Arkansas SIP: Regulation of Plan § 4. Permits

Regulatory Text:
SECTION 4  PERMITS

(Approved by EPA 10/05/76 (41 FR 43904) at 52.170(c)(04) effective 10/05/76. Revisions approved by EPA 05/01/89 (54 FR 18494) at 52.170(c)(27) effective 06/30/89.)

   (a) After June 30, 1975, no person shall cause or permit the construction or modification of equipment without first obtaining a permit from this Department pursuant to the provisions of this section. (However, applications submitted to the Department prior to June 30, 1975 may instead be approved by the Department prior to September 1, 1975 pursuant to the provisions of the Arkansas Air Pollution Control Code provided the permitted emissions do not exceed the limitations provided herein.) Application for permit shall be made on such forms and shall contain such information as the department may reasonably require. Upon notice, the Director may revoke a permit if he finds that the applicant has failed to comply fully with the terms thereof. Revocations hereunder may be appealed to the Commission.

   (b) No permit shall be granted under the Regulations of the Plan unless the applicant shows to the reasonable satisfaction of the Director that the equipment is designed and will be installed or modified to operate without causing the National Ambient Air Quality Standards to be exceeded, and within all regulations governing emissions adopted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to provisions of the Clean Air Act.

   (c) Within 90 days of receipt by the Department of a permit application which contains such information as required by the Department (unless said period is extended due to the provisions of Subsection (d) below), the Department shall notify the applicant in writing of its approval or disapproval of said application. If an application is disapproved, the Department shall set forth its objections in the notice of disapproval. Within 60 days after service, the applicant may request the Department to reconsider the application by answering in writing the Department's objections to the application. The Department shall consider the applicant's answer to its objections, and shall notify the applicant within 90 days of its approval or denial of the application. Failure to answer or request an extension of the notice of disapproval shall be deemed a denial of the application. A hearing before the Commission may be had on the denial, revocation or modification of a permit, as provided in the Act.

   (d) No permit application shall be finally approved or disapproved under the provisions of the Regulations of the Plan unless the public has first had opportunity to comment on the Department's tentative approval or disapproval of the application. For purposes of this subsection, opportunity for public comment shall mean the following:  

     (i) Availability for public inspection in at least one location in the region in which the installation, construction or modification is proposed to take place and in the Department's central offices of the information submitted by the owner or operator and the Department's analysis of the effect of the proposed emissions on air quality.

     (ii) A 30-day period for submittal of public comment.

     (iii) A notice by prominent advertisement in the region in which the installation, construction or modification is proposed to take place. Such notice shall, as a minimum, describe the locations at which the application and the Department's analysis may be inspected and the procedure for submitting public comment.

     (iv) A copy of the notice required pursuant to this subsection shall be sent to the applicant and to the following agencies and officials:

       (A) The Regional Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

       (B) The Arkansas Department of Local Services.

       (C) The mayor of the community in which the equipment is proposed to be constructed or modified.

       (D) The county judge of the county in which the equipment is proposed to be constructed or modified.  

       (E) Air pollution control agencies of adjoining states of the region in which the source is to be located is an interstate air quality control region.  

     (v) Public comments submitted in accordance with procedures in the public notice described in Subsection (iii) above shall be considered by the Department prior to making its final decision on the application. No later than 10 days after the close of the public comment period, the applicant may submit to the Department a written response to any comments submitted by the public. The Department shall consider the applicant's response in making its final approval or disapproval.  
     (vi) The Department shall take final action on an application within 60 days after the close of the public comment period. The Department shall notify in writing the applicant of the Department's final actions and the Department's reasons for its final actions. Such notifications shall be made available for public inspection in at least one location in the region in which the source is located. Such notification shall remain available for public inspection for at least 10 days. Thereafter, the notice may be inspected at the Department's central office in Little Rock.
     (vii) The Department may extend each of the time periods specified in this subsection as agreed to by the applicant and the Director.
   (e) When equipment relates to and is part of a secret process or method of manufacture or production, only such part of the permit application as relates to the direct emissions of air contaminants to the open air shall be required to be filed with the Department. In order to comply with this subsection, an affidavit signed by an authorized person must be filed with the permit application containing the following information:

     (i) Location of process or equipment, specifying the building and the section or part of the building in which it is located;
     (ii) In general terms, the name and nature of the process equipment;
     (iii) Means to be employed for the control of air contaminant emissions;

     (iv) Nature and estimated rate of discharge of air contaminants to the open air;

     (v) Dimensions, height, and location of stacks discharging air contaminants to the open air;

     (vi) Authority of the person signing the affidavit; and

     (vii) A statement that the installation relates to a secret process or method of manufacture or production.

Any information relating to secret processes, methods of manufacture or production which may be required, ascertained or discovered by the Department shall not be disclosed by any Department employee or agent and shall be kept confidential. Affidavits shall be filed with the Commission and shall be accompanied by an application for permit containing all relevant information covering that part of the  installation, process or equipment directly emitting air contaminants to the open air and containing all other relevant information except disclosure of the secret process or method of manufacture or production. However, any information relating to the emission of air contaminants, analysis of air quality impact and sampling or monitoring information obtained pursuant to Section 7 shall be available for public inspection.

   (f) A permit shall not be required for the installation, alteration, or operation of an air contaminant detector, air contaminant recorder, combustion controller or combustion shutoff, or for any of the following equipment:

     (i) Cooling and ventilating equipment--
 - cold storage refrigeration equipment;
 - comfort air conditioning or comfort ventilating systems not designed to remove air contaminants generated by or released from specific units or equipment;
 - natural draft hoods or natural draft ventilation; and
 - water cooling towers and water cooling ponds not used for evaporative cooling of water from barometric jets or from barometric condensers.

     (ii) Cleaning, washing, and drying equipment--  
 - vacuum cleaning systems used exclusively for industrial, commercial or residential house-keeping purposes;
 - equipment used for portable steam cleaning;
 - blast cleaning equipment using a suspension of abrasive water and any exhaust system or collector serving them exclusively;
 - equipment used for washing or drying products fabricated from metal or glass, if no volatile organic materials are used in the process and no oil or solid fuel is burned; and
 - laundry dryers, extractors or tumblers for fabric cleaned with only water solutions of bleach or detergents.

     (iii) Furnaces, ovens and heaters--
 - natural-gas fired or liquefied petroleum gas-fired or electrically heated furnaces for heat-treating glass or metals, the use of which does not involve molten materials, kilns for firing ceramic ware, heated exclusively by natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas or any exhaust system or collector serving them exclusively;
 - blacksmith forges;
 - crucible furnaces;
 - pot furnaces or induction furnaces with a capacity of 1,000 pounds or less each, in which no sweating or distilling is conducted, nor any fluxing conducted utilizing free chlorine, chloride and fluoride derivatives and ammonium compounds;
 - on-lease oil and gas heaters or heater treaters; gas fuel and No. 1 and No. 2 fuel-oil burning equipment used for space heating, service water heating and electric power generation (less than 60,000 lbs/hr steam capacity);
 - fuel-burning, refuse-burning and cooking equipment used in connection with a structure designed and used exclusively as a dwelling for not more than four families; and
 - bakery ovens and confection cookers where the products are edible and intended for human consumption, and any exhaust system or collector serving them exclusively.

     (iv) Testing and inspection equipment--
 - laboratory equipment used exclusively for chemical or physical analysis or experimentation;
 - equipment used for hydraulic or hydrostatic testing;
 - and equipment for inspection of metal products.

     (v) Containers--
 - dipping operations for coating objects with oils, waxes or greases, or natural or synthetic resins containing no organic  solvents, electrolytic plating with, electrolytic polishing of, or stripping of the following metals: brass, bronze, cadmium, copper, iron, lead, nickel, tin, zinc, and precious metals, storage of butane, propane and liquefied petroleum gas, and storage of lubricating oils.

     (vi) Miscellaneous--
 - maintenance, structural changes or repair not involving any change in the quality, nature, or quantity of the emission of air contaminants therefrom,
 - portable asphalt mix plants,
 - equipment used for any mode of transportation,
 - internal combustion engines,
 - vacuum pump in laboratory or pilot plant operations,
 - unheated solvent dispensing containers or unheated solvent rinsing containers of 60 gallons capacity or less,
 - portable brazing, soldering or welding equipment, grain, metal or mineral extrusion presses.

     (vii) The following equipment and an exhaust system or collector serving it exclusively--
 - drop hammers or hydraulic presses for forging or metal
working,
 - die casting machines,
 - equipment for surface preparation of metals by use of aqueous solutions, except for acid solution,
 - atmosphere generators used in connection with metal heat
treating processes,
 - equipment used exclusively for sintering of glass or metals, but not exempting equipment used for sintering metal bearing ores, metal scales, clay, fly ash or metal compounds,
 - photographic process equipment by which an image is  reproduced upon material sensitized to radiant energy.

     (viii) To existing portable asphalt concrete plants which relocate after June 30, 1975 provided that upon relocation the emissions do not exceed 100 lbs/hr or 1,000 lbs/day.  

     (ix) Such other equipment as the Department may specifically exempt from the requirements of this section, provided that, upon receipt of the preliminary application, the Department determines that:

       (A) The emissions (potential emission rate) from the equipment proposed within the application in conjunction with the emissions from existing equipment, if any, on the site on which the proposed new or modified equipment is to be located do not exceed five (5) tons per year of lead, or 100 tons per year of any other pollutant for which a National Ambient Air Quality Standard has been  promulgated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency; and

       (B) The location and configuration of the proposed equipment is such that the emissions as proposed do not prevent the attainment or maintenance of any National Ambient Air Quality Standard or air quality increment.

The applicant shall submit such information as the Department may reasonably require to make the determinations described in Subsections (A) and (B) hereof. Copies of the application, supplemental information and the Commission's determination shall be made a part of the permanent record of the applicant and shall be available for public inspection at the Department's central office. The exemption from the requirements of a permit granted by this Subsection (ix) is wholly conditioned on continuing compliance with the terms of the exemption, as granted, and as set forth in Paragraphs (A) and (B) hereof. The Director may cancel an exemption granted hereunder for failure to comply with the terms thereof. Operation of a source subject to Section 4 hereof without an exemption having been granted, even with the limits imposed by (A) and (B), and violation of the limits set forth in (A) and (B), even by a source which has been granted an exemption, shall constitute violations of these regulations. Any person granted an exemption hereunder shall, nonetheless, be subject to the requirements of Section 7 hereof.

   (g) The provisions of Subsection (f) shall not apply to  equipment affected by regulations promulgated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

   (h) Issuance of a permit by this Department does not relieve the applicant of any responsibility to meet all other requirements of these regulations.  

   (i) Upon completion of the installation, alteration, or  replacement of equipment for which a permit is required, and within 30 days after the equipment has been placed in operation, the Director shall be notified in writing. The Director may require the permittee to conduct such tests as are necessary to determine whether the equipment complies with the provisions of the permit, or the Director may cause such tests to be made by agents of the Department. Noncomplying equipment shall be promptly corrected by the permittee.

   (j) The Director may cancel a permit if the installation or alteration is not begun within 18 months from the date of the permit or if the work involved in the installation or alteration is suspended for 18 months or more from the date of issuance of the permit.