nonattainment area, and if the project emits the air pollutant or precursors of
the air pollutant for which the area is designated nonattainment, and the
project meets the applicability criteria in WAC
173-400-820, then the project is
subject to the permitting requirements of WAC
173-400-800 through
173-400-860.
(c) If the proposed project is a new major
stationary source or a major modification that meets the applicability criteria
of WAC 173-400-720, then the project is
subject to the PSD permitting requirements of WAC
173-400-700 through
173-400-750.
(d) If the proposed project will increase
emissions of toxic air pollutants regulated under chapter 173-460 WAC, then the
project must meet all applicable requirements of that program.
(4)
Emission unit and activity
exemptions.
The construction or modification of emission units or an
activity in one of the categories listed below is exempt from new source
review, provided that the modified unit continues to fall within one of the
listed categories. The construction or modification of an emission unit or an
activity exempt under this subsection does not require the filing of a notice
of construction application.
(a)
Maintenance/construction:
(i) Cleaning and
sweeping of streets and paved surfaces;
(ii) Concrete application, and
installation;
(iii) Dredging wet
spoils handling and placement;
(iv)
Paving application and maintenance. This provision does not exempt asphalt
plants from this chapter;
(v) Plant
maintenance and upkeep activities (grounds keeping, general repairs, house
keeping, plant painting, welding, cutting, brazing, soldering, plumbing,
retarring roofs, etc.);
(vi)
Plumbing installation, plumbing protective coating application and maintenance
activities;
(vii) Roofing
application and maintenance;
(viii)
Insulation application and maintenance;
(ix) Janitorial services and consumer use of
janitorial products;
(x)
Construction activities that do not result in new or modified stationary
sources or portable stationary sources.
(b) Storage tanks:
Note:
|
It can be difficult to determine requirements for
storage tanks. Ecology strongly recommends that an owner or operator contact
the permitting authority to determine the exemption status of storage tanks
prior to their installation.
|
(i) Lubricating
oil storage tanks. This provision does not exempt wholesale distributors of
lubricating oils from this chapter;
(ii) Polymer tanks and storage devices and
associated pumping and handling equipment, used for solids dewatering and
flocculation;
(iii) Storage tanks,
reservoirs, pumping and handling equipment of any size containing soaps,
vegetable oil, grease, animal fat, and nonvolatile aqueous salt
solutions;
(iv) Process and white
water storage tanks;
(v) Operation,
loading and unloading of storage tanks and storage vessels, with lids or other
appropriate closure and less than 260-gallon capacity (35 cubic
feet);
(vi) Operation, loading and
unloading of storage tanks, <= 1100 gallon capacity, with lids or other
appropriate closure, not for use with materials containing toxic air
pollutants, as listed in chapter 173-460 WAC, max. VP 550 mm mercury at
21°C;
(vii) Operation, loading
and unloading storage of butane, propane, or liquefied petroleum gas with a
vessel capacity less than 40,000 gallons;
(viii) 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) New or modified emission units with
combined aggregate heat inputs to combustion units (excluding emergency engines
exempted by subsection (4)(h)(xxxix) of this section), less than or equal to
all of the following, as applicable:
(i) <=
500,000 Btu/hr using coal with <= 0.5% sulfur or other solid fuels with
<= 0.5% sulfur;
(ii) <=
500,000 Btu/hr using used oil, per the requirements of
RCW
70.94.610;
(iii) <= 400,000 Btu/hr using wood waste
or paper;
(iv) <= 1,000,000
Btu/hr using gasoline, kerosene, #1, or #2 fuel oil and with <=0.05%
sulfur;
(v) <= 4,000,000 Btu/hr
using natural gas, propane, or LPG.
(d) Material handling:
(i) Continuous digester chip
feeders;
(ii) Grain elevators not
licensed as warehouses or dealers by either the Washington state department of
agriculture or the U.S. Department of Agriculture;
(iii) Storage and handling of water based
lubricants for metal working where organic content of the lubricant is <=
10%;
(iv) 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
mercury at 21°C, with lids or other appropriate closure.
(e) Water treatment:
(i) Septic sewer systems, not including
active wastewater treatment facilities;
(ii) NPDES permitted ponds and lagoons used
solely for the purpose of settling suspended solids and skimming of oil and
grease;
(iii) De-aeration (oxygen
scavenging) of water where toxic air pollutants as defined in chapter 173-460
WAC are not emitted;
(iv) Process
water filtration system and demineralizer vents;
(v) Sewer manholes, junction boxes, sumps and
lift stations associated with wastewater treatment systems;
(vi) Demineralizer tanks;
(vii) Alum tanks;
(viii) Clean water condensate
tanks.
(f) Environmental
chambers and laboratory equipment:
(i)
Environmental chambers and humidity chambers using only gases that are not
toxic air pollutants listed in chapter 173-460 WAC;
(ii) Gas cabinets using only gases that are
not toxic air pollutants regulated under chapter 173-460 WAC;
(iii) Installation or modification of a
single laboratory fume hood;
(iv)
Laboratory research, experimentation, analysis and testing at sources whose
primary purpose and activity is research or education. To be exempt, these
sources must not engage in the production of products, or in providing
commercial services, for sale or exchange for commercial profit except in a de
minimis manner. Pilot-plants or pilot scale processes at these sources are not
exempt.
(v) Laboratory calibration
and maintenance equipment.
(g) Monitoring/quality assurance/testing:
(i) Equipment and instrumentation used for
quality control/assurance or inspection purpose;
(ii) Hydraulic and hydrostatic testing
equipment;
(iii) Sample gathering,
preparation and management;
(iv)
Vents from emission monitors and other analyzers.
(h) Miscellaneous:
(i) Single-family residences and
duplexes;
(ii) Plastic pipe
welding;
(iii) Primary agricultural
production activities including soil preparation, planting, fertilizing, weed
and pest control, and harvesting;
(iv) Comfort air conditioning;
(v) Flares used to indicate danger to the
public;
(vi) Natural and forced air
vents and stacks for bathroom/toilet activities;
(vii) Personal care activities;
(viii) Recreational fireplaces including the
use of barbecues, campfires, and ceremonial fires;
(ix) Tobacco smoking rooms and
areas;
(x) Noncommercial
smokehouses;
(xi) Blacksmith forges
for single forges;
(xii) Vehicle
maintenance activities, not including vehicle surface coating;
(xiii) Vehicle or equipment washing (see (c)
of this subsection for threshold for boilers);
(xiv) Wax application;
(xv) Oxygen, nitrogen, or rare gas extraction
and liquefaction equipment not including internal and external combustion
equipment;
(xvi) Ozone generators
and ozonation equipment;
(xvii)
Solar simulators;
(xviii)
Ultraviolet curing processes, to the extent that toxic air pollutant gases as
defined in chapter 173-460 WAC are not emitted;
(xix) Electrical circuit breakers,
transformers, or switching equipment installation or operation;
(xx) Pulse capacitors;
(xxi) Pneumatically operated equipment,
including tools and hand held applicator equipment for hot melt
adhesives;
(xxii) Fire suppression
equipment;
(xxiii) Recovery boiler
blow-down tank;
(xxiv) Screw press
vents;
(xxv) Drop hammers or
hydraulic presses for forging or metal working;
(xxvi) Production of foundry sand molds,
unheated and using binders less than 0.25% free phenol by sand
weight;
(xxvii) Kraft lime mud
storage tanks and process vessels;
(xxviii) Lime grits washers, filters and
handling;
(xxix) Lime mud filtrate
tanks;
(xxx) Lime mud
water;
(xxxi) Stock cleaning and
pressurized pulp washing down process of the brown stock washer;
(xxxii) Natural gas pressure regulator vents,
excluding venting at oil and gas production facilities and transportation
marketing facilities;
(xxxiii)
Solvent cleaners less than 10 square feet air-vapor interface with solvent
vapor pressure not more than 30 mm mercury at 21°C where no toxic air
pollutants as listed under chapter 173-460 WAC are emitted;
(xxxiv) Surface coating, aqueous solution or
suspension containing <= 1% (by weight) VOCs, or <= 1% (by weight) toxic
air pollutants as listed in chapter 173-460 WAC;
(xxxv) Cleaning and stripping activities and
equipment using solutions having <= 1% VOCs (by weight) or <= 1% (by
weight) toxic air pollutants. Acid solutions used on metallic substances are
not exempt;
(xxxvi) Dip coating
operations, using materials less than 1% VOCs (by weight) or <= 1% (by
weight) toxic air pollutants as listed in chapter 173-460 WAC.
(xxxvii) Abrasive blasting performed inside a
booth or hangar designed to capture the blast grit or overspray.
(xxxviii) For structures or items too large
to be reasonably handled indoors, abrasive blasting performed outdoors that
employs control measures such as curtailment during windy periods and enclosure
of the area being blasted with tarps and uses either steel shot or an abrasive
containing less than one percent (by mass) which would pass through a No. 200
sieve.
(xxxix) Stationary emergency
internal combustion engines with an aggregate brake horsepower that is less
than or equal to 500 brake horsepower.
(xl) Gasoline dispensing facilities with
annual gasoline throughputs less than those specified in WAC
173-491-040(4)(a).
Gasoline dispensing facilities subject to chapter 173-491 WAC are exempt from
toxic air pollutant analysis pursuant to chapter 173-460 WAC.
(5)
Exemptions based on emissions.
(a) Except as provided in this subsection:
(i) Construction of a new emissions unit that
has a potential to emit below each of the levels listed in Table 110(5)
Exemption levels is exempt from new source review.
(ii) A modification to an existing emissions
unit that increases the unit's actual emissions by less than each of the
threshold levels listed in Table 110(5) Exemption levels of this subsection is
exempt from new source review.
(b) Greenhouse gas emissions are exempt from
new source review requirements except to the extent required under WAC
173-400-720, prevention of
significant deterioration. The owner or operator of a source or emission unit,
may request that the permitting authority impose emission limits and/or
operation limitations for greenhouse gas in any new source review order of
approval.
Table 110(5) Exemption levels:
POLLUTANT
|
LEVEL (TONS
PER YEAR)
|
Carbon monoxide
|
|
5.0
|
Lead
|
|
0.005
|
Nitrogen oxides
|
|
2.0
|
PM-10
|
|
0.75
|
PM-2.5
|
|
0.5
|
Total suspended particulates
|
|
1.25
|
Sulfur dioxide
|
|
2.0
|
Volatile Organic Compounds, total
|
|
2.0
|
Ozone Depleting Substances, total
|
|
1.0
|
Toxic Air Pollutants
|
The de minimis emission rate specified for each TAP
in WAC 173-460-150.
|
Statutory Authority:
Chapter
70.94 RCW. 12-24-027
(Order 11-10), § 173-400-110, filed 11/28/12, effective 12/29/12;
11-06-060 (Order 09-01), § 173-400-110, filed 3/1/11, effective 4/1/11.
Statutory Authority: Washington Clean Air Act,
RCW
70.94.152. 09-11-131 (Order 05-19), §
173-400-110, filed 5/20/09, effective 6/20/09. Statutory Authority:
RCW
70.94.395 and
70.94.331. 07-11-039 (Order
06-03), § 173-400-110, filed 5/8/07, effective 6/8/07. Statutory
Authority:
RCW
70.94.152. 05-03-033 (Order 03-07), §
173-400-110, filed 1/10/05, effective 2/10/05. Statutory Authority:
Chapter
70.94 RCW,
RCW
70.94.141, [70.94.]152,[70.94.]331 ,
[70.94.]510 and 43.21A.080. 01-17-062 (Order 99-06), § 173-400-110, filed
8/15/01, effective 9/15/01. Statutory Authority:
RCW
70.94.860,
70.94.510 and
70.94.331. 98-15-129 (Order
98-04), § 173-400-110, filed 7/21/98, effective 8/21/98. Statutory
Authority:
RCW
70.94.152. 98-01-183 (Order 96-01), §
173-400-110, filed 12/23/97, effective 1/23/98. Statutory Authority:
Chapter
70.94 RCW. 93-18-007
(Order 93-03), § 173-400-110, filed 8/20/93, effective 9/20/93; 91-05-064
(Order 90-06), § 173-400-110, filed 2/19/91, effective 3/22/91. Statutory
Authority:
Chapters
43.21A and
70.94 RCW. 83-09-036 (Order DE
83-13), § 173-400-110, filed 4/15/83. Statutory Authority:
RCW
70.94.331,
70.94.510, and
70.94.785. 81-03-002 (Order DE
80-53), § 173-400-110, filed 1/8/81. Statutory Authority:
RCW
70.94.331. 80-11-059 (Order DE 80-14), §
173-400-110, filed 8/20/80. Statutory Authority:
RCW
43.21A.080 and
70.94.331. 79-06-012 (Order DE
78-21), § 173-400-110, filed 5/8/79; Order DE 76-38, § 173-400-110,
filed 12/21/76. Formerly WAC
18-04-110.