Pennsylvania Code › Title 25 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Part I - Department of Environmental Protection › Subpart C - Protection of Natural Resources › Article III - Air Resources › Chapter 127 - CONSTRUCTION, MODIFICATION, REACTIVATION AND OPERATION OF SOURCES › Subchapter E - NEW SOURCE REVIEW › Section 127.208 - ERC use and transfer requirements

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
The use and transfer of ERCs shall meet the following
						  conditions:
(1) The registry system
						established by §
												127.209 (relating to ERC registry
						system) shall be used to transfer ERCs, with the Department's approval,
						directly from an existing source or facility where the ERCs were generated to
						the proposed facility.
(2) The
						transferee shall secure approval to use the offsetting ERCs through a plan
						approval or an operating permit, which indicates the Department's approval of
						the ERC transfer and use. Upon the issuance of a plan approval or an operating
						permit, the ERCs are no longer subject to expiration under §
												127.206(f)
						(relating to ERC general requirements) except as specified in §
						127.206(g).
(3) For the pollutants
						regulated under this subchapter, the facility shall demonstrate to the
						satisfaction of the Department that the ERCs proposed for use as offsets will
						provide, at a minimum, ambient impact equivalence to the extent equivalence can
						be determined and that the use of the ERCs will not interfere with the overall
						control strategy of the SIP.
(4)
						ERCs shall include the same conditions, limitations and characteristics,
						including seasonal and other temporal variations in emission rate and quality,
						as well as the maximum allowable emission rates the emissions would have had if
						emitted by the generator, unless equivalent ambient impact is assured through
						other means.
(5) ERCs may be
						obtained from or traded in another state, which has reciprocity with the
						Commonwealth for the trading and use of ERCs, only upon the approval of both
						the Commonwealth and the other state through SIP approved rules and procedures,
						including an EPA approved SIP revision. ERCs generated in another state may not
						be traded into or used at a facility within this Commonwealth unless the ERC
						generating facility's ERCs are enforceable by the Department.
(6) ERCs may not be transferred to and used
						in an area with a higher nonattainment classification than the one in which
						they were generated.
(7) A facility
						proposing new or increased emissions shall demonstrate that sufficient
						offsetting ERCs at the ratio specified in §
												127.210 (relating to offset
						ratios) have been acquired from within the nonattainment area of the proposed
						facility.
(8) If the facility
						proposing new or increased emissions demonstrates that ERCs are not available
						in the nonattainment area where the facility is located, ERCs may be obtained
						from another nonattainment area if the other nonattainment area has an equal or
						higher classification and if the emissions from the other nonattainment area
						contribute to an NAAQS violation in the nonattainment area of the proposed
						facility. In addition, the requirements of paragraph (3) shall be
						satisfied.
(9) For the purpose of
						emissions offset transfers at VOC or NOx facilities, the areas included within
						an ozone transport region established under section 184 of the Clean Air Act
						(42 U.S.C.A. §
													7511c), which are designated in
						40 CFR
						81.339 (relating to Pennsylvania) as
						attainment, nonattainment or unclassifiable areas for ozone, shall be treated
						as a single nonattainment area.
(10) An owner or operator of a facility shall
						acquire ERCs for use as offsets from an ERC generating facility located within
						the same nonattainment area.
(11)
						An owner or operator of a facility shall acquire ERCs for use as offsets from
						an ERC generating facility located within the same nonattainment area, except
						that the Department may allow the owner or operator to obtain ERCs generated in
						another nonattainment area if the following exist:
(i) The other area has an equal or higher
						nonattainment classification than the area in which the facility is
						located.
(ii) Emissions from the
						other area contribute to a violation of the NAAQS in the nonattainment area in
						which the facility is located.