On September 23, 2009, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of proposed disapproval of the commission鈥檚 qualified facility program. This program was created by Senate Bill (SB) 1126, 74th Legislature, 1995. The program authorizes increases in actual emissions at facilities if those increases are below emissions thresholds that require federal new source review (NSR) and if the best available control technology (BACT) used at the facility was no older than 120 months from the date of the proposed increase.
The proposed disapproval was based on:
1. Inadequate rule language ensuring that any required evaluation of applicable federal review was accomplished before qualified facility status was granted.
2. Ensuring the federal emissions netting procedures were followed to determine if an emissions increase met federal thresholds requiring federal NSR.
3. Ensuring that changes authorized under the qualified facility program would result in the same air quality benefit as the previously authorized emissions, and that the changes would be federally enforceable.
4. Ensuring that the federal definition of BACT was applied for projects requiring federal NSR.
The TCEQ staff is recommending proposed rule amendments to address these issues. Those amendments can be located at: http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/assets/public/legal/rules/rule_lib/proposals/10006116_pex.pdf
Key dates in the proposed rulemaking schedule:
路 Anticipated proposal date: March 30, 2010
路 Anticipated Texas Register publication date: April 16, 2010
路 Public hearing date: May 10, 2010
路 Public comment period: April 16 – May 17, 2010
路 Anticipated adoption date: August 25, 2010