2023 Texas Statutes › Health and Safety Code › Title 5 - Sanitation and Environmental Quality › Subtitle C - Air Quality › Chapter 382 - Clean Air Act › Subchapter B. Powers and Duties of Commission › Section 382.0215. Assessment of Emissions Due to Emissions Events

Sec. 382.0215.  ASSESSMENT OF EMISSIONS DUE TO EMISSIONS EVENTS.
(a)  In this section:
(1)  "Emissions event" means an upset event, or unscheduled maintenance, startup, or shutdown activity, from a common cause that results in the unauthorized emissions of air contaminants from one or more emissions points at a regulated entity.
(2)  "Regulated entity" means all regulated units, facilities, equipment, structures, or sources at one street address or location that are owned or operated by the same person.  The term includes any property under common ownership or control identified in a permit or used in conjunction with the regulated activity at the same street address or location.
(a-1)  Maintenance, startup, and shutdown activities shall not be considered unscheduled only if the activity will not and does not result in the emission of at least a reportable quantity of unauthorized emissions of air contaminants and the activity is recorded as may be required by commission rule, or if the activity will result in the emission of at least a reportable quantity of unauthorized emissions and:
(1)  the owner or operator of the regulated entity provides any prior notice or final report that the commission, by rule, may establish;
(2)  the notice or final report includes the information required in Subsection (b)(3); and
(3)  the actual emissions do not exceed the estimates submitted in the notice by more than a reportable quantity.
(b)  The commission shall require the owner or operator of a regulated entity that experiences emissions events:
(1)  to maintain a record of all emissions events at the regulated entity in the manner and for the periods prescribed by commission rule;
(2)  to notify the commission in a single report for each emissions event, as soon as practicable but not later than 24 hours after discovery of the emissions event, of an emissions event resulting in the emission of a reportable quantity of air contaminants as determined by commission rule; and
(3)  to report to the commission in a single report for each emissions event, not later than two weeks after the occurrence of an emissions event that results in the emission of a reportable quantity of air contaminants as determined by commission rule, all information necessary to evaluate the emissions event, including:
(A)  the name of the owner or operator of the reporting regulated entity;
(B)  the location of the reporting regulated entity;
(C)  the date and time the emissions began;
(D)  the duration of the emissions;
(E)  the nature and measured or estimated quantity of air contaminants emitted, including the method of calculation of, or other basis for determining, the quantity of air contaminants emitted;
(F)  the processes and equipment involved in the emissions event;
(G)  the cause of the emissions;  and
(H)  any additional information necessary to evaluate the emissions event.
(c)  The owner or operator of a boiler or combustion turbine fueled by natural gas, coal, lignite, wood, or fuel oil containing hazardous air pollutants at concentrations of less than 0.02 percent by weight that is equipped with a continuous emission monitoring system that completes a minimum of one cycle per operation (sampling, analyzing, and data recording) for each successive 15-minute interval who is required to submit excess emission reports by other state or federal regulations, shall, by commission rule, be allowed to submit information from that monitoring system to meet the requirements under Subsection (b)(3) so long as the notice submitted under Subsection (b)(2) contains the information required under Subsection (b)(3).  Such excess emission reports shall satisfy the recordkeeping requirements of Subsection (b)(1) so long as the information in such reports meets commission requirements.  This subsection does not require the commission to revise the reportable quantity for boilers and combustion turbines.
(d)  The commission shall centrally track emissions events and collect information relating to:
(1)  inspections or enforcement actions taken by the commission in response to emissions events;  and
(2)  the number of emissions events occurring in each commission region and the quantity of emissions from each emissions event.
(e)  The commission shall develop the capacity for electronic reporting and shall incorporate reported emissions events into a permanent online centralized database for emissions events.  The commission shall develop a mechanism whereby the reporting entity shall be allowed to review the information relative to its reported emissions events prior to such information being included in the database.  The database shall be easily searchable and accessible to the public.  The commission shall evaluate information in the database to identify persons who repeatedly fail to report reportable emissions events.  The commission shall enforce against such persons pursuant to Section 382.0216(i).  The commission shall describe such enforcement actions in the report required in Subsection (g).
(f)  An owner or operator of a regulated entity required by Section 382.014 to submit an annual emissions inventory report and which has experienced no emissions events during the relevant year must include as part of the inventory a statement that the regulated entity experienced no emissions events during the prior year.  An owner or operator of a regulated entity required by Section 382.014 to submit an annual emissions inventory report must include the total annual emissions from all emissions events in categories as established by commission rule.
(g)  The commission annually, or at the request of a member of the legislature, shall assess the information received under this section, including actions taken by the commission in response to the emissions events, and shall include the assessment in the report required by Section 5.126, Water Code.
(h)  The commission may allow operators of pipelines, gathering lines, and flowlines to treat all such facilities under common ownership or control in a particular county as a single regulated entity for the purpose of assessment and regulation of emissions events.
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 965, Sec. 5.01(a), eff. Sept. 1, 2001.
Amended by:
Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 728 (H.B. 2018), Sec. 9.0035(a), eff. September 1, 2005.
Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 1095 (H.B. 2129), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2005.
Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 780 (H.B. 1981), Sec. 2, eff. September 1, 2011.