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Good Practice Guide for Assessing Discharges to Air from Industry

Acknowledgements

Foreword by the Ministry

1 Introduction

2 Legislative Context

3 Assessing Discharges to Air: General Considerations

4 The Assessment Process

5 Air Quality Criteria

6 Tier 1 Preliminary Assessment

7 Tier 2 Screening Assessment

8 Tier 3 Full Assessment

Appendix 1: Assessment Checklist

Appendix 2: NO to NO₂ Conversion

References

2 Legislative Context

The following section outlines the legislative context for an assessment of environmental effects relating to air quality, as provided by the Resource Management Act.

2.1 Resource Management Act 1991

The purpose of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) is to promote the sustainable management of natural and physical resources, including air. Under section 30 of the RMA, consenting authorities have a statutory responsibility to control discharges of contaminants into air. Section 15 restricts the discharge of contaminants into air, as follows:

Discharge of contaminants into environment –

(1) No person may discharge any –

...

(c) Contaminant from any industrial or trade premises into air; ...

unless the discharge is expressly allowed by a rule in a regional plan and in any relevant proposed regional plan, a resource consent, or regulations.

(2) No person may discharge any contaminant into the air, or into or onto land, from –

(a) Any place; or

(b) Any other source, whether movable or not, –

in a manner that contravenes a rule in a regional plan or proposed regional plan unless the discharge is expressly allowed by a resource consent, or regulations, or allowed by section 20 (certain existing lawful activities allowed).

All regional councils have regional plans that regulate air discharges. Some councils have specific regional air plans that may be proposed, operative, or operative with proposed changes. Other councils have rules for air quality contained within broader regional plans. It is important to consult the regional council to determine plan status and determine which rules (and proposed changes, if appropriate) affect your proposal. Regional plans are discussed in more detail in section 2.3.

Section 88 of the RMA requires an assessment of environmental effects to accompany an application for discharge consent. The Fourth Schedule states what material should be included. Section 88, “Making an Application”, requires that:

(1) A person may apply to the relevant local authority for a resource consent.

(2) An application must:

(a) be made in the prescribed form and manner; and

(b) include, in accordance with Schedule 4, an assessment of environmental effects in such detail as corresponds with the scale and significance of the effects that the activity may have on the environment.

The Fourth Schedule states:

(1) Matters that should be included in an assessment of effects on the environment Subject to the provisions of any policy statement or plan, an assessment of effects on the environment for the purposes of section 88 should include:

(a) A description of the proposal;

(b) Where it is likely that an activity will result in any significant adverse effect on the environment, a description of any possible alternative locations or methods for undertaking the activity;

(c) Repealed;

(d) An assessment of the actual or potential effect on the environment of the proposed activity;

(e) Where the activity includes the use of hazardous substances and installations, an assessment of any risks to the environment which are likely to arise from such use;

(f) Where the activity includes the discharge of any contaminant, a description of:

(i) The nature of the discharge and the sensitivity of the proposed receiving environment to adverse effects; and

(ii) Any possible alternative methods of discharge, including discharge into any other receiving environment;

(g) A description of the mitigation measures (safeguards and contingency plans where relevant) to be undertaken to help prevent or reduce the actual or potential effect;

(h) An identification of the persons affected by the proposal, the consultation undertaken, if any, and any response to the views of any person consulted;

(i) Where the scale or significance of the activity’s effects are such that monitoring is required, a description of how, once the proposal is approved, effects will be monitored and by whom.

(1A) Matters that must be included in an assessment of effects on the environment

As assessment of effects on the environment for the purposes of section 88 must include, in a case where a customary activity is, or is likely to be, adversely affected, a description of possible alternative locations or methods for the proposed activity (unless written approval for that activity is given by the holder of the customary rights order).

(1AA) To avoid doubt, clause 1(h) obliges an applicant to report as to the persons identified as being affected by the proposal, but does not –

(a) oblige the applicant to consult with any person; or

(b) create any ground for expecting that the applicant will consult with any person.

(2) Matters that should be considered when preparing an assessment of effects on the environment

Subject to the provisions of any policy statement or plan, any person preparing an assessment of effects on the environment should consider the following matters:

(a) Any effect on those in the neighbourhood and, where relevant, the wider community including any socioeconomic and cultural effects;

(b) Any physical effects on the locality, including any landscape and visual effects;

(c) Any effect on ecosystems, including effects on plants or animals and any physical disturbance of habitats in the vicinity;

(d) Any effect on natural and physical resources having aesthetic, recreational, scientific, historical, spiritual, or cultural, or other special value for present or future generations;

(e) Any discharge of contaminants into the environment, including any unreasonable emission of noise and options for the treatment and disposal of contaminants;

(f) Any risk to the neighbourhood, the wider community, or the environment through natural hazards or the use of hazardous substances or installations.

Readers should note that the above requirements are subject to the provisions of any policy statement or plan (which may require more, or less, information).

This Good Practice Guide expands on the requirements of Schedule 4 and is designed to help applicants meet their requirements by using current best practice techniques for assessing the impacts of discharges to air from industry. For basic information about what should be within an assessment of environmental effects, readers are referred to A Guide to Preparing a Basic Assessment of Environmental Effects (Ministry for the Environment, 1999a) and An Everyday Guide to the Resource Management Act Series (Ministry for the Environment, 2006a).¹

Note that sections 104E and 104F of the RMA place discharges of greenhouse gases outside the remit of consenting authorities in their consideration of discharge consents.

2.2 National environmental standards

Readers should familiarise themselves with the Resource Management (National Environmental Standards Relating to Certain Air Pollutants, Dioxins and Other Toxics) Regulations 2004 as amended in 2005 (hereafter referred to as the Standards). The Standards are technical environmental regulations prepared in accordance with sections 43 and 44 of the RMA. They are designed to protect public health and the environment in New Zealand by setting concentration limits for clean air and regulating or prohibiting certain activities that pollute the air.

The detailed application and interpretation of the Standards is provided in the Updated Users Guide (Ministry for the Environment, 2005). The ambient air quality concentration limits provided by Schedule 1 of the Standards are discussed in section 5.

There is no national policy statement relating to air quality.

2.3 Regional plans and policy statements

The RMA is the applicable overarching legislation and the Standards provide an absolute baseline for acceptable effects. Regional councils provide the next level of regulation in their regional plans and associated policy statements.

As noted above, all regional councils have regional plans that regulate air discharges. Some councils have regional plans specifically for air quality. These air plans may be proposed, operative, or operative with proposed changes. Air plans detail regional, and sometimes local or airshed-specific, management of air quality. Other councils have rules for air quality contained within broader regional plans. All plans, however, contain specific rules about the types of industrial discharges that are and are not allowed.

It is essential that the relevant regional plan is consulted before preparing an assessment of environmental effects,.

To do so, consult with the regional council. This will allow you to determine plan status and determine which rules (and proposed changes, if appropriate) affect your proposal. Also, and as noted above, an assessment of environmental effects must meet the provisions in the local plan. The assessment may, therefore, be required to provide more information than that contained in the Fourth Schedule of the RMA.

Regional plans and air plans are different for each region to reflect different local circumstances. Many plans contain more stringent criteria than exist in the Standards (or the national ambient air quality guidelines). One of the justifications for this is to allow adequate time for regional councils to respond if air quality is approaching unacceptable levels. The regional council process to develop and implement policy for emissions reduction takes several years. One of the ways that councils address this is by adopting 'target' values that are typically 66% of the relevant standard or guideline value. This allows them a time buffer that helps ensure the Standards are not breached. For more information on air quality criteria, please refer to section 5.

Following the introduction of the Standards in 2004, many councils are in the process of implementing new policies requiring reductions in PM₁₀ emissions from all sources, including industrial sources where practicable. The details of these vary, but may be of the nature of 'the council requires a 15% reduction in annual PM₁₀ emissions for any consent renewal', or 'for any new discharge of PM₁₀, apart from meeting the regional objectives, the council requires that best practice be employed for mitigation'. It is not possible to detail these polices any further, since they are only very recent and are at different stages of development for different councils.

2.4 Types of activities

Regional plans generally classify activities into six primary categories:

• permitted

• controlled

• restricted discretionary

• discretionary

• non-complying

• prohibited.

These different categories determine aspects such as whether a resource consent application:

• is required before carrying out the activity

• can be lodged (eg, you cannot lodge a consent for a prohibited activity)

• will be publicly notified

• must, may or may not be granted

• what will be considered when making a decision on a resource consent application.

Rules in regional and district plans specify which category an activity falls within. The consenting authority can also confirm the plan status and any additional proposed changes that may apply. For further information refer to An Everyday Guide to the Resource Management Act Series (Ministry for the Environment, 2006a).²

It is important to consult with the consenting authority to confirm which category an activity falls within and which rules apply. This may range from a simple confirmation to more detailed discussions, but a pre-application meeting is strongly recommended.

Prohibited activities and the national environmental standards for air quality

In addition to any activities prohibited within regional plans, the Standards prohibit the following activities:

• landfill fires

• burning of tyres*

• bitumen burning for road maintenance

• burning of coated wire*

• burning of oil in the open

• new high-temperature hazardous waste incinerators

• school and health-care incinerators, unless resource consent was obtained before October 2006.

* Burning of tyres and coated wire in the open is prohibited, but provision is made for industrial and trade premises that have resource consent and emission control equipment.

Further detail is provided in the Updated Users Guide (Ministry for the Environment, 2005).

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