| Criterion | Limitation |
| Location in Washington | Any jurisdiction within which new source review requirements are regulated by the department of ecology's air quality program. At the time of issuance of this general order, this includes: Adams, Asotin, Chelan, Columbia, Douglas, Ferry, Franklin, Garfield, Grant, Kittitas, Klickitat, Lincoln, Okanogan, Pend Oreille, San Juan, Stevens, Walla Walla, and Whitman counties |
| Facility description | Facilities that manufacture concrete from cement, cement supplement, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate, and water.1 The ingredients are gravity fed through a weigh hopper |
| In-transit mixing plant: The weigh hopper drops the ingredients into mixer trucks (in-transit mixing). | |
| Central mix plant: The weigh hopper drops the ingredients into a mixer that dumps the premixed concrete into transit trucks (central mix). | |
| Portable concrete batch plant: Although a plant may be designed to be "portable," to be considered portable under this general order, the plant must be located temporarily. Ecology defines "temporary" as one year or less at the same location. This general order is valid for any location within the jurisdiction described in "Location in Washington." | |
| Stationary concrete batch plant: A plant that is located at the same site for over one year. This general order is valid only for the location specified in the coverage order. | |
| The concrete batch plant is not part of a new major stationary source or major modification to a major stationary source, which is subject to review under the prevention of significant deterioration program, and the addition of the concrete batch plant to an existing source does not make the source subject to the air operating permit (AOP) program or require a modification in an existing AOP permit. | |
| Size | In-transit mix: Not greater than 150,000 tons of concrete mixed in any consecutive twelve-month period (74,500 cubic yards). |
| Central mix: Not greater than 495,000 tons of concrete mixed in any consecutive twelve-month period (246,000 cubic yards). | |
| Design | Facility may either produce truck-mixed or central-mixed concrete. |
| May be permanent or portable. | |
| Equipment | Mobile and stationary conveying equipment for loading sand, aggregate, and cementitious material bins and silos, weigh hopper, mixer (central mix), and truck charging station. |
| SEPA Requirements | Portable concrete batch plant: Individual SEPA review is not required at any temporary location. |
| Stationary concrete batch plant: SEPA review is required. | |
| Portable plant: Special provisions | Must notify ecology not less than ten calendar days prior to operating at a new temporary location. |
| A plant that has been operating under "stationary" status may move and convert to "portable" status under this general order as long as it thereafter follows the time-in-location limitations and reporting requirements of a portable plant. A new coverage order is not required. | |
| A plant that has been operating under "portable" status must obtain a new coverage order and undergo SEPA review before converting to "stationary" status at its current or a new location. |
Fine aggregate: Sand.
Coarse aggregate: Gravel, crushed stone, or iron blast furnace slag.
Heavyweight aggregate: Barite, magnetite, limonite, ilmenite, iron, or steel.
Lightweight aggregate: Sintered clay, shale, slate, diatomaceous shale, perlite, vermiculate, slag pumice, cinders, or sintered fly ash.
The draft order and fact sheet are available for review
and public comment from May 7, 2008, to June 7, 2008. The
public is encouraged to give written comments during the
public comment period.
A general order is used instead of a series of individual notice of construction orders of approval when the permitted facilities are similar. Individual facilities that receive coverage under the general order are required to comply with the terms and conditions of the order.
This order will be available to applicants in the counties that are regulated directly by ecology's air quality program. These counties are: San Juan, Okanogan, Chelan, Douglas, Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille, Kittitas, Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield, Asotin, Grant, Lincoln, Adams, Whitman, Franklin, and Klickitat counties. Applicants in other areas are regulated by a local air agency and are subject to their notice of construction rules and procedures. This order is also available to those sources of statewide importance that are directly regulated by ecology.
Requesting Copies of the Order: You can request copies of the proposed order and fact sheet by contacting Tom Todd, Department of Ecology, P.O. Box 47600, Olympia, WA 98504-7600, phone (360) 407-7528, fax (360) 407-7534, e-mail ttod461@ecy.wa.gov.
The proposed order and fact sheet are also available online at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/AOP_Permits/Boiler/GeneralOrders.htm under the concrete batch plant heading.
Submitting Written Comments: Ecology will accept written comments on the draft concrete batch plant general order and fact sheet. Comments should reference specific text when possible. Comments may address the following:
| • | Technical issues, |
| • | Accuracy and completeness of information, |
| • | The scope of facilities proposed for coverage, |
| • | Adequacy of environmental protection and order conditions, or |
| • | Any other concern that would result from issuance of the revised order. |
Written, e-mailed and faxed comments must be received no later than 5 p.m., June 7, 2008.
Issuing the Final Concrete Batch Plant General Order: Ecology will issue the final order after it considers all public comments. Ecology expects to issue the general order soon after the end of the public comment period. It will be effective thirty days later. When ecology issues the order, it will send a response to everyone who commented.
Who would be covered by the order? The order covers all new concrete batch plants who proposed to emit air pollutants to the environment. The choice of whether to be covered by a more traditional individual notice of approval or this general order remains with the applicant.
If you have special accommodation needs or require a copy of the order and fact sheet in an alternative format, please contact Tami Dahlgren, (360) 407-6830. If you are a person with a speech or hearing impairment, call 711 or 800-833-6388 for TTY.