SECTION 116.186. General and Special Conditions

(a) The plant-wide applicability limit (PAL) will impose an annual emission limitation in tons per year, that is enforceable for all facilities, or emissions units at a major stationary source, that emit the PAL pollutant. For each month during the PAL effective period after the first 12 months of establishing a PAL, the major stationary source owner or operator shall demonstrate that the sum of the monthly emissions from each facility under the PAL for the previous 12 consecutive months is less than the PAL (a 12-month average, rolled monthly). For each month during the first 11 months from the PAL effective date, the major stationary source owner or operator shall demonstrate that the sum of the preceding monthly emissions from the PAL effective date for each facility under the PAL is less than the PAL. Each PAL must include emissions of only one pollutant. The PAL must include all emissions, including fugitive emissions, to the extent quantifiable, from all facilities or emissions units at a major stationary source included in the PAL that emit or have the potential to emit the PAL pollutant.

(b) The following general conditions are applicable to every PAL permit.

(1) Applicability. This section does not authorize any facility to emit air pollutants but establishes an annual emissions level below which new and modified facilities, or emissions units at a major stationary source, will not be subject to major new source review for that pollutant.

(2) Sampling requirements. If sampling of stacks or process vents is required, the PAL permit holder shall contact the commission's Office of Compliance and Enforcement prior to sampling to obtain the proper data forms and procedures. All sampling and testing procedures must be approved by the executive director and coordinated with the appropriate regional office of the commission. The PAL permit holder is also responsible for providing sampling facilities and conducting the sampling operations or contracting with an independent sampling consultant.

(3) Equivalency of methods. The permit holder shall demonstrate the equivalency of emission control methods, sampling or other emission testing methods, and monitoring methods proposed as alternatives to methods indicated in the conditions of the PAL permit. Alternative methods must be applied for in writing and must be reviewed and approved by the executive director prior to their use in fulfilling any requirements of the permit.

(4) Recordkeeping and reporting.

(A) A copy of the PAL permit along with information and data sufficient to demonstrate continuous compliance with the emission caps contained in the PAL permit must be maintained in a file at the plant site and made available at the request of personnel from the commission or any air pollution control program having jurisdiction. For facilities that normally operate unattended, this information must be maintained at the nearest staffed location within Texas specified by the permit holder in the permit application. This information must include, but is not limited to, emission cap and individual emission limitation calculations based on a 12-month rolling basis and production records and operating hours. Additional recordkeeping requirements may be specified in special conditions attached to the PAL permit.

(B) The owner or operator shall retain a copy of the PAL permit application and any applications for revisions to the PAL, each annual certification of compliance under §122.146 of this title (relating to Compliance Certification Terms and Conditions), and the data relied on in certifying the compliance for the duration of the PAL plus five years.

(C) A semiannual report shall be submitted to the executive director within 30 days of the end of each reporting period that contains:

(i) the identification of owner and operator and the permit number;

(ii) total annual emissions (in tons per year) based on a 12-month rolling total for each month in the reporting period;

(iii) all data relied upon, including, but not limited to, any quality assurance or quality control data, in calculating the monthly and annual PAL pollutant emissions;

(iv) a list of any facility modified or added to the major stationary source during the preceding six-month period;

(v) the number, duration, and cause of any deviations or monitoring malfunctions (other than the time associated with zero and span calibration checks), and any corrective action taken. This may be satisfied by referencing the PAL permit number in the semiannual report for the site submitted under §122.145 of this title (relating to Reporting Terms and Conditions);

(vi) a notification of a shutdown of any monitoring system, whether the shutdown was permanent or temporary, the reason for the shutdown, the anticipated date that the monitoring system will be fully operational or replaced with another monitoring system, and whether the emissions unit monitored by the monitoring system continued to operate, and the calculation of the emissions of the pollutant or the number determined by method included in the permit; and

(vii) a signed statement by the responsible official, as defined in §122.10 of this title (relating to General Definitions), certifying the truth, accuracy, and completeness of the information provided in the report.

(D) The owner or operator shall submit the results of any revalidation test or method to the executive director within three months after completion of such test or method.

(5) Maintenance of emission control. The facilities covered by the PAL permit will not be operated unless all air pollution emission capture and abatement equipment is maintained in good working order and operating properly during normal facility operations.

(6) Compliance with rules. Acceptance of a PAL permit by a permit applicant constitutes an acknowledgment and agreement that the holder will comply with all rules and orders of the commission issued in conformity with the Texas Clean Air Act and the conditions precedent to the granting of the permit. If more than one state or federal rule or PAL permit condition is applicable, the most stringent limit or condition will govern and be the standard by which compliance must be demonstrated. Acceptance includes consent to the entrance of commission employees and agents into the permitted premises at reasonable times to investigate conditions relating to the emission or concentration of air contaminants, including compliance with the PAL permit.

(7) Effective period. A PAL is effective for ten years.

(8) Absence of monitoring data. A source owner or operator shall record and report maximum potential emissions without considering enforceable emission limitations or operational restrictions for a facility during any period of time that there is no monitoring data, unless another method for determining emissions during such periods is specified in the PAL permit special conditions.

(9) Monitoring system requirements. Failure to use a monitoring system that meets the requirements of this section renders the PAL permit invalid.

(10) Revalidation. All data used to establish the PAL pollutant must be revalidated through performance testing or other scientifically valid means approved by the executive director. Such testing must occur at least once every five years after issuance of the PAL.

(11) Renewal. If a PAL renewal application is submitted to the executive director in accordance with §116.196 of this title (relating to Renewal of a Plant-wide Applicability Limit Permit), the PAL shall not expire at the end of the PAL effective period. It shall remain in effect until a renewed PAL permit is issued by the executive director or the application is voided.

(c) Each PAL permit must include special conditions that satisfy the following requirements.

(1) For the purposes of this subchapter, the definitions of the following terms are the same as those provided in 40 Code of Federal Regulations §51.165.

(A) Continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS).

(B) Continuous emissions rate monitoring system (CERMS).

(C) Continuous parameter monitoring system (CPMS).

(D) Predictive emissions monitoring system (PEMS).

(2) The PAL monitoring system must accurately determine all emissions of the PAL pollutant in terms of mass per unit of time. Any monitoring system authorized for use in the PAL permit must be based on sound science and meet generally acceptable scientific procedures for data quality and manipulation.

(3) The PAL monitoring system must employ one or more of the general monitoring approaches meeting the minimum requirements as described in subparagraphs (A) - (D) of this paragraph.

(A) An owner or operator using mass balance calculations to monitor PAL pollutant emissions from activities using coating or solvents shall meet the following requirements:

(i) provide a demonstrated means of validating the published content of the PAL pollutant that is contained in, or created by, all materials used in or at the facility;

(ii) assume that the facility emits all of the PAL pollutant that is contained in, or created by, any raw material or fuel used in or at the facility, if it cannot otherwise be accounted for in the process; and

(iii) where the vendor of a material or fuel that is used in or at the facility publishes a range of pollutant content from such material, the owner or operator shall use the highest value of the range to calculate the PAL pollutant emissions unless the executive director determines that there is site-specific data or a site-specific monitoring program to support another content within the range.

(B) An owner or operator using a CEMS to monitor PAL pollutant emissions shall meet the following requirements.

(i) The CEMS must comply with applicable performance specifications found in 40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 60, Appendix B.

(ii) The CEMS must sample, analyze, and record data at least every 15 minutes while the emissions unit is operating.

(C) An owner or operator using CPMS or PEMS to monitor PAL pollutant emissions shall meet the following requirements.

(i) The CPMS or the PEMS must be based on current site-specific data demonstrating a correlation between the monitored parameter(s) and the PAL pollutant emissions across the range of operation of the facility.

(ii) Each CPMS or PEMS must sample, analyze, and record data at least every 15 minutes or at another less frequent interval approved by the executive director, while the facility is operating.

(D) An owner or operator using emission factors to monitor PAL pollutant emissions shall meet the following requirements.

(i) All emission factors must be adjusted, if appropriate, to account for the degree of uncertainty or limitations in the factors' development.

(ii) The facility must operate within the designated range of use for the emission factor, if applicable.

(iii) If technically practicable, the owner or operator of a significant facility that relies on an emission factor to calculate PAL pollutant emissions shall conduct validation testing to determine a site-specific emission factor within six months of PAL permit issuance, unless the executive director determines that testing is not required.

(E) An alternative monitoring approach must meet the requirements in paragraph (1) of this subsection and be approved by the executive director.

(4) Where an owner or operator of a facility cannot demonstrate a correlation between a monitored parameter(s) and the PAL pollutant emissions rate at all operating points of the facility, the executive director shall:

(A) establish default value(s) for determining compliance with the PAL based on the highest potential emissions reasonably estimated at such operating point(s); or

(B) determine that operation of the facility during operating conditions when there is no correlation between monitored parameter(s) and the PAL pollutant emissions is a violation of the PAL.

Source Note: The provisions of this §116.186 adopted to be effective February 1, 2006, 31 TexReg 515; amended to be effective March 3, 2011, 36 TexReg 1305; amended to be effective August 16, 2012, 37 TexReg 6049