Virginia Law

A. Minor permit amendment procedures shall be used only for those permit amendments that meet all of the following criteria:

1. Do not violate any applicable federal requirement.

2. Do not involve significant changes to existing monitoring, reporting, or recordkeeping requirements that would make the permit requirements less stringent, such as a change to the method of monitoring to be used, a change to the method of demonstrating compliance or a relaxation of reporting or recordkeeping requirements.

3. Do not require or change a case-by-case determination of an emissions limitation or other requirement.

4. Do not seek to establish or change a permit term or condition (i) for which there is no corresponding underlying applicable regulatory requirement and (ii) that the source has assumed to avoid an applicable regulatory requirement to which the source would otherwise be subject. Such terms and conditions include, but are not limited to, an emissions cap assumed to avoid classification as a modification under the new source review program.

5. Are not required to be processed as a significant amendment under 9VAC5-80-1955; or as an administrative permit amendment under 9VAC5-80-1935.

B. Notwithstanding subsection A of this section, minor permit amendment procedures may be used for permit amendments that meet any of the following criteria:

1. Involve the use of economic incentives, emissions trading, and other similar approaches, to the extent that such minor permit amendment procedures are explicitly provided for in a regulation of the board or a federally-approved program.

2. Require new or more frequent monitoring or reporting by the permittee.

3. Designate any term or permit condition that meets the criteria in 9VAC5-80-1625 G 1 as state-only enforceable as provided in 9VAC5-80-1625 G 2 for any permit issued under this article or any regulation from which this article is derived.

C. Minor permit amendment procedures may be used for permit amendments involving the rescission of a provision of a permit if the department and the owner make a mutual determination that the provision is rescinded because all of the underlying statutory or regulatory requirements (i) upon which the provision is based or (ii) that necessitated inclusion of the provision are no longer applicable. In order for the underlying statutory or regulatory requirements to be considered no longer applicable, the provision of the permit that is being rescinded must not cover a regulated NSR pollutant.

D. A request for the use of minor permit amendment procedures shall include a description of the change, the emissions resulting from the change, and any new applicable regulatory requirements that will apply if the change occurs, along with a request that such procedures be used. The applicant may, at the applicant's discretion, include a suggested proposed permit amendment.

E. The public participation requirements of 9VAC5-80-1775 shall not extend to minor permit amendments.

F. Normally within 90 days of receipt by the department of a complete request under minor permit amendment procedures, the department will do one of the following:

1. Issue the permit amendment as proposed.

2. Deny the permit amendment request.

3. Determine that the requested amendment does not meet the minor permit amendment criteria and should be reviewed under the significant amendment procedures.

G. The requirements for making changes are as follows:

1. The owner may make the change proposed in the minor permit amendment request immediately after the request is filed.

2. After the change under subdivision 1 of this subsection is made, and until the department takes any of the actions specified in subsection F of this section, the source shall comply with both the applicable regulatory requirements governing the change and the proposed permit amendment.

3. During the time period specified in subdivision 2 of this subsection, the owner need not comply with the existing permit terms and conditions the owner seeks to modify if the applicant has submitted a proposed permit amendment. However, if the owner fails to comply with the proposed permit terms and conditions during this time period, the existing permit terms and conditions the owner seeks to modify may be enforced against the owner.