Kentucky Administrative Regulations › Title 401 - ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT CABINET - DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Chapter 50 - Division for Air Quality; General Administrative Procedures › Section 401 KAR 50:042 - Good engineering practice stack height

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 1, July 1, 2024
RELATES TO:
				KRS
				224.20-100,
				224.20-110,
				224.20-120
NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY:
				KRS
				224.10-100 requires the Environmental and
				Public Protection Cabinet to prescribe administrative regulations for the
				prevention, abatement and control of air pollution. This administrative
				regulation defines good engineering practice stack height which shall be used
				in establishing emissions limitations.
Section
			 1. Applicability. The provisions of this administrative regulation
			 shall apply to all stacks or all dispersion techniques commenced on or after
			 the classification date defined below, or to those stack heights in existence,
			 or dispersion techniques implemented before the classification date, where
			 pollutants are being emitted from such stacks or using such techniques by
			 stationary sources which were constructed or reconstructed or for which major
			 modifications were carried out on or after the classification date.
Section 2. Definitions. As used in this
			 administrative regulation, all terms not defined herein shall have the meaning
			 given them in
			 401 KAR
			 50:010,
			 401
			 KAR 51:017, or
			 401
			 KAR 51:052.
(1)
			 "Emission limitation" and "emission standard" mean requirements established by
			 the cabinet or the U.S. EPA which limit the quantity, rate, or concentration of
			 emissions of air pollutants on a continuous basis, including any requirements
			 which limit the level of opacity, prescribe equipment, set fuel specifications,
			 or prescribe operation or maintenance procedures for a source to assure
			 continuous emission reduction.
(2)
			 "Stack" means any point in a source designed to emit air pollutants into the
			 atmosphere, including a pipe or duct but not including flares.
(3) "A stack in existence" means that the
			 owner or operator had:
(a) Begun, or caused to
			 begin, a continuous program of physical on-site construction of a stack;
			 or
(b) Entered into binding
			 agreements or contractual obligations, which could not be cancelled or modified
			 without substantial loss to the owner or operator, to undertake a program of
			 construction of a stack to be completed in a reasonable time.
(4) "Dispersion technique" means
			 any technique which attempts to affect the concentration of a pollutant in the
			 ambient air by:
(a) Using that portion of a
			 stack which exceeds good engineering practice stack height;
(b) Varying the rate of emission of a
			 pollutant according to atmospheric conditions or ambient concentrations of that
			 pollutant; or
(c) Increasing final
			 exhaust gas plume rise by manipulating source process parameters, exhaust gas
			 parameters, stack parameters, or combining exhaust gases from several existing
			 stacks into one (1) stack; or other selective handling of exhaust gas streams
			 so as to increase the exhaust gas plume rise, but does not include:
1. The reheating of a gas stream, following
			 use of a pollution control system, for the purpose of returning the gas to the
			 temperature at which it was originally discharged from the facility generating
			 the gas stream;
2. The merging of
			 exhaust gas streams where:
a. The source owner
			 or operator demonstrates that the facility was originally designed and
			 constructed with such merged gas streams;
b. After July 8, 1985, such merging is part
			 of a change in operation at the facility that includes the installation of
			 pollution controls and is accompanied by a net reduction in the allowable
			 emissions of a pollutant. This exclusion from the definition of "dispersion
			 techniques" shall apply only to the emission limitation for the pollutant
			 affected by such change in operation; or
c. Before July 8, 1985, such merging was part
			 of a change in operation at the facility that included the installation of
			 emissions control equipment or was carried out for sound economic or
			 engineering reasons. Where there was an increase in the emission limitation or,
			 in the event that no emission limitation was in existence prior to the merging,
			 an increase in quantity of pollutants actually emitted prior to the merging,
			 the cabinet shall presume that merging was significantly motivated by an intent
			 to gain emissions credit for greater dispersion. Absent a demonstration by the
			 source owner or operator that merging was not significantly motivated by such
			 intent, the cabinet shall deny credit for the effects of such merging in
			 calculating the allowable emissions for the source;
3. Smoke management in agricultural or
			 silvicultural prescribed burning programs;
4. Episodic restrictions on residential
			 wood-burning and open burning; or
5. Techniques which increase final exhaust
			 gas plume rise by manipulating source process parameters, exhaust gas
			 parameters, stack parameters, or combining exhaust gases from several existing
			 stacks into one (1) stack; or other selective handling of exhaust gas streams
			 so as to increase the exhaust gas plume rise where the resulting allowable
			 emissions of sulfur dioxide from the facility do not exceed 5,000 tons per
			 year.
(5) "Good
			 engineering practice (GEP) stack height" means the greater of:
(a) Sixty-five (65) meters, measured from the
			 ground-level elevation at the base of the stack;
(b)
1. For
			 stacks in existence on January 12, 1979, and for which the owner or operator
			 had obtained all applicable preconstruction permits or approvals required under
			 the administrative regulations of the Division of Air Pollution, good
			 engineering practice stack height is two and five-tenths (2.5) multiplied by
			 the height of nearby structure(s) measured from the ground-level elevation at
			 the base of the stack (Hg = 2.5H), provided the owner or operator produces
			 evidence that this equation was actually relied on in establishing an emission
			 limit;
2. For all other stacks,
			 good engineering practice stack height shall be determined by the following
			 equation, provided that the cabinet or the U.S. EPA may require the use of a
			 field study or fluid model to verify GEP stack height for the source:
Hg = H + 1.5L where:
Hg = GEP stack height measured from the
				ground-level elevation at the base of the stack.
H = height of nearby structure(s) measured from the
				ground-level elevation at the base of the stack.
L = lesser dimension (height or projected width) of nearby
				structure(s); or
(c)
1. The
			 height demonstrated by a fluid model or a field study approved by the cabinet
			 or the U.S. EPA, which ensures that the emissions from a stack do not result in
			 excessive concentrations of any air pollutant as a result of atmospheric
			 downwash, wakes, or eddy effects created by the source itself, nearby
			 structures, or nearby terrain features.
2. The fluid model study shall be conducted
			 in accordance with guidelines published by the U.S. EPA in "Guideline for Use
			 of Fluid Modeling to Determine Good Engineering Practice Stack Height," July
			 1981, U.S. EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, EPA-450/4-81-003;
			 and "Guideline for Fluid Modeling of Atmospheric Diffusion," April 1981, U.S.
			 EPA Environmental Sciences Research Laboratory, EPA-600/8-81-009, filed by
			 reference in
			 401 KAR
			 50:015.
(6) "Nearby" as used in subsection (5) of
			 this section is defined for a specific structure or terrain feature; and means:
(a) For purposes of applying the equations
			 provided in subsection (5)(b) of this section, that distance up to five (5)
			 times the lesser of the height or the width dimension of a structure, but not
			 greater than eight-tenths (0.8) km (five-tenths (0.5) mile); and
(b) For conducting demonstrations under
			 subsection (5)(c) of this section, not greater than eight-tenths (0.8) km
			 (five-tenths (0.5) mile) except that the portion of a terrain feature may be
			 considered to be nearby if it falls within a distance of up to ten (10) times
			 the maximum height (Ht) of the feature, not to exceed two (2) miles if such
			 feature achieves a height (Ht) eight-tenths (0.8) km from the stack that is at
			 least forty (40) percent of the GEP stack height determined by the equations
			 provided in subsection (5)(b)2 of this section or twenty-six (26) meters,
			 whichever is greater, as measured from the ground-level elevation at the base
			 of the stack. The height of the structure or terrain feature is measured from
			 the ground-level elevation at the base of the stack.
(7) "Excessive concentration" is defined for
			 the purpose of determining good engineering practice stack height under
			 subsection (5)(c) of this section and means:
(a) For sources seeking credit for stack
			 height exceeding that established under subsection (5)(b) of this section, a
			 maximum ground-level concentration due to emissions from a stack due in whole
			 or in part to downwash, wakes, and eddy effects produced by nearby structures
			 or nearby terrain features which individually is at least forty (40) percent in
			 excess of the maximum concentration experienced in the absence of such
			 downwash, wakes, or eddy effects and which contributes to a total concentration
			 due to emissions from all sources that is greater than an ambient air quality
			 standard. For sources subject to
			 401
			 KAR 51:017, an excessive concentration alternatively
			 means a maximum ground-level concentration due to emissions from a stack due in
			 whole or in part to downwash, wakes, or eddy effects produced by nearby
			 structures or nearby terrain features which individually is at least forty (40)
			 percent in excess of the maximum concentration experienced in the absence of
			 such downwash, wakes, or eddy effects and greater than a prevention of
			 significant deterioration increment. The allowable emission rate to be used in
			 making demonstrations under subsection (5)(c) of this section shall be
			 prescribed by the new source performance standard that is applicable to the
			 source category unless the owner or operator demonstrates that this emission
			 rate is infeasi-ble. Where such demonstrations are approved by the cabinet, an
			 alternative emission rate shall be established in consultation with the source
			 owner or operator;
(b) For sources
			 seeking credit after October 11, 1983, for increases in existing stack heights
			 up to the heights established under subsection (5)(b) of this section; either:
1. A maximum ground-level concentration due
			 in whole or in part to downwash, wakes, or eddy effects as provided in
			 paragraph (a) of this subsection, except that the emission rate specified by
			 any applicable State Implementation Plan (or, in the absence of such a limit,
			 the actual emission rate) shall be used; or
2. The actual presence of a local nuisance
			 caused by the existing stack as determined by the cabinet.
(c) For sources seeking credit after January
			 12, 1979, for a stack height determined under subsection (5)(b) of this section
			 where the cabinet requires the use of a field study or fluid model to verify
			 GEP stack height, for sources seeking stack height credit after November 9,
			 1984, based on the aerodynamic influence of cooling towers, and for sources
			 seeking stack height credit after December 31, 1970, based on the aerodynamic
			 influence of structures not adequately represented by the equations in
			 subsection (5)(b) of this section, a maximum ground-level concentration due in
			 whole or in part to downwash, wakes, or eddy effects that is at least forty
			 (40) percent in excess of the maximum concentration experienced in the absence
			 of such downwash, wakes, or eddy effects.
(8) "Classification date" means January 1,
			 1971.