sestdpmt.txt
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Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM To: Duncan Stewart, Chemical Section, New Source Review Date: January 21, 1997 Through: David Duncan, Senior Attorney, Air Section, Legal Division From: Laura L. Rowan, Staff Attorney, Air Section, Legal Division Subject: Use of Standard Exemptions for Facilities Operating under Standard Permits ISSUE Whether standard exemptions can be used to authorize emissions from an oil and gas facility operating under a standard permit in order to account for sulfur dioxide emissions above the level allowed by the standard permit. FACTS Company A has a standard permit for an oil and gas facility it operates in accordance with the standard permit requirements for oil and gas facilities in 30 TAC 116.620. Those requirements limit sulfur dioxide emissions to a maximum of 250 tons per year (tpy). 30 TAC 116.620(a)(1). As oil fields age, the sulfur concentration in given throughput levels at oil and gas facilities processing product from the fields increases. Given the aging of the field in use for Company A's oil and gas facility, continued operation of the facility with the increasing sulfur concentrations would result in the exceedance of the 250 tpy sulfur dioxide emissions limit. Company A has asked whether it can continue to operate under the standard permit by using Standard Exemption 66 (oil or gas production facility) and Standard Exemption 80 (smokeless gas flares) to account for sulfur emissions in excess of the amount allowed by the standard permit. SHORT ANSWER Company A may not use standard exemptions to obtain authorization to increase sulfur emissions above the level allowed by its standard permit. DISCUSSION The Texas Clean Air Act states that the commission may issue "a standard permit developed by rule for numerous similar facilities. . . ." TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. 382.051(b)(3) (Vernon 1997). Subchapter F of 30 TAC Chapter 116 contains the TNRCC's rules for standard permits. In that subchapter, Section 116.610(a) states that "projects involving the types of facilities or physical or operational changes to facilities which meet the requirements for a standard permit listed in this subchapter are hereby entitled to a standard permit; . . ." Among the limited and clearly-defined types of facilities entitled to standard permits are the types of oil and gas facilities described in 116.620. If the sulfur emissions from Company A's facility exceed the levels allowed by that rule, the facility would no longer be a "similar facility" or the "type of facility" entitled to a standard permit. The general conditions for standard permits contained in 30 TAC 116.615 indicate that certain changes to a standard permitted facility will render the facility no longer eligible to operate under the standard permit. Regarding standard permit representations, 116.615(2) states: All representations with regard to construction plans, operating procedures, and maximum emission rates in any registration for a standard permit become conditions upon which the facility or changes thereto, shall be constructed and operated. It shall be unlawful for any person to vary from such representations if the change will affect that person's right to claim a standard permit under this section. Any change in condition such that a person is no longer eligible to claim a standard permit under this section requires proper authorization under 116.110 of this title (relating to Applicability). If the facility remains eligible to claim a standard permit, the owner or operator of the facility must notify the TNRCC of any changes in conditions which will result in a change in the method of control of emissions, a change in the character of emissions, or an increase in the discharge of the various emissions as compared to the representations in the original registration or any previous notification of a change in representations. . . (emphasis added). The above rule indicates that a change in conditions can render a person no longer eligible to claim a standard permit. If a facility is no longer eligible to claim a standard permit, the owner or operator must obtain a different type of authorization under 116.110. The rules neither state nor suggest that a facility can continue operating under a standard permit by incorporating changes that violate the terms of the standard permit by the use of a standard exemption. Accordingly, if a person who plans to construct an oil and gas facility knows that sulfur concentrations from the operation of the facility will eventually exceed the standard permit sulfur emissions limitation, that person must obtain a permit pursuant to 30 TAC 116.111 rather than a standard permit.