Virginia Law

A. For the purpose of this article and subsequent amendments or any orders issued by the department, the words or terms shall have the meaning given them in subsection C of this section.

B. As used in this article, all terms not defined here shall have the meaning given them in General Definitions (9VAC5-10), unless otherwise required by context.

C. Terms defined.

"Actual emissions" means the actual rate of emissions of a pollutant from any stationary source or emissions unit. In general, actual emissions as of a particular date shall equal the highest annual rate, in tons per calendar year, at which the stationary source or emissions unit actually emitted a pollutant during the consecutive five-year period which precedes the particular date and which is representative of normal stationary source or emissions unit operation. The department may allow the use of a different historical time period upon a determination that it is more representative of normal stationary source or emissions unit operation. Actual emissions shall be calculated using the stationary source's or emissions unit's actual operating hours, production rates, and types of materials processed, stored, or combusted during the selected time period.

"Allowable emissions" means the emission rates of a stationary source or emissions unit calculated by using the maximum rated capacity of the emissions units within the stationary source or emissions unit (unless the stationary source or emissions unit is subject to state or federally enforceable limits which restrict the operating rate or hours of operation or both) and the most stringent of the following:

1. Applicable emission standards;

2. The emission limitation specified as a state or federally enforceable permit condition, including those with a future compliance date; or

3. Any other applicable emission limitation, including those with a future compliance date.

"Complete application" or "complete request" means that the application or request contains all the information necessary for processing the application or request. Designating an application or request complete for purposes of permit processing does not preclude the department from requesting or accepting additional information.

"Contributing to a violation" means, in reference to the potential of a stationary source or emissions unit to emit any of the following pollutants, an air quality impact greater than any of the following amounts:

Carbon monoxide -- 500 μg/m³, 8-hour average

Carbon monoxide -- 2,000 μg/m³, 1-hour average

Nitrogen dioxide -- 1 μg/m³, annual average

PM₁₀ -- 1 μg/m³, annual average

PM₁₀ -- 5 μg/m³, 24-hour average

Sulfur dioxide -- 1 μg/m³, annual average

Sulfur dioxide -- 5 μg/m³, 24-hour average

Sulfur dioxide -- 25 μg/m³, 3-hour average

"Emissions cap" means any limitation on the rate of emissions of any regulated air pollutant from one or more emissions units established and identified as an emissions cap in any permit issued pursuant to the new source review program or operating permit program.

"Emissions unit" means any part of a stationary source which emits or would have the potential to emit any regulated air pollutant.

"Enforceable as a practical matter" means that the permit contains emission limitations that are enforceable by the department and meet the following criteria:

1. Are permanent.

2. Contain a legal obligation for the owner to adhere to the terms and conditions.

3. Do not allow a relaxation of a requirement of the implementation plan.

4. Are technically accurate and quantifiable.

5. Identify an averaging time that allows at least monthly (or a shorter period if necessary to be consistent with the implementation plan) checks on compliance.

6. Require a level of recordkeeping, reporting and monitoring sufficient to demonstrate compliance.

"Existing stationary source" means any stationary source other than a new source.

"Federally enforceable" means all limitations and conditions which are enforceable by the administrator and citizens under the federal Clean Air Act or that are enforceable under other statutes administered by the administrator. Federally enforceable limitations and conditions include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Emission standards, alternative emission standards, alternative emission limitations and equivalent emission limitations established pursuant to § 112 of the federal Clean Air Act as amended in 1990.

2. New source performance standards established pursuant to § 111 of the federal Clean Air Act and emission standards established pursuant to § 112 of the federal Clean Air Act before it was amended in 1990.

3. All terms and conditions in an operating permit issued pursuant to a program approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in accordance with 40 CFR Part 70, including any provisions that limit a source's potential to emit, unless expressly designated as not federally enforceable.

4. Limitations and conditions that are part of the implementation plan.

5. Limitations and conditions that are part of a permit issued under the new source review program.

6. Limitations and conditions that are part of an operating permit issued pursuant to a program approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency into an implementation plan as meeting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's minimum criteria for federal enforceability, including adequate notice and opportunity for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and public comment prior to issuance of the final permit and practicable enforceability.

7. Limitations and conditions in a regulation of the board or in a Virginia program that has been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under subpart E of 40 CFR Part 63 for the purposes of implementing and enforcing § 112 of the federal Clean Air Act.

8. Individual consent agreements that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has legal authority to create.

"General permit" means a permit issued under this article that meets the requirements of 9VAC5-80-1030.

"Major stationary source" means any stationary source which emits, or has the potential to emit, 100 tons or more per year of any regulated air pollutant.

"New source" means any stationary source (or portion of it), the construction or relocation of which commenced on or after March 17, 1972, and any stationary source (or portion of it), the reconstruction of which commenced on or after December 10, 1976.

"New source review program" means a program for the preconstruction review and permitting of new sources or emissions units or expansions to existing ones in accordance with regulations promulgated to implement the requirements of §§ 110(a)(2)(C), 165 (relating to permits in prevention of significant deterioration areas) and 173 (relating to permits in nonattainment areas) of the federal Clean Air Act.

"Nonattainment condition" means a condition where any area is shown by air quality monitoring data or which is shown by an air quality impact analysis (using modeling or other methods determined by the department to be reliable) to exceed the levels allowed by the ambient air quality standard for a given pollutant, regardless of whether such demonstration is based on current or future emissions data.

"Owner" means any person, including bodies politic and corporate, associations, partnerships, personal representatives, trustees and committees, as well as individuals, who owns, leases, operates, controls or supervises a stationary source.

"Potential to emit" means the maximum capacity of a stationary source or emissions unit to emit a pollutant under its physical and operational design. Any physical or operational limitation on the capacity of the stationary source or emissions unit to emit a pollutant, including air pollution control equipment and restrictions on hours of operation or on the type or amount of material combusted, stored, or processed, shall be treated as part of its design if the limitation or the effect it would have on emissions is state or federally enforceable. Secondary emissions do not count in determining the potential to emit of a stationary source or emissions unit.

"Regulated air pollutant" means any of the following:

1. Nitrogen oxides or any volatile organic compound.

2. Any pollutant for which an ambient air quality standard has been promulgated.

3. Any pollutant subject to any standard promulgated under § 111 of the federal Clean Air Act.

4. Any Class I or II substance subject to a standard promulgated under or established by Title VI of the federal Clean Air Act concerning stratospheric ozone protection.

5. Any pollutant subject to a standard promulgated under or other requirements established under § 112 of the federal Clean Air Act concerning hazardous air pollutants and any pollutant regulated under Subpart C of 40 CFR 68.

6. Any pollutant subject to a regulation adopted by the board.

7. Any pollutant subject to regulation under the Virginia Air Pollution Control Law.

"Secondary emissions" means emissions which would occur as a result of the construction or operation of a major stationary source, but do not come from the major stationary source itself. Secondary emissions include emissions from any offsite support facility which would not be constructed or increase its emissions except as a result of the construction or operation of the major stationary source. Secondary emissions do not include any emissions which come directly from a mobile source, such as emissions from the tailpipe of a motor vehicle, from a train, or from a vessel.

"State-enforceable" means all limitations and conditions which are enforceable as a practical matter, including those requirements developed pursuant to 9VAC5-170-160, requirements within any applicable order, regulation of the board, or variance, and any permit requirements established pursuant to 9VAC5 Chapter 80 (9VAC5-80-10 et seq.).

"Stationary source" means any building, structure, facility or installation which emits or may emit any air pollutant. A stationary source shall include all of the pollutant-emitting activities which belong to the same industrial grouping, are located on one or more contiguous or adjacent properties, and are under the control of the same person (or persons under common control) except the activities of any vessel. Pollutant-emitting activities shall be considered as part of the same industrial grouping if they belong to the same "major group" (i.e., which have the same two-digit code) as described in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual (see 9VAC5-20-21).

"Synthetic minor" means a stationary source whose potential to emit is constrained by state-enforceable limits, by federally enforceable limits, or by both so as to place that stationary source below the threshold at which it would be subject to permit or other requirements in regulations of the board or in the federal Clean Air Act.