United States Environmental Protection Agency

General Air Quality Permit for New or Modified Minor Sources of Air 

Pollution in Indian Country

http://www.epa.gov/air/tribal/tribalnsr.html

Questionnaire for Requesting Coverage under the General Air Quality Permit for 

New or Modified Minor Source Stone Quarrying, Crushing, and Screening Facilities

in Indian Country

Last Modified: March 23, 2015

Version 1.0

Does the General Permit apply to my facility?

The following questionnaire is intended to help you, the facility owner or operator, determine whether or not you are 

eligible for a General Air Quality Permit for Minor Source Stone Quarrying, Crushing, and Screening Facilities. You are not 

required to complete this questionnaire and it is not necessary to apply for a General Air Quality Permit for New or 

Modified Minor Source Stone Quarrying, Crushing, and Screening Facilities. This questionnaire does not cover all of the 

General Air Quality Permit requirements and does not guarantee approval of a minor source preconstruction permit 

under this program. This General Air Quality Permit is available to true minor and synthetic minor sources of regulated 

New Source Review (NSR) pollutants.

Description of Stone Quarrying, Crushing, and Screening Facilities

A stone quarrying, crushing, and screening facility is any stationary or portable non-metallic mineral processing facility 

which uses rock crushers, grinding mills, screening operations, bucket elevators, belt conveyors, bagging operations, 

storage bins, storage piles, truck loading stations, or railcar loading stations to process rock, sand, gravel, or mineral 

aggregate or that mines rock, sand and gravel for construction. 

 

About this Questionnaire

The questions focus on general information pertaining to your existing or future sand, gravel, rock crushing, and 

screening facility. The questionnaire is not meant to be exhaustive and only requires knowledge of basic facility 

information, including process rates, raw material throughput, and fuel usage. 

You should continue with this Questionnaire if you meet all of the following criteria:

 You plan to construct a new true or synthetic minor source stone quarrying, crushing, and screening facility 

OR you plan to modify an existing, minor source stone quarrying, crushing, and screening facility;

 You are not planning to construct or modify a major source stone quarrying, crushing, and screening facility;

 Your new or modified minor source stone quarrying, crushing, and screening facility is located within Indian 

country;

 Your facility processes non-metallic materials (i.e., sand, gravel, rock or stone);

 Are seeking to co-locate with a hot mix asphalt operation (this is not a requirement to qualify for the 

General Permit);

 You do not know whether your facility needs a permit, or if you do not know the attainment status of your area; 

and you want to find out whether or not you should apply for the General Permit for a stone quarrying, 

crushing, and screening facility; and 

 You intend to satisfy the processes that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made available in 

the application documents for this General Permit to address threatened and endangered species and historic 

properties under the Endangered Species Act and the National Historic Preservation Act, respectively.

 

More Information

The definition of a “modification” and “PTE” can be found at 40 CFR 49.152(d) and in the “Instructions” document. 

Additional information on the applicability of the Federal Indian Country Minor NSR Rule can be found at 40 CFR 49.153.
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Information on the ozone attainment status of the area where your facility is located can be found at: 

http://www.epa.gov/airquality/greenbook/. You may also contact your reviewing authority for information on your 

attainment status. 

Please contact your reviewing authority if you have questions or need assistance. A list of reviewing authorities, their 

area of coverage, and contact information can be found in Attachment D to the General Air Quality Permit for Minor 

Source Stone Quarrying, Crushing, and Screening Facilities or visit: http://www.epa.gov/air/tribal/tribalnsr.html

Sources eligible for the General Permit for Minor Source Stone Quarrying, Crushing, and Screening Facilities may also be 

subject to federal standards under 40 CFR 60 Subpart OOO, Standards of Performance for Nonmetallic Mineral 

Processing Plants, 40 CFR 60 Subpart IIII, Standards of Performance for Stationary Compression Ignition Internal 

Combustion Engines, and 40 CFR 63 Subpart ZZZZ, National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for 

Stationary Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines. The conditions applicable to sources seeking coverage under this 

General Permit are intended to be generally consistent with the requirements in these regulations; however, compliance 

with the applicable requirements is required independent of the conditions in the General Permit, and not all 

requirements applicable under Subparts OOO, IIII, and ZZZZ are necessarily included in the General Permit. The 

Background Document for the General Permit identifies the specific requirements in these Subparts that are intended to 

be included in the General Permit.

Additional Information about Co-Located Hot Mix Asphalt Operations:

If you otherwise qualify for this General Permit and intend to be co-located with your hot mix asphalt operation you 

may still qualify for the General Permit if:

 The combined potential emissions of the two operations are below all of the applicable major NSR 

thresholds and you obtain a general permit or site-specific permit for your hot mix asphalt operation; or

 The combined potential emissions of the two operations are below all the applicable major NSR thresholds, 

but you elect to take more restrictive throughput and fuel use limits, those in Conditions 16. and 19.e of the 

General Permit, so that combined potential emissions of the two operations are below 100 tons per year 

(tpy) for regulated NSR pollutants, and you obtain the hot mix asphalt plant General Permit with the elective 

limits for co-located operations. This option is not available in serious, severe or extreme ozone 

nonattainment areas or serious carbon monoxide (CO) nonattainment areas.

Please contact your reviewing authority for additional information.

Questionnaire for Stone Quarrying, Crushing, and Screening Facilities

Part 1: Does my Stone Quarrying, Crushing, and Screening Facility Need or Qualify for a Minor 

Source Permit?

The following questions are meant to determine whether or not your stone quarrying, crushing, and screening facility 

qualifies for a general permit.

1. Will the potential to emit (PTE) of your facility be less than 250 tpy for particulate matter (PM, PM10, or PM2.5), 

volatile organic compounds (VOC), nitrogen oxides (NOX), CO, and sulfur dioxide (SO2), each individually? The 

emissions from your facility may be calculated using the PTE calculator provided at 

http://www.epa.gov/air/tribal/tribalnsr.html. Be sure to include all existing, new, and modified emission units

at your facility.
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Yes No

If you answered ‘No’ you do not qualify for the General Permit, please contact your reviewing authority to apply 

for a site-specific permit. If you answered ‘Yes,’ continue on to the next question. A synthetic minor source that 

agrees to the enforceable conditions in the General Permit and is below the threshold above should answer 

‘Yes.’

2. Will the PTE of your new facility or the increase in potential emissions from your modified existing facility be 

equal to or above the applicable minor NSR thresholds listed below for ANY pollutant? The potential emissions 

from your facility may be calculated using the PTE calculator provided at 

http://www.epa.gov/air/tribal/tribalnsr.html. Be sure to include all new and modified emission units at your 

facility.

Pollutant Attainment Area Nonattainment Area

CO 10 tpy 5 tpy

PM 10 tpy 5 tpy

PM10 5 tpy 1 tpy

PM2.5 3 tpy 0.6 tpy

SO2 10 tpy 5 tpy

NOX 10 tpy 5 tpy

VOC 5 tpy 2 tpy

Yes No

If you answered ‘No,’ your source is exempt from the minor NSR program. Please contact your reviewing 

authority to confirm that your facility will not need a permit. If you answered ‘Yes,’ continue on to the next 

question. 

3. If located in a nonattainment area for any pollutant, will the PTE of your facility for the particular 

nonattainment pollutant be less than the NSR major source thresholds specified in the table below (based 

on nonattainment classification)? Be sure to include all existing, new, and modified emission units at your 

facility.

Pollutant Nonattainment Classification NSR Major Source Threshold

Ozone Marginal 100 tpy of VOC or NOX

Moderate 100 tpy of VOC or NOX

Serious 50 tpy of VOC or NOX

Severe 25 tpy of VOC or NOX

Extreme 10 tpy of VOC or NOX

PM10 Moderate 100 tpy

Serious 70 tpy

CO Moderate 100 tpy
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Pollutant Nonattainment Classification NSR Major Source Threshold

Serious 50 tpy

SO2, NO2, PM2.5 No nonattainment classification 100 tpy

Yes No Not Applicable

If you answered ‘No,’ your source does not qualify for the General Permit. Please contact your reviewing 

authority to apply for a site-specific permit. If you answered ‘Yes,’ continue on to the next question. A 

synthetic minor source that agrees to the enforceable conditions in the General Permit and is below the 

thresholds above should answer ‘Yes.’

Information on the ozone attainment status of the area where your facility is located can be found at: 

http://www.epa.gov/airquality/greenbook/.

4. Did you include potential emissions from your co-located hot mix asphalt operation in your PTE calculations for 

this section?

Yes No Not Applicable – not co-located with a hot mix asphalt operation

If you answered ‘No,” your source does not qualify for coverage under the General Permit for stone 

quarrying, crushing and screening facilities. Please contact your reviewing authority to apply for a sitespecific permit. If you answered ‘Yes’ or ‘Not Applicable’ continue on to Part 2 of the Questionnaire. If you 

qualify for this General Permit and are co-located with a hot mix asphalt operation you must also receive 

either a general permit or site-specific permit for the hot mix asphalt equipment prior to construction or 

modification.

Part 2: What Types of Facilities DO NOT Qualify for this General Air Quality Permit for 

Stone Quarrying, Crushing, and Screening Facilities?

The following questions are meant to determine whether or not your stone quarrying, crushing, and screening

facility processes materials that would disqualify it for operating under the General Air Quality Permit for Minor 

Source Stone Quarrying, Crushing, and Screening Facilities.

1. Will your facility process metallic materials, radioactive materials, materials that contain asbestos, or materials 

intended to be used as fuel?

Yes No

2. Will your facility process minerals for structural clay, clay ceramics, brick, lime manufacturing, phosphate 

products, Portland cement, or refractory products? 

Yes No

3. Is your facility a sand and/or gravel processing plant that is classified as an industrial sand and gravel plant (SCC 

3-05-027) AND that uses sand/gravel dryers?
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Yes No

If you answered ‘No’ to all of these questions, your facility may qualify for coverage under the Minor Source Stone 

Quarrying, Crushing, and Screening Facility General Air Quality Permit, and should continue on to Part 3 of the 

Questionnaire.

If you answered ‘Yes’ to any of these questions, your facility likely does not qualify for coverage under the Minor 

Source Stone Quarrying, Crushing, and Screening Facility General Air Quality Permit. Please contact your reviewing 

authority to confirm that your facility will not qualify for this permit.

Part 3: Does my Stone Quarrying, Crushing, and Screening Facility Qualify for a General Air 

Quality Permit?

The following questions are meant to determine whether or not your stone quarrying, crushing, and screening

facility would qualify for the General Permit for minor source stone quarrying, crushing, and screening facilities.

1. Will your facility’s maximum raw material throughput be less than 1,100,000 tons per month based on a 12-

month rolling average?

Yes No Not Applicable

2. If the engines used to power the crushers, screeners, and conveyors are stationary engines, will your facility only 

use diesel fuel/biodiesel to power these engines? “Stationary” engines include all internal-combustion engines 

that are used either in a fixed application, or in a portable (or transportable) application in which the engine (and 

any replacement engine that is intended to perform the same or similar function) will stay at a single site for 12 

months or a shorter period for seasonal sources.

Yes No Not Applicable

3. If located in an attainment, unclassifiable or attainment/unclassifiable area for ozone or a marginal or moderate 

nonattainment area for ozone, will the facility’s fuel usage for the stationary engines powering the crushers, 

screeners, and conveyors be less than a combined total of 24,200 gallons of diesel fuel per calendar month?

Yes No Not Applicable

4. If located in a serious/severe/extreme ozone nonattainment area, will the facility’s fuel usage for the stationary 

engines powering the crushers, screeners, and conveyors be less than a combined total of 12,000/5,500/1,900 

gallons of diesel fuel per calendar month, respectively?

Yes No Not Applicable

5. Will each of the asphalt storage tank(s) and fuel storage tank(s) at this facility have a maximum capacity less than 

39,890 gallons and a true maximum vapor pressure less than 4 psi?

Yes No No storage tanks at the source
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6. Do you intend to satisfy the procedures for threatened or endangered species and historic properties according 

to the processes provided by the EPA for this General Permit?

Yes No

Conclusion

If you answered ‘Yes’ or ‘Not Applicable’ to each of the questions in Part 3, you may qualify for coverage under the 

Stone Quarrying, Crushing, and Screening Facility General Air Quality Permit. If you believe based upon your answers 

in this questionnaire that your new or modified rock crushing and screening facility qualifies for a General Air Quality 

Permit for Minor Source Stone Quarrying, Crushing, and Screening Facilities, please submit a Request for Coverage to 

your reviewing authority.

If you answered ‘No’ to any of these questions, your facility may not qualify for coverage under the Stone Quarrying, 

Crushing, and Screening Facility General Air Quality Permit. Please contact your reviewing authority to confirm that 

your facility will not qualify for a General Permit.