AGGREGATE PRODUCTION OPERATIONS Laurie Fleet, Office of Water Michael Gould, P.E., Office of Air Permits Texas Commission on Environmental Quality February 28, 2012
What We Will Talk About House Bill 571 Definition of Aggregates and Aggregate Production Operations (APOs) Rulemaking Investigations and Penalties Annual Survey Annual Enforcement Report Questions
House Bill 571 Filed on 1/10/11 Authors Reps. Huberty (Kingswood) and Eissler (Woodlands) Co-Authors Reps. Larson (San Antonio) and Legler (Pasadena) Sponsor Sen. Williams (Woodlands) Passed on 5/21/11 Governor Signed on 5/21/11 Effective on 9/1/11
House Bill 571 Aggregate Production Operation (APO) Rqmts Register annually Pay registration fee TCEQ Requirements Establish registration fee to recover program costs but not to exceed $1,000 Conduct survey of state to ID non-registered APOs Inspect APOs every 3 years Establish penalties for non-registration Include info related to bill implementation in annual enforcement report
Definitions Aggregates - any commonly recognized construction material originating from an aggregate production operation from which an operator extracts dimension stone, crushed and broken limestone, crushed and broken granite, crushed and broken stone, construction sand and gravel, industrial sand, dirt, soil, or caliche. It does not include clay or shale mined for uses in manufacturing structural clay products. Aggregate Production Operation - a site from which aggregates are being or have been removed or extracted from the earth, including the entire areas of extraction, stripped areas, haulage ramps, and the land on which the plant processing the raw materials is located, exclusive of any land owned or leased by the responsible party not being currently used in the production of aggregates.
Definitions APO Exemptions A site used for the production of cement or lightweight aggregates, or a lime kiln A temporary site used in public works projects by state or a local governmental entity An extraction area from which all raw material is extracted and used as fill for other construction uses at the same or a contiguous site
Definitions A site at which the materials being removed or extracted from the earth are used or processed for use in the construction, modification of a solid waste facility A site at which aggregates are being removed or extracted from the earth where the primary purpose of removal or extraction is NOT for commercial sale or processing of aggregates.
Rulemaking Proposed new 30 TAC 342 Held 2 stakeholder meetings (9/13/11 and 12/6/11) How TCEQ will establish fees Questionnaire sent out 1/13/12 related to fees Discussions with bill author Scope of bill related to earth movers, installers of septic tanks, swimming pools, stock tanks, etc
Rule Proposal Subchapter A General Provisions Definitions Aggregate production operation Aggregates Commission Operator Regulated Activity Owner Responsible Party Site
Rule Proposal Subchapter B Registration and Fees Registration APOs in operation on or before 9/1/2012 must register by 9/1/2012 APOs that begin operations after 9/1/2012 must register 10 days prior to beginning operations Processing plants co-located at extraction site having same responsible party can submit as one registration Renew registration annually Submit cancellation request when operations cease Registration Fees shall not exceed $1,000
Schedule for Rulemaking Proposed at Agenda 1/11/12 Public Hearing 2/9/12 Comment Period Closes 2/27/12 Adoption at Agenda 6/27/12
GIS Database As registrations are reviewed, WQD will update a GIS database Visually see Registration # Visually see Property boundary Background data Applicants name Lat/Long Date Registration received TCEQ Regional Office
Data Set
Registration #123
Investigations Inspect every 3 years beginning 9/1/2012 (except APOs that file Notice to Conduct Audit, then 9/1/2015) Combined Multi-media (Air, Water, Waste) Complaint investigation qualifies if a potential violation is noted that is un-related to complaint and is Within the investigators area of expertise and is addressed in the investigation report, or Not within the investigators area of expertise but is referred to that area for further investigation.
Penalties Operating without Registration $5,000 to $10,000 per year for each year of operation without registration. The total penalty cannot be more than $25,000 for an operation that failed to register in 3 or more years. These penalties are in addition to penalties related to operating without air, water, and/or waste permits.
Survey TCEQ must conduct an annual physical survey of the state to identify all active APOs ensure each active APO is registered with TCEQ Resources for Survey GIS database APOs that fail to renew registrations annually Complaints Drive-bys TxDOT maps
Report Part of the annual Enforcement Report Results of the survey Number and general location of the registered operations Number of inspectors trained in multiple areas related to aggregate operations Number of inspections Results of the inspections
AIR PERMITS DIVISION CONCRETE MANUFACTURING AIR QUALITY AUTHORIZATION ISSUES
Air Quality Standard Permit for Concrete Batch Plants (Amendment) Mixers (New PBR) Roller Compacted Concrete (?) Maintenance, Start-up, Shutdown (MSS)