Have you discovered something has gone wrong at your facility and you are out of compliance with your permit? Not sure what to do or what your options are? The easiest solution may be to shut down immediately, but with production schedules this may not be practical. MBARD Rules and Regulations has provisions that may provide for some temporary relief.

Rule 214 Breakdown Conditions

What qualifies as a Breakdown?

An upset/breakdown condition is defined as an unforeseeable failure or malfunction of any air pollution control equipment or related operating equipment which causes a violation of any emission limitation or permit condition, so long as the failure is not the result of neglect, is not intentional, is not the result of improper maintenance, is not a recurrent breakdown of the same equipment, and the failure does not create a public nuisance.

What should you do if you have a breakdown?

The first thing to do is to notify MBARD that a breakdown has occurred, as soon as reasonably possible. Verbal notification shall occur no later than 1 hour after the detection of the breakdown. Your notification should include the time, specific location, equipment involved and the cause of the occurrence (to the extent known).

What relief can you get?

If the breakdown persists only until the end of the production run or 24 hours (whichever is sooner), the occurrence constitutes a violation of the applicable requirement, however MBARD may elect to take no enforcement action, provided that the notification requirements were met and that appropriate corrective measures are undertaken to bring the operation back into compliance in a timely manner.

Within five (5) working days after the breakdown has been corrected, the operator is required to follow up with written report detailing what the cause of the problem was; what corrective action has been taken to correct the problem and when it was completed; what corrective measures were undertaken to avoid such an occurrence in the future; and providing estimates of the emissions released during the breakdown.

Variance Option

If the equipment cannot be brought back into compliance before the start of the next production run or within 24 hours (whichever is sooner), in lieu of shutdown the next option available to the facility would be to apply for a variance.