15A NCAC 02Q .0102      ACTIVITIES EXEMPTED FROM PERMIT REQUIREMENTS

(a)  For the purposes of this Rule, the definitions listed in 15A NCAC 02D .0101 and 15A NCAC 02Q .0103 shall apply.

(b)  This Rule shall not apply to:

(1)           facilities whose potential emissions require a permit pursuant to 15A NCAC 02Q .0500 (Title V Procedures); or

(2)           a source emitting a pollutant that is part of the facility's 15A NCAC 02D .1100 (Control of Toxic Air Pollutants) modeling demonstration if that source is not exempted pursuant to 15A NCAC 02Q .0702.

(c)  The owner or operator of an activity exempt from permitting pursuant to this Rule shall not be exempt from demonstrating compliance with any other applicable State or federal requirement.

(d)  Any facility whose actual emissions of particulate matter (PM10), sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, hazardous air pollutants, and toxic air pollutants are each less than five tons per year and whose actual total aggregate emissions are less than 10 tons per year shall not be required to obtain a permit pursuant to 15A NCAC 02Q .0300. This Paragraph shall not apply to synthetic minor facilities that are regulated pursuant to 15A NCAC 02Q .0315.

(e)  Any facility that is not exempted from permitting pursuant to Paragraph (d) of this Rule and whose actual total aggregate emissions of particulate matter (PM10), sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, hazardous air pollutants, and toxic air pollutants are greater than or equal to five tons per year and less than 25 tons per year may register their facility pursuant to 15A NCAC 02D .0202 instead of obtaining a permit pursuant to 15A NCAC 02Q .0300. This Paragraph shall not apply to:

(1)           synthetic minor facilities that are regulated pursuant to 15A NCAC 02Q .0315;

(2)           facilities with a source subject to maximum achievable control technology pursuant to 40 CFR Part 63;

(3)           facilities with sources of volatile organic compounds or nitrogen oxides that are located in a nonattainment area; or

(4)           facilities with a source regulated pursuant to New Source Performance Standards (NSPS), unless the source is exempted pursuant to Paragraph (g) or (h) of this Rule.

(f)  The Director may require the owner or operator of a facility to register such facility pursuant to 15A NCAC 02D .0200 or obtain a permit pursuant to 15A NCAC 02Q .0300, if necessary to obtain compliance with any other applicable State or federal requirement.

(g)  The following activities shall not require a permit or permit modification pursuant to 15A NCAC 02Q .0300:

(1)           maintenance, upkeep, and replacement:

(A)          maintenance, structural changes, or repair activities that do not increase the capacity of such process and do not cause any change in the quality or nature or an increase in quantity of an emission of any regulated air pollutant;

(B)          housekeeping activities or building maintenance procedures, including painting buildings, paving parking lots, resurfacing floors, repairing roofs, washing, using portable vacuum cleaners, sweeping, using and associated storing of janitorial products, or removing insulation;

(C)          using office supplies, supplies to maintain copying equipment, or blueprint machines;

(D)          using firefighting equipment (excluding engines regulated pursuant to 40 CFR 63, Subpart ZZZZ); or

(E)           replacing existing equipment with equipment of the same size (or smaller), type, and function that does not result in an increase to the actual or potential emission of regulated air pollutants, does not affect the facility's compliance with any other applicable State or federal requirements, and that fits the description of the existing equipment in the permit, including the application, such that the replacement equipment can be lawfully operated pursuant to that permit without modifying the permit;

(2)           air conditioning or ventilation: comfort air conditioning or comfort ventilating systems that do not transport, remove, or exhaust regulated air pollutants to the atmosphere;

(3)           laboratory or classroom activities:

(A)          bench-scale, on-site equipment used for experimentation, chemical or physical analysis for quality control purposes or for diagnosis of illness, training, or instructional purposes;

(B)          research and development activities that produce no commercial product or feedstock material; or

(C)          educational activities, including wood working, welding, and automotive repair;

(4)           storage tanks with no applicable requirements other than Stage I controls pursuant to 15A NCAC 02D .0928, Gasoline Service Stations Stage I;

(5)           combustion and heat transfer equipment:

(A)          heating units used for human comfort, excluding space heaters burning used oil, that have a heat input of less than 10 million Btu per hour and that do not provide heat for any manufacturing or other industrial process;

(B)          residential wood stoves, heaters, or fireplaces; or

(C)          water heaters that are used for domestic purposes only and are not used to heat process water;

(6)           wastewater treatment processes: industrial wastewater treatment processes or municipal wastewater treatment processes for which there are no State or federal air requirements;

(7)           dispensing equipment: equipment used solely to dispense gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene, lubricants, or cooling oils;

(8)           electric motor burn-out ovens with secondary combustion chambers or afterburners;

(9)           electric motor bake-on ovens;

(10)         burn-off ovens with afterburners for paint-line hangers;

(11)         hosiery knitting machines and associated lint screens, hosiery dryers and associated lint screens, and hosiery dyeing processes that do not use bleach or solvent dyes;

(12)         woodworking operations processing only green wood;

(13)         solid waste landfills: This exemption does not apply to flares and other sources of combustion at solid waste landfills. These flares and other combustion sources shall obtain a permit pursuant to 15A NCAC 02Q .0300 unless they qualify for another exemption pursuant to this Paragraph; or

(14)         miscellaneous:

(A)          equipment that does not emit any regulated air pollutants;

(B)          sources for which there are no applicable requirements;

(C)          motor vehicles, aircraft, marine vessels, locomotives, tractors, or other self-propelled vehicles with internal combustion engines;

(D)          engines regulated pursuant to Title II of the Federal Clean Air Act (Emission Standards for Moving Sources);

(E)           equipment used for preparing food for direct on-site human consumption;

(F)           a source whose emissions are regulated only pursuant to Section 112(r) or Title VI of the Federal Clean Air Act;

(G)          exit gases from in-line process analyzers;

(H)          stacks and vents that prevent the escape of sewer gases from domestic waste through plumbing traps;

(I)            refrigeration equipment that complies with the regulations set forth in Sections 601 through 618 of Title VI (Stratospheric Ozone Protection) of the Federal Clean Air Act, 40 CFR Part 82, and any other regulations promulgated by EPA pursuant to Title VI for stratospheric ozone protection, except refrigeration equipment used as or in conjunction with air pollution control equipment. Refrigeration equipment used as or in conjunction with air pollution control equipment shall obtain a permit pursuant to 15A NCAC 02Q .0300 unless it qualifies for another exemption pursuant to this Paragraph;

(J)            equipment not vented to the outdoor atmosphere, with the exception of equipment that emits volatile organic compounds. Equipment that emits volatile organic compounds shall obtain a permit pursuant to 15A NCAC 02Q .0300 unless it qualifies for another exemption pursuant to this Paragraph;

(K)          animal operations not required to have control technology pursuant to 15A NCAC 02D .1800. If an animal operation is required to have control technology, it shall obtain a permit pursuant to this Subchapter;

(L)           any incinerator that meets the requirements set forth in 15A NCAC 02D .1201(c)(4); or

(M)         dry cleaning operations, regardless of NSPS or NESHAP applicability.

(h)  The following activities shall not require a permit or permit modification pursuant to 15A NCAC 02Q .0300. These activities shall be included in determining applicability of any rule or standard that requires facility-wide aggregation of source emissions, including activities regulated by 15A NCAC 02D .0530, 15A NCAC 02D .0531, 15A NCAC 02Q .0500, and 15A NCAC 02Q .0700:

(1)           combustion and heat transfer equipment (including direct-fired equipment that only emit regulated pollutants from fuel combustion):

(A)          fuel combustion equipment (excluding internal combustion engines) not regulated pursuant to 40 CFR Part 60, NSPS, firing exclusively unadulterated liquid fossil fuel, wood, or an approved equivalent unadulterated fuel as defined in 15A NCAC 02Q .0103;

(B)          fuel combustion equipment (excluding internal combustion engines) firing exclusively natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas or a mixture of these fuels; or

(C)          space heaters burning waste oil if:

(i)            the heater burns only oil that the owner or operator generates or used oil from do-it-yourself oil changers who generate used oil as household wastes; and

(ii)           the heater is designed to have a maximum heat input of not more than 500,000 Btu per hour;

(2)           gasoline distribution: bulk gasoline plants, as defined in 15A NCAC 02D .0926(a)(3), with an average daily throughput of less than 4,000 gallons;

(3)           paint spray booths or graphic arts operations, coating operations, and solvent cleaning operations, as defined in 15A NCAC 02Q .0803, located at a facility whose facility-wide actual uncontrolled emissions of volatile organic compounds are less than five tons per year, except that such emission sources whose actual uncontrolled emissions of volatile organic compounds are less than 100 pounds per year shall qualify for this exemption regardless of the facility-wide emissions. For the purpose of this exemption, water wash and filters that are an integral part of the paint spray booth shall not be considered air pollution control devices;

(4)           electrostatic dry powder coating operations with filters or powder recovery systems;

(5)           miscellaneous: any source whose potential uncontrolled emissions of particulate matter (PM10), sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, and carbon monoxide shall each be no more than five tons per year; or

(6)           case-by-case exemption: activities that the applicant demonstrates to the Director do not violate any applicable emission control standard.

(i)  Upon request of the Director, the owner or operator of a facility or source claiming that an activity is exempt under Paragraphs (d), (e), (g) or (h) of this Rule shall submit emissions data, documentation of equipment type, or other supporting documents demonstrating the facility or source is qualified for that exemption.

History Note:        Authority G.S. 143-215.3(a)(1), (4), (5); 143-215.106; 143-215.107(a)(4); 143-215.107D; 143-215.108;

Temporary Adoption Eff. March 8, 1994 for a period of 180 days or until the permanent rule becomes effective, whichever is sooner;

Eff. July 1, 1994;

Amended Eff. April 1, 1999; July 1, 1998; July 1, 1997; November 1, 1996;

Temporary Amendment Eff. December 1, 1999;

Amended Eff. June 13, 2016; May 1, 2013; January 1, 2009; July 1, 2007; June 29, 2006; July 18, 2002; July 1, 2000;

Readopted Eff. April 1, 2018;

Amended Eff. November 1, 2023.