Md. Code Regs. 26.11.16.05 - Procedures for Requesting Special Permits
A. Applicability.
(1) A person who cannot demonstrate that a
premises discharging a Class I TAP complies with COMAR
26.11.15.06 a using a risk-based
screening level may submit a written request for the Department to establish
allowable emissions for the premises in a special permit.
(2) The Department will issue a special
permit to specify the maximum allowable emissions of any Class I TAP discharged
from the premises.
(3) Except as
provided by State Government Article, §10-404, Annotated Code of Maryland, a
special permit expires 5 years from the date it is issued by the
Department.
B. Approval
Criteria. The Department will approve a special permit only if it determines
that emission controls represent at least T-BACT and emissions of toxic air
pollutants will not unreasonably endanger human health. In making this
determination, the Department will consider information submitted by the
applicant, public comments, and other available and relevant information,
including:
(1) The effectiveness, cost,
feasibility, and timing of additional risk reductions, including consideration
of process changes or relocation of the source;
(2) Estimated public health risks;
(3) Environmental and social consequences of
granting or denying the permit; and
(4) Uncertainty in data or
analysis.
C.
Application.
(1) Required Information. A
person applying for a special permit shall submit the following information to
the Department in addition to any other information required by COMAR 26.11.02:
(a) A demonstration that emission controls on
installations at the premises that discharge the Class I TAP in question
represent T-BACT;
(b) A description
and assessment of the effectiveness, cost, and feasibility of potential methods
for achieving additional risk reductions;
(c) An assessment of the increased risk of
cancer caused by allowable emissions from the premises, determined using
procedures consistent with EPA's Risk Assessment Guidelines and approved by the
Department;
(d) A description of
current or future populations that may be affected by the premises'
emissions;
(e) An assessment of
other environmental health stresses borne by the affected population;
and
(f) Other information requested
by the Department and pertinent to the Department's decision to grant or deny
the special permit.
(2)
Risk Assessment.
(a) The risk assessment
submitted under §C(1)(c) of this regulation shall include:
(i) A discussion of overall uncertainty in
data and analysis; and
(ii) An
estimate of the increase in individual risk from a continuous 70-year exposure
to the highest annual average concentration off the property.
(b) The risk assessment submitted
under §C(1)(c) of this regulation includes one or more alternative
characterizations of risk, such as:
(i) The
estimated increase in individual risk at the location of the most exposed
individual;
(ii) The estimated
increase in individual risk from each year of exposure;
(iii) The maximum number of cancers in the
exposed population that would be expected due to operation of the premises;
or
(iv) Other risk estimates more
accurately characterizing exposure from emissions from the premises.
(c) The risk assessment submitted
under §C(1)(c) of this regulation may use alternative unit risk factors,
alternative dispersion modeling techniques, or other alternative risk
assessment procedures approved by the Department and consistent with EPA's Risk
Assessment Guidelines.
D. Scientific Review and Public Hearing.
(1) Optional Scientific Review Panel. If the
Department makes a preliminary decision to consider an application for a
special permit, it may convene a scientific review panel consisting of experts
from within or outside the Department to evaluate information submitted as part
of the application.
(2) Public
Notice and Opportunity for Public Hearing.
(a)
Except as provided in §D(2)(b) of this regulation, if the Department makes a
determination to proceed with the application, it will follow the procedures
under COMAR
26.11.02.12 a F and G for
providing public notice and an opportunity for public hearing.
(b) Unless public notice and an opportunity
for public hearing are required by Environment Article, §
2-204, Annotated Code of
Maryland, or by other State or federal regulations, the Department will waive
the requirement for public notice and opportunity for public hearing under this
section if the Department determines that all of the following conditions are
met:
(i) T-BACT is being used to reduce
emissions of the TAP from the premises;
(ii) Emissions from the premises will not
unreasonably endanger human health;
(iii) Emissions from the premises will cause
increases in ambient levels of the TAP that are greater than the risk-based
screening level for the TAP only on property that is zoned and used for
industrial purposes; and
(iv)
Increases in ambient levels of the TAP on property that is zoned and used for
industrial purposes will increase a person's lifetime cancer risk by not more
than 1 in 100,000 (1 x 10-5) using assumptions that
are consistent with EPA's Risk Assessment Guidelines and that the Department
concludes accurately characterize worst plausible exposure and risk in those
areas. For areas zoned and used for industrial purposes, the Department will
assume a person is continuously exposed to the TAP for 40 hours a week for 40
years unless the Department concludes that other exposure assumptions would
more accurately characterize worst plausible exposures in a particular
instance.
Notes
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