N.M. Code R. § 20.2.79.115

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 11, June 11, 2024

Section 20.2.79.115 - EMISSION OFFSETS

All emission offsets approved by the department shall meet the following criteria.

A. All emission reductions claimed as offset credit shall be from decreases of the same pollutant for which the offset is required.

B. All emission reductions claimed as offset credit shall occur prior to or concurrent with the start of operation of the proposed source. In addition, past reductions must have occurred later than the date upon which the area became nonattainment in order to be creditable.

C. For the case where emission reductions claimed as offset credit occur at the source subject to this part, such reductions shall be a condition required by a federally enforceable permit. For the case where emission reductions claimed as offset credit occur at a neighboring source, such reductions shall be incorporated as modifications to pertinent federally enforceable permits held by the neighboring source. If the neighboring source has no relevant permits, the reductions shall be approved as a revision to the state implementation plan by the board.

D. Offset credit for any emissions reduction can be claimed only to the extent that the department or U.S. EPA has not relied on it in previously issuing any permit or in demonstrating attainment or reasonable further progress.

E. No emissions reduction credit shall be allowed for replacing one volatile organic compound with another of lesser reactivity, except as approved by the U.S. EPA reactivity guidance found at 42 federal register 35314, (1977), and any amendments thereto.

F. Emission reduction credit may be allowed for a source permanently curtailing production or operating hours below baseline levels provided that the work force to be affected has been notified of the curtailment.

(1) Emissions reductions achieved by shutting down an existing emission unit or curtailing production or operating hours below baseline levels may be generally credited for offsets if such reductions are surplus, permanent, quantifiable, and federally enforceable. In addition, the shutdown or curtailment is creditable only if it occurred after the date of the most recent emissions inventory used in the state implementation plan's demonstration of attainment. However, in no event may credit be given for shutdowns which occurred prior to August 7, 1977. For purposes of this paragraph, a permitting authority may choose to consider a prior shutdown or curtailment to have occurred after the date of the base year inventory, if the projected inventory used to develop the attainment demonstration explicitly includes the emissions from such previously shutdown or curtailed emission units.

(2) Such reductions may be credited in the absence of an approved attainment demonstration only if the shutdown or curtailment occurred on or after the date the new source permit application is filed, or, if the applicant can establish that the proposed new emission unit is a replacement for the shutdown or curtailed emission unit, and the provisions of Paragraph (1) of Subsection F of 20.2.79.7 NMAC are observed.

G. Where the most stringent emissions limit which is applicable allows greater emissions than the potential to emit of the offsetting source, emission offset credit will be allowed only for control below the potential to emit of the source.

H. The emission limit for determining emission offset credit involving an existing fuel combustion source shall be the most stringent emission standard which is applicable for this source for the type of fuel being burned at the time the permit application is filed. If the existing source commits to switch to a cleaner fuel, emission offset credit based on the difference between the allowable emissions of the fuels involved shall be acceptable only if an alternative control measure, which would achieve the same degree of emission reduction should the source switch back to a fuel which produces more pollution, is specified in a permit issued by the department.

I. The owner or operator desiring to utilize an emission reduction as an offset shall submit to the department the following information:

(1) a detailed description of the process to be controlled and the control technology to be used; and

(2) emission calculations showing the types and amounts of actual emissions to be reduced; and

(3) the effective date of the reduction.

J. Source shutdowns and curtailments in production or operating hours may be used for emission offset credit only if they occur after August 7, 1977, or less than one year prior to the date of permit application, whichever is earlier, and the proposed new source for which the offset is to apply is a replacement for the shutdown or curtailment.

K. The total tonnage of increased emissions, in tons per year, resulting from a major modification that must be offset in accordance with Section 173 of the federal Clean Air Act shall be determined by summing the difference between the allowable emissions after the modification and the actual emissions before the modification for each emissions unit.

N.M. Code R. § 20.2.79.115

11/30/95; 20.2.79.115 NMAC - Rn, 20 NMAC 2.79.115, 10/31/02; A, 1/22/06; A, 08/31/09, Amended by New Mexico Register, Volume XXXII, Issue 15, August 10, 2021, eff. 8/21/2021