Mich. Admin. Code R. 336.1285

Current through Vol. 24-19, November 1, 2024

Section R. 336.1285 - Permit to install exemptions; miscellaneous

Rule 285.

(1) This rule does not apply if prohibited by R 336.1278 and unless the requirements of R 336.1278a have been met.

(2) The requirement of R 336.1201(1) to obtain a permit to install does not apply to any of the following:

(a) Routine maintenance, parts replacement, or other repairs that are considered by the department to be minor, or relocation of process equipment within the same geographical site not involving any appreciable change in the quality, nature, quantity, or impact of the emission of an air contaminant therefrom. Examples of parts replacement or repairs considered by the department to be minor include the following:

(i) Replacing bags in a baghouse.

(ii) Replacing wires, plates, rappers, controls, or electric circuitry in an electrostatic precipitator that does not measurably decrease the design efficiency of the unit.

(iii) Replacement of fans, pumps, or motors that does not alter the operation of a source or performance of air pollution control equipment.

(iv) Boiler tubes.

(v) Piping, hoods, and ductwork.

(vi) Replacement of engines, compressors, or turbines as part of a normal maintenance program.

(b) Changes in a process or process equipment which do not involve installing, constructing, or reconstructing an emission unit and which do not involve any meaningful change in the quality and nature or any meaningful increase in the quantity of the emission of an air contaminant therefrom.

(i) Examples of such changes in a process or process equipment include, but are not limited to, the following:

(A) Change in the supplier or formulation of similar raw materials, fuels, or paints and other coatings.

(B) Change in the sequence of the process.

(C) Change in the method of raw material addition.

(D) Change in the method of product packaging.

(E) Change in temperature, pressure, or other similar operating parameters that do not affect air cleaning device performance.

(F) Installation of a floating roof on an open top petroleum storage tank.

(G) Replacement of a fuel burner in a boiler with an equally or more thermally efficient burner.

(H) Lengthening a paint drying oven to provide additional curing time.

(c) Changes in a process or process equipment that do not involve installing, constructing, or reconstructing an emission unit and that involve a meaningful change in the quality and nature or a meaningful increase in the quantity of the emission of an air contaminant resulting from any of the following:

(i) Changes in the supplier or supply of the same type of virgin fuel, such as coal, no. 2 fuel oil, no. 6 fuel oil, or natural gas.

(ii) Changes in the location, within the storage area, or configuration of a material storage pile or material handling equipment.

(iii) Changes in a process or process equipment to the extent that such changes do not alter the quality and nature, or increase the quantity, of the emission of the air contaminant beyond the level which has been described in and allowed by an approved permit to install, permit to operate, or order of the department.

(d) Reconstruction or replacement of air pollution control equipment with equivalent or more efficient equipment.

(e) Installation, construction, or replacement of air pollution control equipment for an existing process or process equipment for the purpose of complying with the national emission standards of hazardous air pollutants regulated under section 112 of the clean air act.

(f) Installation or construction of air pollution control equipment for an existing process or process equipment if the control equipment itself does not actually generate a significant amount of criteria air contaminants as defined in R 336.1119(e) or a meaningful increase in the quantity of the emissions of toxic air contaminants or a meaningful change in the quality and nature of toxic air contaminants.

(g) Internal combustion engines that have less than 10,000,000 Btu/hour maximum heat input.

(h) Vacuum pumps in laboratory or pilot plant operations.

(i) Brazing, soldering, welding, or plasma coating equipment.

(j) Portable torch cutting equipment that does not cause a nuisance or adversely impact surrounding areas and is used for either of the following:

(i) Activities performed on a non-production basis, such as maintenance, repair, and dismantling.

(ii) Scrap metal recycling and/or demolition activities that have emissions that are released only into the general in-plant environment and/or that have externally vented emissions equipped with an appropriately designed and operated enclosure and fabric filter.

(k) Grain, metal, or mineral extrusion presses.

(l) The following equipment and any exhaust system or collector exclusively serving the equipment:

(i) Equipment used exclusively for bending, forming, expanding, rolling, forging, pressing, drawing, stamping, spinning, or extruding either hot or cold metals.

(ii) Die casting machines.

(iii) Equipment for surface preparation of metals by use of aqueous solutions, except for acid solutions.

(iv) Atmosphere generators used in connection with metal heat treating processes.

(v) Equipment used exclusively for sintering of glass or metals, but not exempting equipment used for sintering metal-bearing ores, metal scale, clay, flyash, or metal compounds.

(vi) Equipment for carving, cutting, routing, turning, drilling, machining, sawing, surface grinding, sanding, planing, buffing, sand blast cleaning, shot blasting, shot peening, or polishing ceramic artwork, leather, metals, graphite, plastics, concrete, rubber, paper board, wood, wood products, stone, glass, fiberglass, or fabric which meets any of the following:

(A) Equipment used on a nonproduction basis.

(B) Equipment that has emissions that are released only into the general in-plant environment.

(C) Equipment that has externally vented emissions controlled by an appropriately designed and operated fabric filter collector that, for all specified operations with metal, is preceded by a mechanical precleaner.

(vii) Photographic process equipment by which an image is reproduced upon material sensitized to radiant energy, including any of the following:

(A) Blueprint machines.

(B) Photocopiers.

(C) Mimeograph machines.

(D) Photographic developing processes.

(E) Microfiche copiers.

(viii) Battery charging operations.

(ix) Pad printers.

(m) Lagoons, process water treatment equipment, wastewater treatment equipment, and sewage treatment equipment, except for any of the following:

(i) Lagoons and equipment primarily designed to treat volatile organic compounds in process water, wastewater, or groundwater, unless the emissions from the lagoons and equipment are only released into the general in-plant environment.

(ii) Sludge incinerators and dryers.

(iii) Heat treatment processes.

(n) Livestock and livestock handling systems from which the only potential air contaminant emission is odorous gas.

(o) Equipment for handling and drying grain on a farm.

(p) Commercial equipment used for grain unloading, handling, cleaning, storing, loading, or drying in a column dryer that has a column plate perforation of not more than 0.094 inch or a rack dryer in which exhaust gases pass through a screen filter no coarser than 50 mesh.

(q) Portable steam deicers that have a heat input of less than 1,000,000 Btu's per hour.

(r) Equipment used for any of the following metal treatment processes if the process emissions are only released into the general in-plant environment:

(i) Surface treatment.

(ii) Pickling.

(iii) Acid dipping.

(iv) Cleaning.

(v) Etching.

(vi) Electropolishing.

(vii) Electrolytic stripping or electrolytic plating.

(s) Emissions or airborne radioactive materials specifically authorized pursuant to a United States nuclear regulatory commission license.

(t) Equipment for the mining, loading, unloading, and screening of uncrushed sand, gravel, soil, and other inorganic soil-like materials.

(u) Solvent distillation and antifreeze reclamation equipment that has a rated batch capacity of not more than 55 gallons.

(v) Any vapor vacuum extraction soil remediation process where vapor is treated in a control device and all of the vapor is reinjected into the soil such that there are no emissions to the atmosphere during normal operation.

(w) Air strippers controlled by an appropriately designed and operated dual stage carbon adsorption or incineration system that is used exclusively for the cleanup of gasoline, fuel oil, natural gas condensate, and crude oil spills, provided the following conditions are met:

(i) For dual stage carbon adsorption, the first canister of the dual stage carbon adsorption is monitored for breakthrough at least once every 2 weeks and replaced if breakthrough is detected.

(ii) For incineration, a thermal oxidizer (incinerator) is operated at a minimum temperature of 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit in the combustion chamber and a catalytic oxidizer is operated at a minimum temperature of 600 degrees Fahrenheit at the inlet of the catalyst bed. A temperature indication device which continually displays the operating temperature of the oxidizer must be installed, maintained, and operated in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications.

(x) Any asbestos removal or stripping process or process equipment.

(y) Ozonization process or process equipment.

(z) Combustion of boiler cleaning solutions that were solely used for or intended for cleaning internal surfaces of boiler tubes and related steam and water cycle components if the solution burned is not designated, by listing or specified characteristic, as hazardous pursuant to federal regulations or state rules.

(aa) Landfills and associated flares and leachate collection and handling equipment.

(bb) A residential, municipal, commercial, or agricultural composting process or process equipment.

(cc) Gun shooting ranges controlled by appropriately designed and operated high-efficiency particulate filters.

(dd) Equipment for handling, conveying, cleaning, milling, mixing, cooking, drying, coating, and packaging grain-based food products and ingredients which meet any of the following:

(i) Equipment is used on a nonproduction basis.

(ii) Equipment has emissions that are released only into the general in-plant environment.

(iii) Equipment has externally vented emissions controlled by baghouse, cyclone, rotoclone, or scrubber which is installed, maintained, and operated in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications or the owner or operator shall develop a plan that provides to the extent practicable for the maintenance and operation of the equipment in the manner consistent with good air pollution control practices for minimizing emissions. The air cleaning device shall be equipped with a device to monitor appropriate indicators of performance, for example, static pressure drop, water pressure, and water flow rate.

(ee) Open burning as specified in R 336.1310.

(ff) Fire extinguisher filling, testing, spraying, and repairing.

(gg) Equipment used for chipping, flaking, or hogging wood or wood residues that are not demolition waste materials.

(hh) A process that uses only hand-held aerosol spray cans, including the puncturing and disposing of the spray cans.

(ii) Fuel cells that use phosphoric acid, molten carbonate, proton exchange membrane, or solid oxide or equivalent technologies.

(jj) Any vacuum truck used at a remediation site as a remedial action method, such as non-emergency response, used in a manner described by any of the following:

(i) It is not used more than 2 days in a month without organic compound emission control.

(ii) It is not used more than 6 days in a month and organic compound emissions are controlled with at least 90% efficiency.

(iii) The composition of the material being removed is greater than 90% water.

(kk) Air sparging systems where the sparged air is emitted back to the atmosphere only by natural diffusion through the contaminated medium and covering soil or other covering medium.

(ll) Air separation or fractionation equipment used to produce nitrogen, oxygen, or other atmospheric gases.

(mm) Routine and emergency venting of natural gas from transmission and distribution systems or field gas from gathering lines which meet any of the following:

(i) Routine or emergency venting of natural gas or field gas in amounts less than or equal to 1,000,000 standard cubic feet per event. For purposes of this rule, an emergency is considered an unforeseen event that disrupts normal operating conditions and poses a threat to human life, health, property or the environment if not controlled immediately.

(ii) Venting of natural gas in amounts greater than 1,000,000 standard cubic feet for routine maintenance or relocation of transmission and distribution systems provided that both of the following requirements are met:

(A) The owner or operator notifies the department prior to a scheduled pipeline venting.

(B) The venting includes, at a minimum, measures to assure safety of employees and the public, minimize impacts to the environment, and provide necessary notification in accordance with the Michigan gas safety standards, the federal pipeline and hazardous materials safety administration standards, and the federal energy regulatory commission standards, as applicable.

(iii) Venting of field gas in amounts greater than 1,000,000 standard cubic feet for routine maintenance or relocation of gathering pipelines provided that both of the following are met:

(A) The owner or operator notifies the department prior to a scheduled pipeline venting.

(B) The venting includes, at a minimum, measures to assure safety of employees and the public, minimize impacts to the environment, and provide necessary notification in accordance with the Michigan department of environmental quality, office of oil, gas and minerals, and the Michigan public service commission standards, as applicable.

(iv) Emergency venting of natural gas or field gas in amounts greater than 1,000,000 standard cubic feet per event, provided that the owner or operator notifies the pollution emergency alert system within 24 hours of an emergency pipeline venting. For purposes of this rule, an emergency is considered an unforeseen event that disrupts normal operating conditions and poses a threat to human life, health, property or the environment if not controlled immediately.

(nn) Craft distillery operations if all of the following are met:

(i) Production of all spirits does not exceed 1,500 gallons per month, as produced.

(ii) Monthly production records are maintained on file for the most recent 5-year period and are made available to the department upon request.

(oo) Equipment or systems, or both, used exclusively to mitigate vapor intrusion of an indoor space that is not on the property where the release of the hazardous substance occurred, and which has an exhaust that meets all of the following requirements:

(i) Unobstructed vertically upward.

(ii) At least 12 inches above the nearest eave of the roof or at least 12 inches above the surface of the roof at the point of penetration.

(iii) More than 10 feet above the ground.

(iv) More than 2 feet above or more than 10 feet away from windows, doors, other buildings, and other air intakes.

(3) For the purposes of this rule, "meaningful" with respect to toxic air contaminant emissions is defined as follows:

(a) "Meaningful change in the quality and nature" means a change in the toxic air contaminants emitted that results in an increase in the cancer or non-cancer hazard potential that is 10% or greater, or which causes an exceedance of a permit limit. The hazard potential is the value calculated for each toxic air contaminant involved in the proposed change, before and after the proposed change, and it is the potential to emit (hourly averaging time) divided by the initial risk screening level or the adjusted annual initial threshold screening level (ITSL), for each toxic air contaminant and screening level involved in the proposed change. The adjusted annual ITSL is the ITSL that has been adjusted as needed to an annual averaging time utilizing averaging time conversion factors in accordance with the models and procedures in 40 C.F.R § 51.160(f) and Appendix W, adopted by reference in R 336.1902. The percent increase in the hazard potential is determined from the highest cancer and non-cancer hazard potential before and after the proposed change. The potential to emit before the proposed change is the baseline potential to emit established in an approved permit to install application on or after April 17, 1992, that has not been voided or revoked, unless it has been voided due to incorporation into a renewable operating permit.

(b) "Meaningful increase in the quantity of the emission" means an increase in the potential to emit (hourly averaging time) of a toxic air contaminant that is 10% or greater compared to a baseline potential to emit, or which results in an increase in the cancer or non-cancer hazard potential that is 10% or greater, or which causes an exceedance of a permit limit. The baseline is the potential to emit established in an approved permit to install application on or after April 17, 1992 that has not been voided or revoked, unless it has been voided due to incorporation into a renewable operating permit.

Mich. Admin. Code R. 336.1285

1979 AC; 1992 AACS; 1993 AACS; 1995 AACS; 1997 AACS; 2003 AACS; 2008 AACS; 2016 AACS; 2019 MR 1, Eff. 1/2/2019

An obvious error in R 336.1285 was corrected at the request of the promulgating agency, pursuant to Section 56 of 1969 PA 306, as amended by 2000 PA 262, MCL 24.256. The rule containing the error was published in Annual Administrative Code Supplement, 2019. The memorandum requesting the correction was published in Michigan Register, 2022 MR 2