Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission Austin Texas Memorandum From: Bridget C. Bohac, Attorney, Legal Division To: Lawrence E. Pewitt, P.E., Director, Permits Division Date: December 8, 1987 Subject: Request for Legal Opinion - Permit Renewal This is in response to your request for a legal opinion concerning whether a permit may be voided by an applicant after a fifteen-year period (or less) and a claim for a standard exemption made instead of proceeding with a permit renewal review. Section 3.27(a) gives the Board authority to adopt rules to exempt certain types of facilities from the requirements set forth in Sections 3.27 and 3.28. The Board has adopted Rule 116.6, now 116.211, in Regulation VI pursuant to this authority. Rule 116.6, now 116.211, incorporates by reference the Standard Exemption List. If a facility meets the requirements of Rule 116.6, now 116.211, and the criteria of a specific standard exemption, the facility qualifies for a standard exemption and is exempt from all requirements set forth in Sections 3.27 and 3.28 of the Act. Section 3.28(g) of the Texas Clean Air Act (the Act) authorizes review of a permit fifteen years after it has been issued. This subsection of the Act also states that if the holder of an operating permit "to which the board has mailed notice of the requirements of this subsection does not apply for review of that permit by the date specified by the board pursuant to this subsection, the permit shall expire fifteen years following the date it was issued or last continued." Rule 116.12(h), now 116.311(c), which was adopted pursuant to authority granted by the Act also states that if the permit holder does not apply for review and renewal of the operating permit, the operating permit shall expire. In summary, pursuant to Section 3.28 (g) of the Act and Rule 116.12, now 116.310, the holder of an operating permit may choose not to make application for review and renewal of that permit. In that event, the permit would expire and the facility would no longer be authorized to operate pursuant to the conditions of that permit. However, if the facility met the criteria of a standard exemption and the requirements of Rule 116.6, now 116.211, then the facility could continue to operate under that authority. We can find no authority to preclude the holder of a permit from taking this course of action, upon expiration of the fifteen year period or at any time prior to the expiration of the fifteen year period.