(a) Applicable pollutants.
(1) A discrete emission credit may be generated from a reduction of a criteria pollutant, excluding lead, or a precursor of a criteria pollutant.
(2) A discrete emission credit generated from the reduction of one pollutant or precursor may not be used to meet the requirements for another pollutant or precursor, except as provided in §101.376 of this title (relating to Discrete Emission Credit Use).
(b) Eligible generator categories. Eligible categories include the following:
(1) point source facilities;
(2) mobile sources;
(3) any facility, including area sources, or mobile source associated with actions by federal agencies under 40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 93, Subpart B, Determining Conformity of General Federal Actions to State or Federal Implementation Plans; and.
(4) area source facilities, including those comprised of multiple emission points as allowed under §101.370(12) of this title (relating to Definitions). Credit generation from grouped emission points cannot exceed the lower of the group’s actual emissions in the SIP emissions year or the historical adjusted emissions. Facilities comprised of grouped emission points may include equipment that was not operational during the SIP emissions year or the historical adjusted emissions years as long as the emissions from the group were present during the SIP emissions year. Characteristics that may be considered to determine if emission points qualify for consideration as a single facility for the purposes of generating emission credits, include but are not limited to:
(c) Ineligible generator categories. The following categories are not eligible to generate discrete emission credits:
(1) residential area sources;
(2) on-road mobile sources that are not part of an industrial, commercial, nonprofit, institutional, or municipal/government fleet; and
(3) mobile sources within a nonattainment area that do not primarily operate within that nonattainment area with the exception of marine and locomotive sources that use capture and control emissions reduction systems.
(d) Discrete emission credit requirements.
(1) A discrete emission reduction credit (DERC) is a certified emission reduction that:
(2) To be creditable as a mobile discrete emission reduction credit, an emission reduction must meet the following:
(3) Emission reductions from a facility or mobile source certified as discrete emission credits under this division cannot be recertified in whole or in part as emission credits under another division within this subchapter.
(e) Protocol.
(1) All generators or users of discrete emission credits must use a protocol which has been submitted by the executive director to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for approval, if existing for the applicable facility or mobile source, to measure and calculate baseline emissions. If the generator or user wishes to deviate from a protocol submitted by the executive director, EPA approval is required before the protocol can be used. Protocols shall be used as follows.
(2) If the monitoring and testing data specified in paragraph (1) of this subsection is missing or unavailable, the generator or user shall determine the facility's emissions for the period of time the data is missing or unavailable using the most conservative method for replacing the data and these listed methods in the following order:
(3) When quantifying actual emissions in accordance with paragraph (2) of this subsection, the generator or user shall submit the justification for not using the methods in paragraph (1) of this subsection and submit the justification for the method used.
(f) Credit application. Beginning January 1, 2018, a credit application must be submitted through the State of Texas Environmental Reporting System unless the applicant receives prior approval from the executive director for an alternative means of application submission.
(g) Credit certification.
(1) The amount of discrete emission credits must be rounded down to the nearest tenth of a ton when generated and must be rounded up to the nearest tenth of a ton when used. A facility, aggregated fugitive emissions, or aggregated mobile sources that cannot generate at least 0.1 ton of credit after all adjustments are applied may not generate discrete emission credits. Fugitive emissions or mobile source emissions aggregated to meet the requirement that emission reductions be certified for at least 0.1 ton must be represented on the same application and will have an application deadline determined by the earliest emission reduction date among the aggregated sources.
(2) The executive director shall review an application for certification to determine the credibility of the reductions and may certify reductions. Each DERC certified will be assigned a certificate number. Reductions determined to be creditable will be certified by the executive director.
(3) The applicant will be notified in writing if the executive director denies the discrete emission credit notification. The applicant may submit a revised application in accordance with the requirements of this division.
(4) If a facility's or mobile source's emissions exceed any applicable local, state, or federal requirement, reductions of emissions exceeding the requirement may not be certified as discrete emission credits.
(h) Geographic scope. Except as provided in paragraph (7) of this subsection and §101.375 of this title (relating to Emission Reductions Achieved Outside the United States), only emission reductions generated in the State of Texas may be creditable and used in the state with the following limitations.
(1) volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NO X ) discrete emission credits generated in an ozone attainment area may be used in any county or portion of a county designated as attainment or unclassified, except as specified in paragraphs (4) and (5) of this subsection and may not be used in an ozone nonattainment area.
(2) VOC and NO X discrete emission credits generated in an ozone nonattainment area may be used either in the same ozone nonattainment area in which they were generated, or in any county or portion of a county designated as attainment or unclassified.
(3) VOC and NO X discrete emission credits generated in an ozone nonattainment area may not be used in any other ozone nonattainment area, except as provided in this subsection.
(4) VOC discrete emission credits are prohibited from use within the covered attainment counties, as defined in §115.10 of this title (relating to Definitions), if generated outside of the covered attainment counties. VOC discrete emission credits generated in a nonattainment area may be used in the covered attainment counties, except those generated in El Paso.
(5) NO X discrete emission credits are prohibited from use within the covered attainment counties, as defined in §115.10 of this title, if generated outside of the covered attainment counties. NO X discrete emission credits generated in a nonattainment area, except those generated in El Paso, may be used in the covered attainment counties.
(6) carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), and particulate matter with diameters less than or equal to 10 micrometers (PM 10 ) discrete emission credits must be used in the same metropolitan statistical area (as defined in Office of Management and Budget Bulletin Number 93-17 entitled "Revised Statistical Definitions for Metropolitan Areas" dated June 30, 1993) in which the reduction was generated.
(7) VOC and NO X discrete emission credits generated in other counties, states, or emission reductions in other nations may be used in any attainment or nonattainment county provided a demonstration has been made and approved by the executive director and the EPA, to show that the emission reductions achieved in the other county, state, or nation improve the air quality in the county where the credit is being used.
(i) Ozone season. In areas having an ozone season of less than 12 months (as defined in 40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 58, Appendix D) VOC and NO X discrete emission credits generated outside the ozone season may not be used during the ozone season.
Cont'd...