North Carolina Exempts Portable Crushers

Citing “the relatively insignificant amounts of air emissions expected,” North Carolina’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources has exempted most portable crushers from having to get an air permit for each site at which they work. In addition, the agency intends to develop a “permit by rule” procedure to address operation of the units.

The decision was outlined in a memorandum from B. Keith Overcash, director of the agency’s Division of Air Quality (DAQ). In the memo, he comments that while the crushers are of varying size and age, they are generally at one location for only a few days to a few months. The units are subject to NSPS (New Source Performance Standards) Subpart 000. If not for that rule, these operations would already have been exempted from air permitting, since one of them emits less than five tons of air pollutants at any site it operates.

Recyclers in other states might be encouraged by the agency’s finding that, “Due to the mobile nature of this industry, it is difficult for these facilities to submit an application, wait for a zoning determination, and obtain an air permit prior to moving on to a new location. This creates a compliance problem for them and for DAQ.”

Portable plant operators have long contended that to get such a permit from a state or local governing authority can take so long that the opportunity to complete the job is already gone before the permit is granted. This recognition in North Carolina of how the portable crushing industry works is welcome news for concrete and asphalt recyclers.

The caveats the North Carolina DAQ has put on the exemptions are that the unit must be on a site for less than 12 months, crush less than 300,000 tons of material, and burn less than 17,000 gallons of fuel.