25 Pa. Code § 127.208 - ERC use and transfer requirements
The use and transfer of ERCs shall meet the following conditions:
(1) The registry system
established by §
127.209 (relating to ERC registry
system) shall be used to transfer ERCs, with the Department's approval,
directly from an existing source or facility where the ERCs were generated to
the proposed facility.
(2) The
transferee shall secure approval to use the offsetting ERCs through a plan
approval or an operating permit, which indicates the Department's approval of
the ERC transfer and use. Upon the issuance of a plan approval or an operating
permit, the ERCs are no longer subject to expiration under §
127.206(f)
(relating to ERC general requirements) except as specified in §
127.206(g).
(3) For the pollutants regulated under this
subchapter, the facility shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the
Department that the ERCs proposed for use as offsets will provide, at a
minimum, ambient impact equivalence to the extent equivalence can be determined
and that the use of the ERCs will not interfere with the overall control
strategy of the SIP.
(4) ERCs shall
include the same conditions, limitations and characteristics, including
seasonal and other temporal variations in emission rate and quality, as well as
the maximum allowable emission rates the emissions would have had if emitted by
the generator, unless equivalent ambient impact is assured through other
means.
(5) ERCs may be obtained from
or traded in another state, which has reciprocity with the Commonwealth for the
trading and use of ERCs, only upon the approval of both the Commonwealth and
the other state through SIP approved rules and procedures, including an EPA
approved SIP revision. ERCs generated in another state may not be traded into
or used at a facility within this Commonwealth unless the ERC generating
facility's ERCs are enforceable by the Department.
(6) ERCs may not be transferred to and used
in an area with a higher nonattainment classification than the one in which
they were generated.
(7) A facility
proposing new or increased emissions shall demonstrate that sufficient
offsetting ERCs at the ratio specified in §
127.210 (relating to offset
ratios) have been acquired from within the nonattainment area of the proposed
facility.
(8) If the facility
proposing new or increased emissions demonstrates that ERCs are not available
in the nonattainment area where the facility is located, ERCs may be obtained
from another nonattainment area if the other nonattainment area has an equal or
higher classification and if the emissions from the other nonattainment area
contribute to an NAAQS violation in the nonattainment area of the proposed
facility. In addition, the requirements of paragraph (3) shall be
satisfied.
(9) For the purpose of
emissions offset transfers at VOC or NOx facilities, the areas included within
an ozone transport region established under section 184 of the Clean Air Act
(42 U.S.C.A. §
7511c), which are designated in
40 CFR
81.339 (relating to Pennsylvania) as
attainment, nonattainment or unclassifiable areas for ozone, shall be treated
as a single nonattainment area.
(10)
An owner or operator of a facility shall acquire ERCs for use as offsets from
an ERC generating facility located within the same nonattainment
area.
(11) An owner or operator of a
facility shall acquire ERCs for use as offsets from an ERC generating facility
located within the same nonattainment area, except that the Department may
allow the owner or operator to obtain ERCs generated in another nonattainment
area if the following exist:
(i) The other
area has an equal or higher nonattainment classification than the area in which
the facility is located.
(ii)
Emissions from the other area contribute to a violation of the NAAQS in the
nonattainment area in which the facility is located.
(12) An owner or operator of a facility that
is subject to allowance-based programs in this article may generate, create,
transfer and use ERCs in accordance with this subchapter and applicable
provisions in Chapter 145 (relating to interstate pollution transport
reduction).
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.