Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 310 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Title 310 CMR 7.00 - Air Pollution Control › Section 7.54 - U Large Combustion Emission Units

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1)
Applicability
.
			 As set forth in
			 310 CMR
			 7.02(3) and (5)(a)11., a
			 Comprehensive Plan Application is required from any person prior to
			 substantially reconstructing one or more large combustion emission units
			 resulting in a major modification. The requirements of 310 CMR 7.54 shall not
			 apply to a pollutant if the facility is located in an area designated as
			 non-attainment under the Clean Air Act, § 107 (42 U.S.C.
			 7407) , for that pollutant.
(2)
DEFINITIONS
. The
			 definitions in
			 310 CMR
			 7.00 apply to 310 CMR 7.54. However, the following
			 terms have the following meanings when they appear in 310 CMR 7.54. If a term
			 is defined both in
			 310 CMR
			 7.00 and .54(2), the definition in 310 CMR 7.54(2)
			 applies for purposes of 310 CMR 7.54.
ACTUAL EMISSIONS
means the actual rate
				of emissions of a pollutant from an emissions unit, as determined in accordance
				with 310 CMR 7.54:
ACTUAL EMISSIONS
(a) through
				(c).
(a) In general, actual emissions
			 as of a particular date shall equal the average rate, in tons per year, at
			 which the unit actually emitted the p`ollutant during a two-year period which
			 precedes the particular date and which is representative of normal operation.
			 The Department shall allow the use of a different time period upon a
			 determination that it is more representative of normal operation. Actual
			 emissions shall be calculated using the unit's actual operating hours,
			 production rates, and types of materials processed, stored, or combusted during
			 the selected time period.
(b) For
			 any emissions unit (other than an electric utility steam generating unit
			 specified in 310 CMR 7.54:
ACTUAL EMISSIONS
(c)),
			 which has not begun normal operations on the particular date, actual emissions
			 shall equal the potential to emit of the unit on that date.
(c) For an electric utility steam generating
			 unit (other than a new unit or the replacement of an existing unit), actual
			 emissions of the unit following the physical or operational change shall equal
			 the representative actual annual emissions of the unit, provided the facility
			 owner or operator maintains and submits to the Department on an annual basis
			 for a period of five years from the date the unit resumes regular operation,
			 information demonstrating that the physical or operational change did not
			 result in an emissions increase. A longer period, not to exceed ten years, may
			 be required by the Department if it determines such a period to be more
			 representative of normal facility post-change operations.
Allowable Emissions
means the
				emissions rate of a facility calculated using the maximum rated capacity of the
				LCEU(s) (unless the LCEU is subject to federally enforceable limits which
				restrict the operating rate, or hours of operation, or both) and the most
				stringent emission standard, including one with a future compliance
				date.
Begin Actual Construction
means, in
				general, initiation of physical on-site construction activities on an LCEU,
				which are of a permanent nature. Such activities include, but are not limited
				to, installation of building supports and foundations, laying underground pipe
				work and construction of permanent storage structures. With respect to a change
				in method of operations, this term refers to those on-site activities other
				than preparatory activities which mark the initiation of the change.
Commence
as applied to construction of
				an LCEU means that the owner or operator has all necessary plan approvals
				required pursuant to
				310 CMR
				7.02 and either has:
(a) Begun, or caused to begin, a continuous
			 program of actual on-site construction of the LCEU, to be completed within a
			 reasonable time; or
(b) 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 actual construction of the LCEU to be completed within a reasonable
			 time.
Complete
means, in reference to an
				application for a plan approval, that the application contains all of the
				information necessary for processing the application.
Construction
means any physical change
				or change in the method of operation (including fabrication, erection,
				installation, demolition, or modification of an emissions unit) which would
				result in a change in actual emissions.
Electric Utility Steam Generating Unit
means any steam electric generating unit that is constructed for the purpose of
				supplying more than one-third of its potential electric output capacity and
				more than 25 MW electrical output to any utility power distribution system for
				sale. Any steam supplied to a steam distribution system for the purpose of
				providing steam to a steamelectric generator that would produce electrical
				energy for sale is also considered in determining the electrical energy output
				capacity of the affected facility.
Indirect Heat Exchanger
means
				combustion equipment in which the flame or the products of combustion are
				separated from any contact with the principal material in the process by
				metallic or refractory walls. It includes, but is not limited to, steam boilers
				(including combustion turbines with Heat Recovery Steam Generators),
				vaporizers, melting pots, heat exchangers, column reboilers, fractioning column
				feed preheaters, reactor feed preheaters, fuel-fired reactors such as steam
				hydrocarbon reformer heaters and pyrolysis heaters.
Large Combustion Emission Unit (LCEU)
means either:
(a) an
			 indirect heat exchanger with an energy input capacity greater than or equal to
			 250,000,000 Btu per hour, or
(b) a
			 municipal waste combustor with a capacity greater than 250 tons per day of
			 municipal solid waste.
Major Modification
means any physical
				change or change in the method of operation of large combustion emission
				unit(s) at a facility that would result in a significant net emissions increase
				of any pollutant subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act. A physical
				change or change in the method of operation shall not include:
(a) Routine maintenance, repair and
			 replacement;
(b) Use of an
			 alternative fuel or raw material by an LCEU which:
1. The LCEU was capable of accommodating
			 before January 6, 1975, unless such change would be prohibited under any
			 federally enforceable condition which was established after January 6, 1975;
			 or
2. The LCEU is approved to use
			 under any plan approval issued under
			 310 CMR
			 7.02;
(c) An increase in the hours of operation or
			 in the production rate, unless such change would be prohibited under any
			 federally enforceable condition which was established after January 6, 1975;
			 or
(d) Any change in ownership at a
			 facility; or
(e) The addition,
			 replacement or use of a pollution control project at an existing LCEU, unless
			 the Department determines that such addition, replacement, or use renders the
			 unit less environmentally beneficial; or
(f) The installation, operation, cessation,
			 or removal of a temporary clean coal technology demonstration project, provided
			 that the project complies with all applicable requirements.
Net Emissions Increase
means the
				amount by which the sum of the following exceeds zero:
(a) Any increase in actual emissions from a
			 particular physical change or change in method of operation of LCEU(s) at the
			 facility; and
(b) Any other
			 increases and decreases in actual emissions from LCEUs at the facility that are
			 contemporaneous with the particular change and are otherwise
			 creditable.
(c) An increase or
			 decrease in actual emissions is contemporaneous with the increase from the
			 particular change only if it occurs between:
1. The date five years before construction of
			 the particular change commences; and
2. The date that the increase from the
			 particular change occurs.
(d) An increase or decrease in actual
			 emissions is creditable only if:
1. the
			 Department has not relied on it in issuing a plan approval required pursuant to
			 310 CMR 7.54, or a PSD (Prevention of Significant Deterioration) permit
			 pursuant to
			 40 CFR
			 52.21 (Note: Prior to March 3, 2003 the
			 Department issued PSD permits in Massachusetts), and
2. the plan approval or PSD permit is in
			 effect when the increase in actual emissions from the particular change
			 occurs.
(e) With respect
			 to particulate matter, only PM-10 emissions can be used to evaluate the net
			 emissions increase for PM-10.
(f)
			 An increase in actual emissions is creditable only to the extent that the new
			 level of actual emissions exceeds the old level.
(g) A decrease in actual emissions is
			 creditable only to the extent that:
1. The old
			 level of actual emissions or the old level of allowable emissions, whichever is
			 lower, exceeds the new level of actual emissions;
2. It is federally enforceable at and after
			 the time that actual construction of the particular change begins;
			 and
3. It has approximately the
			 same qualitative significance for public health and welfare as that attributed
			 to the increase from the particular change.
(h) An increase that results from a physical
			 change at a facility occurs when the LCEU on which construction occurred
			 becomes operational and begins to emit a particular pollutant. Any replacement
			 unit that requires shakedown becomes operational only after a reasonable
			 shakedown period, not to exceed 180 days.
Pollution Control Project
means any
				activity or project undertaken on an LCEU for purposes of reducing emissions
				from such unit. Such activities or projects are limited to:
(a) The installation of conventional or
			 innovative pollution control technology, including but not limited to:
1. conventional or advanced flue gas
			 desulfurization, sorbent injection for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides or
			 mercury controls; or
2.
			 electrostatic precipitators or fabric filters; or
3. selective catalytic reduction or
			 non-selective catalytic reduction for control of oxides of nitrogen.
(b) An activity or project to
			 accommodate switching to a fuel which is less polluting than the fuel in use
			 prior to the activity or project, including, but not limited to natural gas or
			 coal re-burning, or the co-firing of natural gas and other fuels for the
			 purpose of controlling emissions.
Potential to Emit
means the maximum
				capacity of a facility or emission unit to emit a pollutant under its physical
				and operational design. Any physical or operational limitation on the capacity
				of the facility or emission unit to emit a pollutant, including air pollution
				control equipment 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. Fugitive emissions, to the extent they are quantifiable,
				are included in determining potential to emit. Secondary emissions do not count
				in determining the potential to emit of a facility.
Representative Actual Annual Emissions
means the average rate, in tons per year, at which the LCEU is projected to
				emit a pollutant for the two-year period after a physical change or change in
				the method of operation of a unit, (or a different consecutive two-year period
				within ten years after that change, where the Department determines that such
				period is more representative of normal source operations), considering the
				effect any such change will have on increasing or decreasing the hourly
				emissions rate and on projected capacity utilization. In projecting future
				emissions the Department shall:
(a) Consider all relevant information,
			 including but not limited to, historical operational data, the company's own
			 representations, filings with the State or Federal regulatory authorities, and
			 compliance plans under Title IV of the Clean Air Act (42
			 U.S.C. 7651 through
			 7651(o);
			 and
(b) Exclude, in calculating any
			 increase in emissions that results from the particular physical change or
			 change in the method of operation at an electric utility steam generating unit,
			 that portion of the unit's emissions following the change that could have been
			 accommodated during the representative baseline period and is attributable to
			 an increase in projected capacity utilization at the unit that is unrelated to
			 the particular change, including any increased utilization due to the rate of
			 electricity demand growth for the utility system as a whole.
Significant
means, in reference to a
				net emissions increase, or the potential of a facility to emit any of the
				following pollutants, a rate of emissions that would equal or exceed any of the
				following rates:
Pollutant and Emissions Rate:
(a) Carbon monoxide: 100 tons per year
			 (tpy);
(b) Nitrogen oxides: 40
			 tpy;
(c) Sulfur dioxide: 40
			 tpy;
(d) Particulate matter:
1. 25 tpy of particulate matter
			 emissions;
2. 15 tpy of PM10
			 emissions.
(e) Ozone: 40
			 tpy of volatile organic compounds;
(f) Lead: 0.6 tpy;
(g) Fluorides: 3 tpy;
(h) Sulfuric acid mist: 7 tpy;
(i) Hydrogen sulfide
			 (H2 S): 10 tpy;
(j) Total reduced sulfur (including
			 H2 S): 10 tpy;
(k) Reduced sulfur compounds (including
			 H2 S): 10 tpy;
(l) Municipal waste combustor organics
			 (measured as total tetra- through octa-chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and
			 dibenzofurans): 3.2 Ã- 10-6 megagrams per
			 year (3.5 Ã- 10-6 tons per year);
(m) Municipal waste combustor metals
			 (measured as particulate matter): 14 megagrams per year (15 tons per
			 year);
(n) Municipal waste
			 combustor acid gases (measured as sulfur dioxide and hydrogen chloride): 36
			 megagrams per year (40 tons per year).