U Large Combustion Emission Units

(1) Applicability. As set forth in 310 CMR 7.02(3) and (5)(a)11., a Comprehensive Plan Application is required from any person prior to substantially reconstructing one or more large combustion emission units resulting in a major modification. The requirements of 310 CMR 7.54 shall not apply to a pollutant if the facility is located in an area designated as non-attainment under the Clean Air Act, § 107 (42 U.S.C. 7407), for that pollutant. (2) Definitions. The definitions in 310 CMR 7.00 apply to 310 CMR 7.54. However, the following terms have the following meanings when they appear in 310 CMR 7.54. If a term is defined both in 310 CMR 7.00 and .54(2), the definition in 310 CMR 7.54(2) applies for purposes of 310 CMR 7.54. Actual Emissions means the actual rate of emissions of a pollutant from an emissions unit, as determined in accordance with 310 CMR 7.54: Actual Emissions(a) through (c). (a) In general, actual emissions as of a particular date shall equal the average rate, in tons per year, at which the unit actually emitted the p`ollutant during a two-year period which precedes the particular date and which is representative of normal operation. The Department shall allow the use of a different time period upon a determination that it is more representative of normal operation. Actual emissions shall be calculated using the unit's actual operating hours, production rates, and types of materials processed, stored, or combusted during the selected time period. (b) For any emissions unit (other than an electric utility steam generating unit specified in 310 CMR 7.54: Actual Emissions(c)), which has not begun normal operations on the particular date, actual emissions shall equal the potential to emit of the unit on that date. (c) For an electric utility steam generating unit (other than a new unit or the replacement of an existing unit), actual emissions of the unit following the physical or operational change shall equal the representative actual annual emissions of the unit, provided the facility owner or operator maintains and submits to the Department on an annual basis for a period of five years from the date the unit resumes regular operation, information demonstrating that the physical or operational change did not result in an emissions increase. A longer period, not to exceed ten years, may be required by the Department if it determines such a period to be more representative of normal facility post-change operations. Allowable Emissions means the emissions rate of a facility calculated using the maximum rated capacity of the LCEU(s) (unless the LCEU is subject to federally enforceable limits which restrict the operating rate, or hours of operation, or both) and the most stringent emission standard, including one with a future compliance date. Begin Actual Construction means, in general, initiation of physical on-site construction activities on an LCEU, which are of a permanent nature. Such activities include, but are not limited to, installation of building supports and foundations, laying underground pipe work and construction of permanent storage structures. With respect to a change in method of operations, this term refers to those on-site activities other than preparatory activities which mark the initiation of the change. Commence as applied to construction of an LCEU means that the owner or operator has all necessary plan approvals required pursuant to 310 CMR 7.02 and either has: (a) Begun, or caused to begin, a continuous program of actual on-site construction of the LCEU, to be completed within a reasonable time; or (b) Entered into binding agreements or contractual obligations, which cannot be cancelled or modified without substantial loss to the owner or operator, to undertake a program of actual construction of the LCEU to be completed within a reasonable time. Complete means, in reference to an application for a plan approval, that the application contains all of the information necessary for processing the application. Construction means any physical change or change in the method of operation (including fabrication, erection, installation, demolition, or modification of an emissions unit) which would result in a change in actual emissions. Electric Utility Steam Generating Unit means any steam electric generating unit that is constructed for the purpose of supplying more than one-third of its potential electric output capacity and more than 25 MW electrical output to any utility power distribution system for sale. Any steam supplied to a steam distribution system for the purpose of providing steam to a steam- electric generator that would produce electrical energy for sale is also considered in determining the electrical energy output capacity of the affected facility. Indirect Heat Exchanger means combustion equipment in which the flame or the products of combustion are separated from any contact with the principal material in the process by metallic or refractory walls. It includes, but is not limited to, steam boilers (including combustion turbines with Heat Recovery Steam Generators), vaporizers, melting pots, heat exchangers, column reboilers, fractioning column feed preheaters, reactor feed preheaters, fuel-fired reactors such as steam hydrocarbon reformer heaters and pyrolysis heaters. Large Combustion Emission Unit (LCEU) means either: (a) an indirect heat exchanger with an energy input capacity greater than or equal to 250,000,000 Btu per hour, or (b) a municipal waste combustor with a capacity greater than 250 tons per day of municipal solid waste. Major Modification means any physical change or change in the method of operation of large combustion emission unit(s) at a facility that would result in a significant net emissions increase of any pollutant subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act. A physical change or change in the method of operation shall not include: (a) Routine maintenance, repair and replacement; (b) Use of an alternative fuel or raw material by an LCEU which: 1. The LCEU was capable of accommodating before January 6, 1975, unless such change would be prohibited under any federally enforceable condition which was established after January 6, 1975; or 2. The LCEU is approved to use under any plan approval issued under 310 CMR 7.02; (c) An increase in the hours of operation or in the production rate, unless such change would be prohibited under any federally enforceable condition which was established after January 6, 1975; or (d) Any change in ownership at a facility; or (e) The addition, replacement or use of a pollution control project at an existing LCEU, unless the Department determines that such addition, replacement, or use renders the unit less environmentally beneficial; or (f) The installation, operation, cessation, or removal of a temporary clean coal technology demonstration project, provided that the project complies with all applicable requirements. Net Emissions Increase means the amount by which the sum of the following exceeds zero: (a) Any increase in actual emissions from a particular physical change or change in method of operation of LCEU(s) at the facility; and (b) Any other increases and decreases in actual emissions from LCEUs at the facility that are contemporaneous with the particular change and are otherwise creditable. (c) An increase or decrease in actual emissions is contemporaneous with the increase from the particular change only if it occurs between: 1. The date five years before construction of the particular change commences; and 2. The date that the increase from the particular change occurs. (d) An increase or decrease in actual emissions is creditable only if: 1. the Department has not relied on it in issuing a plan approval required pursuant to 310 CMR 7.54, or a PSD (Prevention of Significant Deterioration) permit pursuant to 40 CFR 52.21 (Note: Prior to March 3, 2003 the Department issued PSD permits in Massachusetts), and 2. the plan approval or PSD permit is in effect when the increase in actual emissions from the particular change occurs. (e) With respect to particulate matter, only PM-10 emissions can be used to evaluate the net emissions increase for PM-10. (f) An increase in actual emissions is creditable only to the extent that the new level of actual emissions exceeds the old level. (g) A decrease in actual emissions is creditable only to the extent that: 1. The old level of actual emissions or the old level of allowable emissions, whichever is lower, exceeds the new level of actual emissions; 2. It is federally enforceable at and after the time that actual construction of the particular change begins; and 3. It has approximately the same qualitative significance for public health and welfare as that attributed to the increase from the particular change. (h) An increase that results from a physical change at a facility occurs when the LCEU on which construction occurred becomes operational and begins to emit a particular pollutant. Any replacement unit that requires shakedown becomes operational only after a reasonable shakedown period, not to exceed 180 days. Pollution Control Project means any activity or project undertaken on an LCEU for purposes of reducing emissions from such unit. Such activities or projects are limited to: (a) The installation of conventional or innovative pollution control technology, including but not limited to: 1. conventional or advanced flue gas desulfurization, sorbent injection for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides or mercury controls; or 2. electrostatic precipitators or fabric filters; or 3. selective catalytic reduction or non-selective catalytic reduction for control of oxides of nitrogen. (b) An activity or project to accommodate switching to a fuel which is less polluting than the fuel in use prior to the activity or project, including, but not limited to natural gas or coal re-burning, or the co-firing of natural gas and other fuels for the purpose of controlling emissions. Potential to Emit means the maximum capacity of a facility or emission unit to emit a pollutant under its physical and operational design. Any physical or operational limitation on the capacity of the facility or emission unit to emit a pollutant, including air pollution control equipment and restrictions on hours of operation or on the type or amount of material combusted, stored, or processed, shall be treated as part of its design if the limitation or the effect it would have on emissions is federally enforceable. Fugitive emissions, to the extent they are quantifiable, are included in determining potential to emit. Secondary emissions do not count in determining the potential to emit of a facility. Representative Actual Annual Emissions means the average rate, in tons per year, at which the LCEU is projected to emit a pollutant for the two-year period after a physical change or change in the method of operation of a unit, (or a different consecutive two-year period within ten years after that change, where the Department determines that such period is more representative of normal source operations), considering the effect any such change will have on increasing or decreasing the hourly emissions rate and on projected capacity utilization. In projecting future emissions the Department shall: (a) Consider all relevant information, including but not limited to, historical operational data, the company's own representations, filings with the State or Federal regulatory authorities, and compliance plans under Title IV of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7651 through 7651(o); and (b) Exclude, in calculating any increase in emissions that results from the particular physical change or change in the method of operation at an electric utility steam generating unit, that portion of the unit's emissions following the change that could have been accommodated during the representative baseline period and is attributable to an increase in projected capacity utilization at the unit that is unrelated to the particular change, including any increased utilization due to the rate of electricity demand growth for the utility system as a whole. Significant means, in reference to a net emissions increase, or the potential of a facility to emit any of the following pollutants, a rate of emissions that would equal or exceed any of the following rates: Pollutant and Emissions Rate: (a) Carbon monoxide: 100 tons per year (tpy); (b) Nitrogen oxides: 40 tpy; (c) Sulfur dioxide: 40 tpy; (d) Particulate matter: 1. 25 tpy of particulate matter emissions; 2. 15 tpy of PM10 emissions. (e) Ozone: 40 tpy of volatile organic compounds; (f) Lead: 0.6 tpy; (g) Fluorides: 3 tpy; (h) Sulfuric acid mist: 7 tpy; (i) Hydrogen sulfide (H2 S): 10 tpy; (j) Total reduced sulfur (including H2 S): 10 tpy; (k) Reduced sulfur compounds (including H2 S): 10 tpy; (l) Municipal waste combustor organics (measured as total tetra- through octa-chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans): 3.2 × 10-6 megagrams per year (3.5 × 10-6 tons per year); (m) Municipal waste combustor metals (measured as particulate matter): 14 megagrams per year (15 tons per year); (n) Municipal waste combustor acid gases (measured as sulfur dioxide and hydrogen chloride): 36 megagrams per year (40 tons per year).