Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Implements Change to Title V Permits

June 24, 2020

On May 29, 2020, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) published a change to the federal major source operating permit program—also called Title V permits—in Texas to incorporate permit by rule (PBR) requirements. Beginning August 1, 2020, all site operating permit (SOP) and general operating permit (GOP) applications for initial permits, renewals, and significant revisions more than two years from renewal will be required to account for all PBRs (including pre-March 1997 Standard  Exemptions) under which the facility is operating.

TCEQ has published a new form for this change: the Permits by Rule Supplemental Table (Form OP-PBRSUP). The form is split into the following four sections:

  • Table A: Registered Permits by Rule
  • Table B: Claimed (but not Registered) Permits by Rule
  • Table C: Claimed (but not Registered) Permits by Rule for Insignificant Sources
  • Table D: Monitoring Requirements for Claimed (but not Registered) Permits by Rule

This news affects facilities operating in Texas who will apply for their first Title V permit, renew an existing Title V permit, or make significant revisions to their existing Title V permit. While this change may seem straightforward in its scope, accurate recordkeeping of a facility’s entire library of PBRs is typically a difficult task as facilities change ownership and as environmental staff transfer, retire, or leave the company. This is especially true for those PBRs that don’t require registration with TCEQ. In addition, Table D of this new form could possibly expose lapses in complying with the PBRs’ monitoring requirements if a company’s monitoring and recordkeeping are incomplete.

Beginning August 1, 2020, it will be more important than ever to comply with all monitoring and recordkeeping requirements of current PBRs and maintain an accurate list of all of these PBRs. Submitting an incomplete Form OP-PBRSUP might cause delays in an already lengthy Title V permitting process. If a facility will be affected by this change, we highly recommend compiling a complete and accurate list of PBRs as soon as possible to avoid those delays.

If you have questions about this news or would like help with your Title V permit, please contact Jon Greene, P.E. (512-439-0400 or jgreene@cecinc.com) of CEC Austin.

Did you know? In addition to our Austin office in Texas, we now also have a Houston office!

About the Author


Jon Greene

Jon has more than 26 years of environmental and compliance experience, including state and federal air permitting, SPCC planning, stormwater permitting, pollution prevention planning, and EPCRA reporting. He is a registered Chemical Engineer in Texas.

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