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TITLE 30ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
PART 1TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
CHAPTER 101GENERAL AIR QUALITY RULES
SUBCHAPTER HEMISSIONS BANKING AND TRADING
DIVISION 3MASS EMISSIONS CAP AND TRADE PROGRAM
RULE §101.356Allowance Banking and Trading

(a) An allowance not used for compliance in the control period it was allocated may be banked as a vintage allowance for use in the following control period in compliance with §101.354 of this title (relating to Allowance Deductions) or traded except as provided by subsection (g) of this section.

(b) An allowance that has not expired or been used may be traded at any time during a control period after it has been allocated except as provided by subsection (g) of this section.

(c) Only an authorized account representative may trade an allowance.

(d) At least 30 days before the allowances are deposited into the buyer's account, the seller shall submit the appropriate trade application to the executive director. The completed application must show the amount of allowances traded and, except for trades between sites under common ownership or control, the purchase price per ton of allowances traded.

  (1) To trade a current allowance or vintage allowance for a single year, the seller shall submit the application form specified by the executive director. Trades involving allowances needed for compliance with a control period must be submitted on or before January 30 of the following control period.

  (2) To permanently trade ownership of any portion of the allowances allocated annually to an individual facility, the seller shall submit the application form specified by the executive director.

  (3) To trade any portion of the individual future year allowances to be allocated annually to an individual facility, the seller shall submit the application form specified by the executive director.

(e) All information regarding the quantity and sales price of allowances will be made available to the public as soon as practicable.

(f) The executive director will send letters to the seller and buyer if the trade is approved or denied. If approved, the trade is final upon the date of the letter from the executive director.

(g) Allowances that were allocated based on allowable emissions in accordance with variable (B)(i) in the figure in §101.353(a) of this title (relating to Allocation of Allowances) may not be banked for future use or traded.

(h) Nitrogen oxides (NOX ) discrete emission reduction credits (DERCs) or mobile discrete emission reduction credits (MDERCs) generated and acquired in accordance with Division 4 of this subchapter (relating to Discrete Emission Credit Program) may be used in place of allowances for compliance with this division in accordance with this subsection. Volatile organic compound (VOC) DERCs or MDERCs generated and acquired in accordance with Division 4 of this subchapter may be used in place of allowances for compliance with this division in accordance with this subsection if the user satisfies the inter-pollutant requirements in §101.376(g) of this title (relating to Discrete Emission Credit Use).

  (1) MDERCs may be used in lieu of allowances at a ratio of one ton of MDERCs for one ton of allowances.

  (2) DERCs generated by a stationary source before January 1, 2005 may be used in lieu of allowances at a ratio of ten tons of DERCs for one ton of allowances.

  (3) DERCs generated after December 31, 2004 may be used in lieu of allowances at a ratio of one ton of DERCs for one ton of allowances.

  (4) The 10% environmental contribution and the 5% compliance margin of Division 4 of this subchapter do not apply.

  (5) To use DERCs or MDERCs for the purpose of compliance with this division, the required application must be submitted to the executive director on or before October 1 of the control period for which the DERCs or MDERCs will be used. In addition, the required application must be submitted by March 31 with the site's annual compliance report.

  (6) No more than 10,000 tons of DERCs generated from stationary sources may be used for compliance with this division in any combination totaled over all sites in the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria area during a single calendar year. DERCs may be approved for use with this division according to the following.

    (A) The executive director may approve the use of 250 tons or less of DERCs per site, per control period, unless the 10,000 ton per year limit has been reached.

    (B) If a site requests the use of more than 250 tons of DERCs in a control period, the amount in excess of 250 tons may be reduced so that the total amount of all DERCs used by all sites does not exceed 10,000 tons. For all requests greater than 250 tons, the excess DERCs up to the 10,000 ton DERC limit may be apportioned based on the percentage of DERCs greater than 250 tons requested for use by those sites relative to the total amount of DERCs available up to the 10,000 ton DERC limit.


Source Note: The provisions of this §101.356 adopted to be effective January 18, 2001, 26 TexReg 282; amended to be effective October 18, 2001, 26 TexReg 8073; amended to be effective January 17, 2003, 28 TexReg 83; amended to be effective December 2, 2004, 29 TexReg 11038; amended to be effective June 25, 2015, 40 TexReg 3848

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