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Air Permitting Definitions

Air Contaminent

means dust, fumes, mist, liquid, smoke, other particulate matter, vapor, gas, odorous substances or any combination thereof but shall not include uncombined water vapor.

Air Contaminent Source

or "source" if not otherwise modified, means any facility, building, structure, installation, equipment, vehicle or action that emits or may emit an air contaminant directly, indirectly or in combination with another facility, building, structure, installation, equipment, vehicle or action.

Air Permit

describes how your business must meet federal and state air quality regulations. It is a legal document containing information on the air pollutant sources at your business, what limits and other requirements apply, and how those sources are to be monitored and controlled to show they are meeting the limits or other requirements.

Air Pollution

means the presence in the atmosphere of one or more air contaminants in such quantities and of such duration as is or tends to be injurious to human health or welfare, animal or plant life, or property, or would unreasonably interfere with the enjoyment of life or property.

Construction permit

This permit may be required if you are planning to start a new business in Wisconsin or if you wish to expand your business. The permit is required prior to the start of construction or modification of your business if your business will emit air contaminents.

The permit application fee is $1350.00. You must enclose a check payable to the Department of Natural Resources when you submit the application. Other permit review costs associated with the construction permit review process will vary depending on which air requirements apply to your proposed project that require a detailed review and analysis by the reviewer. As an example the additional review costs could include: $2300 Minor Source review fee, $2300 for stack test (not required for all), $700 air quality analysis, $400 for each additional emission source, for two or more units, and $2650 fee for expedited review (speeds up the review of your application).

The permit allows a company to build, operate and test the source. It expires after 18 months and can have one 18-month extension unless otherwise specified. Your business must have an Operation Permit on file prior to expiration of the construction permit. *

* you should start your Operation Permit application when your construction permit is 11 months old.

Existing Business

is any source that has been in operation for any length of time. Most existing businesses will require an operation permit, but any changes that occurred after 1979 may require a construction permit if either an exemption or permit was not issued at the time.

Expanding Business
(Four Types - Modification, Reconstruction, Replacement, Relocation)

Modification
A physical change to, or change in the method of operation that produces either more air emissions of the same type or different or "new" air emissions.

Reconstruction
To remove old and substitute new components that exceed 50% of the capital cost of building a new source.

Replacement
To dismantle and substitute a process or facility with similar one.

Relocation
To remove a process or facility from one location and place it at a different site or within the same property boundaries.

Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs)

are compounds that include the following:

• federal HAPs list in s. 112(b), Clean Air Act, includes 188 compounds,
• State HAPs list in Tables 1-5 of ch. NR 445, Wis. Adm. Code, includes almost 500 compounds - with some overlap with the federal HAPs.

Wisconsin is working on revising the State HAPs list to include more compounds that are now of concern since the rule was first written 10 years ago. List may have 600+ compounds when revised.

Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) Standards

are federal air pollution rules intended to protect the public from hazardous air pollutants. MACT standards affect source categories under section 112 of the Clean Air Act Amendments.

Maximum Theoretical Emissions (MTE)

is the amount of air pollution a source would put into the air if the equipment was operated at maximum production capacity, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year without any control device. When determining annual maximum theoretical emissions, a source shall be presumed to operate 8,760 hours per year unless its physical design precludes 8,760 hours of operation per year. Where a source's physical design restricts the number of hours it may operate, annual maximum theoretical emissions shall be calculated taking this restriction into account. In determining the maximum theoretical emissions of VOCs for a source, the design capacity or maximum production capacity shall include the use of raw materials, coatings and inks with the highest VOC content used in practice by the source. Maximum Theoretical Emissions considers worst case emissions and reasonable operation conditions (or bottlenecks) in annual calculations.

New Source

is a facility, process line or portable source that was either constructed or modified after April 1, 1972 or to which a new emission limit applies, unless it meets certain exemptions:

Specific Exemptions - based on the types of processes you have at your facility and set at maximum or actual operations levels.

General Exemptions - based on maximum theoretical pound per hour emission rates of various air pollutants and whether you are affected by federal regulations under New Source Performance Standards or the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants.

Follow the Permit Primer for details on the exemptions.

Nonattainment area

means an area identified by the department in a document prepared under s. 285.23 (2) where the concentration in the atmosphere of an air contaminant exceeds an ambient air quality standard.

Operations permit

is a permit that may be required for any existing business in Wisconsin. The due dates for submitting applications have all expired. Anyone that needs an operation permit and has not applied for one should submit the application as soon as practicably possible. Exemptions, similar to those available for construction permits, would apply to sources under the operation permit requirements. Follow the Permit Primer for the details.

The operations permit is valid for up to 5 years and may be renewed.

Reasonable Available Control Technology (RACT) Standards

are state air pollution rules controlling the release of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) based on certain processes or operations at the source. Most of them apply only to businesses that have those specified processes or operations and are located in Wisconsin's non-attainment area or the counties bordering that area. The nonattainment area includes the counties of: Kenosha, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Washington and Waukesha.

Start of Construction, Commence Construction

"Commence construction" means to engage in a program of on-site construction, including a site clearance, grading, dredging or landfilling specifically designed for a stationary source in preparation for the fabrication, erection or installation of the building components of the stationary source. include activities such as:

• site clearing
• grading
• dredging
• landfilling
• changing equipment
• substituting equipment
• or even moving the location of equipment

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

means any organic compound which participates in atmospheric photochemical reactions. This includes any such organic compound other than the following compounds, which have been determined to have negligible photochemical reactivity. Examples include Methane, Ethane, Methylene chloride (Dichloromethane), 1,1,1-Trichloroethane (Methyl chloroform), Trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11), Dichlorodifluoromethane (CFC-12), Chlorodifluoromethane (HCFC-22), Trifluoromethane (HFC-23), 1,1,2-Trichloro-1,2,2-trifluoroethane (CFC-113) and there are several others.