Or. Admin. Code § 340-014-0105

Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 10, October 1, 2024

Section 340-014-0105 - Definitions

(1) "Agency" or "Agencies" means either the Department of Environmental Quality or the Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority or both, as the context requires.

(2) "Applicant" means a facility that has applied for a Custom Waiver Permit or GEMS Permit.

(3) "Baseline" means the calendar year preceding the year in which the Custom Waiver Permit or GEMS Permit is applied for, or other 12-month period approved by the agency.

(4) "Custom Waiver Permit" means a type of Green Permit that grants a waiver with respect to a particular facility approved under OAR 340-014-0110.

(5) "Environmental impact" means any change to the environment wholly or partially resulting from, either directly or indirectly, the facility's activities, products, or services. An environmental impact may be determined circumstantially, without direct measurement.

(6) "Environmental Laws" means ORS 454.605 to 454.780, 459.005 to 459.153, 459.705 to 459.790, 459.992, 459.995, 465.003 to 465.034, 466.005 to 466.385, 468.005 to 468.997, 468A.005 to 468A.992 and 468B.005 to 468B.500 and rules adopted thereunder. The term does not include any provision of the Oregon Revised Statutes or of any municipal ordinance or enactment that regulates the selection of a location for a new facility.

(7) "Environmental life cycle aspects" means elements of a facility's activities, products or services that can interact with the environment at any stage of the system, including but not limited to raw material acquisition, utilization of natural resources, transportation of materials, and ultimate use and disposal of the product.

(8) "Environmental management system" (EMS) means a continual cycle of planning, implementing, reviewing and improving the actions the facility takes to meet its environmental obligations and improve environmental performance, and that can be objectively verified.

(a) Environmental management systems include the environmental management system standard established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 14001) and other standards that meet the criteria for approval for GEMS Permits under OAR 340-014-0115 through 340-014-0125.

(b) A "robust" environmental management system is a system that can function effectively without being dependent upon particular individuals within the facility.

(9) "Facility" means any site or contiguous sites, any manufacturing operation or contiguous operations, or any business or municipal activity regulated under any provision of the environmental laws.

(10) "Green Permit" means a permit that provides administrative benefits or reduces environmental regulatory requirements to facilities that meet criteria for either a GEMS Permit or a Custom Waiver Permit.

(11) "Green Environmental Management System Permit" or "GEMS Permit" means a type of Green Permit that meets the criteria for approval for a GEMS Participant Permit, a GEMS Achiever Permit, or a GEMS Leader Permit.

(12) "GEMS Participant Permit" (also known as Tier I) means a permit issued under OAR 340-014-0115.

(13) "GEMS Achiever Permit" (also known as Tier II) means a permit issued under OAR 340-014-0120.

(14) "GEMS Leader Permit" (also known as Tier III) means a permit issued under OAR 340-014-0125.

(15) "Natural resources" include ecosystems and the raw materials extracted from them.

(16) "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, governmental subdivision or public or private organization of any character.

(17) "Pollution prevention" applies to environmental degradation caused by human activities. Pollution prevention means source reduction or any practice which reduces the amount of any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant entering any waste stream or otherwise released into the environment (including fugitive emissions and discharges) prior to recycling, treatment, or disposal; reduces the hazards to public health and the environment associated with the release of such substances, pollutants, or contaminants; and reduces or eliminates the creation of pollutants through increased efficiency in the use of raw materials, energy, water or other resources, or protection of natural resources by conservation.

(a) Source reduction can include equipment or technology modifications; process or procedure modifications; reformulation or redesign of products; substitution of raw materials; and improvements in housekeeping, maintenance, training, purchasing or inventory controls.

(b) Source reduction does not include any practice which alters the physical, chemical or biological characteristics or the volume of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant through a process or activity which itself is not integral to and necessary for the production of a product or the providing of a service. Environmental management approaches such as recycling, combustion, treatment, control and disposal are not pollution prevention.

(18) "Pollution Prevention Hierarchy" means pollution should first be prevented or reduced at the source; pollution that cannot be prevented should be recycled in an environmentally safe manner; pollution that cannot be prevented or recycled should be treated in an environmentally safe manner; and disposal or other release into the environment should be employed only as a last resort and should be conducted in an environmentally safe manner.

(19) "Regulated Pollutant" means any pollutant that is regulated under environmental laws, regardless of the amount that is generated, emitted or discharged into the environment by the facility.

(20) "Significant" and "significantly" shall be determined by the agency, taking into consideration input from the facility and stakeholders.

(21) "Stakeholder" means persons inside and outside of a facility who may have an interest in or be affected by the facility's environmental performance.

(22) "Sustainable Development" means managing the use, development and protection of natural and physical resources in a way, or at a rate, that enables people to meet their current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, does not threaten ecological life support systems, and preserves biodiversity.

(23) "Waiver" means an exception from otherwise applicable requirements of environmental laws.

Or. Admin. Code § 340-014-0105

DEQ 13-1999, f. & cert. ef. 9-14-99

Stat. Auth.: ORS 468.020

Stats. Implemented: ORS 468.501, ORS 468.503, ORS 468.506, ORS 468.508, ORS 468.511, ORS 468.513, ORS 468.516, ORS 468.518 & ORS 468.521