Document ID: EPA-R10-OAR-2010-1072-0005
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2011-01-11T05:00Z

Subpart P—Protection of Visibility

AUTHORITY: Secs. 110, 114, 121, 160–169, 169A,

and 301 of the Clean Air Act, (42 U.S.C. 7410,

7414, 7421, 7470–7479, and 7601).

SOURCE: 45 FR 80089, Dec. 2, 1980, unless

otherwise noted.

§ 51.300 Purpose and applicability.

(a) Purpose. The primary purposes of

this subpart are to require States to

develop programs to assure reasonable

progress toward meeting the national

goal of preventing any future, and remedying

any existing, impairment of visibility

in mandatory Class I Federal

areas which impairment results from

manmade air pollution; and to establish

necessary additional procedures

for new source permit applicants,

States and Federal Land Managers to

use in conducting the visibility impact

analysis required for new sources under

§ 51.166. This subpart sets forth requirements

addressing visibility impairment

in its two principal forms: ‘‘reasonably

attributable’’ impairment (i.e., impairment

attributable to a single source/

small group of sources) and regional

haze (i.e., widespread haze from a multitude

of sources which impairs visibility

in every direction over a large

area).

(b) Applicability—(1) General Applicability.

The provisions of this subpart

pertaining to implementation plan requirements

for assuring reasonable

progress in preventing any future and

remedying any existing visibility impairment

are applicable to:

(i) Each State which has a mandatory

Class I Federal area identified in

part 81, subpart D, of this title, and (ii)

each State in which there is any source

the emissions from which may reasonably

be anticipated to cause or contribute

to any impairment of visibility

in any such area.

(2) The provisions of this subpart pertaining

to implementation plans to address

reasonably attributable visibility

impairment are applicable to the following

States:

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas,

California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia,

Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana,

Maine, Michigan, Minnesota,

Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New

Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico,

North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma,

Oregon, South Carolina, South

Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah,

Vermont, Virginia, Virgin Islands,

Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming.

(3) The provisions of this subpart pertaining

to implementation plans to address

regional haze visibility impairment

are applicable to all States as defined

in section 302(d) of the Clean Air

Act (CAA) except Guam, Puerto Rico,

American Samoa, and the Northern

Mariana Islands.

[45 FR 80089, Dec. 2, 1980, as amended at 64

FR 35763, July 1, 1999]

§ 51.301 Definitions.

For purposes of this subpart:

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293

Environmental Protection Agency § 51.301

Adverse impact on visibility means, for

purposes of section 307, visibility impairment

which interferes with the

management, protection, preservation,

or enjoyment of the visitor’s visual experience

of the Federal Class I area.

This determination must be made on a

case-by-case basis taking into account

the geographic extent, intensity, duration,

frequency and time of visibility

impairments, and how these factors

correlate with (1) times of visitor use

of the Federal Class I area, and (2) the

frequency and timing of natural conditions

that reduce visibility. This term

does not include effects on integral vistas.

Agency means the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency.

BART-eligible source means an existing

stationary facility as defined in this section.

Best Available Retrofit Technology

(BART) means an emission limitation

based on the degree of reduction

achievable through the application of

the best system of continuous emission

reduction for each pollutant which is

emitted by an existing stationary facility.

The emission limitation must be

established, on a case-by-case basis,

taking into consideration the technology

available, the costs of compliance,

the energy and nonair quality environmental

impacts of compliance,

any pollution control equipment in use

or in existence at the source, the remaining

useful life of the source, and

the degree of improvement in visibility

which may reasonably be anticipated

to result from the use of such technology.

Building, structure, or facility means

all of the pollutant-emitting activities

which belong to the same industrial

grouping, are located on one or more

contiguous or adjacent properties, and

are under the control of the same person

(or persons under common control).

Pollutant-emitting activities must be

considered as part of the same industrial

grouping if they belong to the

same Major Group (i.e., which have the

same two-digit code) as described in

the Standard Industrial Classification

Manual, 1972 as amended by the 1977

Supplement (U.S. Government Printing

Office stock numbers 4101–0066 and 003–

005–00176–0 respectively).

Deciview means a measurement of

visibility impairment. A deciview is a

haze index derived from calculated

light extinction, such that uniform

changes in haziness correspond to uniform

incremental changes in perception

across the entire range of conditions,

from pristine to highly impaired.

The deciview haze index is calculated

based on the following equation (for

the purposes of calculating deciview,

the atmospheric light extinction coefficient

must be calculated from aerosol

measurements):

Deciview haze index=10 lne (bext/10

Mm¥1).

Where bext=the atmospheric light extinction

coefficient, expressed in inverse

megameters (Mm¥1).

Existing stationary facility means any

of the following stationary sources of

air pollutants, including any reconstructed

source, which was not in operation

prior to August 7, 1962, and was

in existence on August 7, 1977, and has

the potential to emit 250 tons per year

or more of any air pollutant. In determining

potential to emit, fugitive

emissions, to the extent quantifiable,

must be counted.

Fossil-fuel fired steam electric plants

of more than 250 million British thermal

units per hour heat input,

Coal cleaning plants (thermal dryers),

Kraft pulp mills,

Portland cement plants,

Primary zinc smelters,

Iron and steel mill plants,

Primary aluminum ore reduction

plants,

Primary copper smelters,

Municipal incinerators capable of

charging more than 250 tons of refuse

per day,

Hydrofluoric, sulfuric, and nitric acid

plants,

Petroleum refineries,

Lime plants,

Phosphate rock processing plants,

Coke oven batteries,

Sulfur recovery plants,

Carbon black plants (furnace process),

Primary lead smelters,

Fuel conversion plants,

Sintering plants,

Secondary metal production facilities,

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CFR

294

§ 51.301 40 CFR Ch. I (7–1–10 Edition)

Chemical process plants,

Fossil-fuel boilers of more than 250

million British thermal units per hour

heat input,

Petroleum storage and transfer facilities

with a capacity exceeding

300,000 barrels,

Taconite ore processing facilities,

Glass fiber processing plants, and

Charcoal production facilities.

Federal Class I area means any Federal

land that is classified or reclassified

Class I.

Federal Land Manager means the Secretary

of the department with authority

over the Federal Class I area (or the

Secretary’s designee) or, with respect

to Roosevelt-Campobello International

Park, the Chairman of the Roosevelt-

Campobello International Park Commission.

Federally enforceable means all limitations

and conditions which are enforceable

by the Administrator under

the Clean Air Act including those requirements

developed pursuant to

parts 60 and 61 of this title, requirements

within any applicable State Implementation

Plan, and any permit requirements

established pursuant to

§ 52.21 of this chapter or under regulations

approved pursuant to part 51, 52,

or 60 of this title.

Fixed capital cost means the capital

needed to provide all of the depreciable

components.

Fugitive Emissions means those emissions

which could not reasonably pass

through a stack, chimney, vent, or

other functionally equivalent opening.

Geographic enhancement for the purpose

of § 51.308 means a method, procedure,

or process to allow a broad regional

strategy, such as an emissions

trading program designed to achieve

greater reasonable progress than BART

for regional haze, to accommodate

BART for reasonably attributable impairment.

Implementation plan means, for the

purposes of this part, any State Implementation

Plan, Federal Implementation

Plan, or Tribal Implementation

Plan.

Indian tribe or tribe means any Indian

tribe, band, nation, or other organized

group or community, including any

Alaska Native village, which is federally

recognized as eligible for the special

programs and services provided by

the United States to Indians because of

their status as Indians.

In existence means that the owner or

operator has obtained all necessary

preconstruction approvals or permits

required by Federal, State, or local air

pollution emissions and air quality

laws or regulations and either has (1)

begun, or caused to begin, a continuous

program of physical on-site construction

of the facility or (2) 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 construction of the facility

to be completed in a reasonable time.

In operation means engaged in activity

related to the primary design function

of the source.

Installation means an identifiable

piece of process equipment.

Integral vista means a view perceived

from within the mandatory Class I

Federal area of a specific landmark or

panorama located outside the boundary

of the mandatory Class I Federal area.

Least impaired days means the average

visibility impairment (measured in

deciviews) for the twenty percent of

monitored days in a calendar year with

the lowest amount of visibility impairment.

Major stationary source and major

modification mean major stationary

source and major modification, respectively,

as defined in § 51.166.

Mandatory Class I Federal Area means

any area identified in part 81, subpart

D of this title.

Most impaired days means the average

visibility impairment (measured in

deciviews) for the twenty percent of

monitored days in a calendar year with

the highest amount of visibility impairment.

Natural conditions includes naturally

occurring phenomena that reduce visibility

as measured in terms of light extinction,

visual range, contrast, or coloration.

Potential to emit means the maximum

capacity of a stationary source to emit

a pollutant under its physical and operational

design. Any physical or operational

limitation on the capacity of

the source to emit a pollutant including

air pollution control equipment

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295

Environmental Protection Agency § 51.302

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.

Secondary emissions do not count in

determining the potential to emit of a

stationary source.

Reasonably attributable means attributable

by visual observation or any

other technique the State deems appropriate.

Reasonably attributable visibility impairment

means visibility impairment

that is caused by the emission of air

pollutants from one, or a small number

of sources.

Reconstruction will be presumed to

have taken place where the fixed capital

cost of the new component exceeds

50 percent of the fixed capital cost of a

comparable entirely new source. Any

final decision as to whether reconstruction

has occurred must be made in accordance

with the provisions of § 60.15

(f) (1) through (3) of this title.

Regional haze means visibility impairment

that is caused by the emission

of air pollutants from numerous

sources located over a wide geographic

area. Such sources include, but are not

limited to, major and minor stationary

sources, mobile sources, and area

sources.

Secondary emissions means emissions

which occur as a result of the construction

or operation of an existing stationary

facility but do not come from

the existing stationary facility. Secondary

emissions may include, but are

not limited to, emissions from ships or

trains coming to or from the existing

stationary facility.

Significant impairment means, for purposes

of § 51.303, visibility impairment

which, in the judgment of the Administrator,

interferes with the management,

protection, preservation, or enjoyment

of the visitor’s visual experience

of the mandatory Class I Federal

area. This determination must be made

on a case-by-case basis taking into account

the geographic extent, intensity,

duration, frequency and time of the

visibility impairment, and how these

factors correlate with (1) times of visitor

use of the mandatory Class I Federal

area, and (2) the frequency and

timing of natural conditions that reduce

visibility.

State means ‘‘State’’ as defined in

section 302(d) of the CAA.

Stationary Source means any building,

structure, facility, or installation

which emits or may emit any air pollutant.

Visibility impairment means any humanly

perceptible change in visibility

(light extinction, visual range, contrast,

coloration) from that which

would have existed under natural conditions.

Visibility in any mandatory Class I Federal

area includes any integral vista associated

with that area.

[45 FR 80089, Dec. 2, 1980, as amended at 64

FR 35763, 35774, July 1, 1999]