Regulatory Text: 
Louisiana Administrative Code, Title 33 ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY, Part III Air (LAC 33:III)

Chapter 6. Regulations on Control of Emissions through the Use of Emission Reduction Credits Banking

§621.  Protection of Banked ERCs
Approved by EPA 07/02/99 (64 FR 35939) effective 08/02/99. (LAd03)

   A.  ERCs are valid for 10 years from the date of certificate issuance by the department.  ERCs can be used for netting only during the contemporaneous period as specified in LAC 33:III.504, but they can be used for internal or external offsets (with the appropriate offset ratio) for their entire life.

   B.  ERCs may be used by the ERC certificate owner(s) or operator(s) or by any entity to whom the ERC certificate has been transferred, except that the department may reduce the quantity of ERCs under the following circumstances:
      1.  Adjustments for Attainment Planning Purposes.  The department will maintain a bank balance (of VOC reductions which have not been designated for either netting or offset purposes) sufficient to demonstrate the commitments made in the reasonable further progress plan which may be a reduction identified to satisfy the 15 percent VOC Reasonable Further Progress Plan or the contingency measures associated with the same plan.  The department shall confiscate only those ERCs from the bank that are needed for attainment purposes either as a support to the 15 percent VOC RFP or when a milestone of that plan has been missed.  ERCs which have already been used or for which a permit application has been submitted (either for netting or offsetting purposes) shall not be reduced in quantity or confiscated under any circumstance.
      2.  Prior notification and comment opportunity.  The department shall notify the owner(s) of reduction credits, in writing, its plans to confiscate in order to meet the 15 percent VOC RFP or contingency measures.  A 30-day comment period will be allowed for the affected facility(ies) to respond to the department's confiscation or to submit an alternative emissions reduction proposal.
      3.  Refunding of Unused ERCs.  If all of the ERCs withheld for the reasonable further progress demonstration are not utilized, then the department shall refund the unused ERCs to the generating sites on a pro rata basis.  Refunds will be in a direct proportion to a site's individual contribution to the amount of ERCs withheld for reasonable further progress. The period of time that an ERC was held by the department will not count toward the contemporaneous period for netting nor the ten-year life for offsetting purposes.

   AUTHORITY NOTE:  Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 30:2054.
   HISTORICAL NOTE:  Promulgated by the Department of Environmental Quality, Office of Air Quality and Radiation Protection, Air Quality Division, LR 20:879 (August 1994).

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