§ 61.13 Emission tests and waiver of emission tests.

(a) Except as provided in paragraphs (a)(3), (a)(4), (a)(5), and (a)(6) of this section, if required to do emission testing by an applicable subpart and unless a waiver of emission testing is obtained under this section, the owner or operator shall test emissions from the source:

(1) Within 90 days after the effective date, for an existing source or a new source which has an initial startup date before the effective date.

(2) Within 90 days after initial startup, for a new source which has an initial startup date after the effective date.

(3) If a force majeure is about to occur, occurs, or has occurred for which the affected owner or operator intends to assert a claim of force majeure, the owner or operator shall notify the Administrator, in writing as soon as practicable following the date the owner or operator first knew, or through due diligence should have known that the event may cause or caused a delay in testing beyond the regulatory deadline specified in paragraphs (a)(1) or (a)(2) of this section or beyond a deadline established pursuant to the requirements under paragraph (b) of this section, but the notification must occur before the performance test deadline unless the initial force majeure or a subsequent force majeure event delays the notice, and in such cases, the notification shall occur as soon as practicable.

(4) The owner or operator shall provide to the Administrator a written description of the force majeure event and a rationale for attributing the delay in testing beyond the regulatory deadline to the force majeure; describe the measures taken or to be taken to minimize the delay; and identify a date by which the owner or operator proposes to conduct the performance test. The performance test shall be conducted as soon as practicable after the force majeure occurs.

(5) The decision as to whether or not to grant an extension to the performance test deadline is solely within the discretion of the Administrator. The Administrator will notify the owner or operator in writing of approval or disapproval of the request for an extension as soon as practicable.

(6) Until an extension of the performance test deadline has been approved by the Administrator under paragraphs (a)(3), (a)(4), and (a)(5) of this section, the owner or operator of the affected facility remains strictly subject to the requirements of this part.

(b) The Administrator may require an owner or operator to test emissions from the source at any other time when the action is authorized by section 114 of the Act.

(c) The owner or operator shall notify the Administrator of the emission test at least 30 days before the emission test to allow the Administrator the opportunity to have an observer present during the test.

(d) If required to do emission testing, the owner or operator of each new source and, at the request of the Administrator, the owner or operator of each existing source shall provide emission testing facilities as follows:

(1) Sampling ports adequate for test methods applicable to each source.

(2) Safe sampling platform(s).

(3) Safe access to sampling platform(s).

(4) Utilities for sampling and testing equipment.

(5) Any other facilities that the Administrator needs to safely and properly test a source.

(e) Each emission test shall be conducted under such conditions as the Administrator shall specify based on design and operational characteristics of the source.

(1) The performance testing shall include a test method performance audit (PA) during the performance test. The PAs consist of blind audit samples supplied by an accredited audit sample provider and analyzed during the performance test in order to provide a measure of test data bias. Gaseous audit samples are designed to audit the performance of the sampling system as well as the analytical system and must be collected by the sampling system during the compliance test just as the compliance samples are collected. If a liquid or solid audit sample is designed to audit the sampling system, it must also be collected by the sampling system during the compliance test. If multiple sampling systems or sampling trains are used during the compliance test for any of the test methods, the tester is only required to use one of the sampling systems per method to collect the audit sample. The audit sample must be analyzed by the same analyst using the same analytical reagents and analytical system and at the same time as the compliance samples. Retests are required when there is a failure to produce acceptable results for an audit sample. However, if the audit results do not affect the compliance or noncompliance status of the affected facility, the compliance authority may waive the reanalysis requirement, further audits, or retests and accept the results of the compliance test. Acceptance of the test results shall constitute a waiver of the reanalysis requirement, further audits, or retests. The compliance authority may also use the audit sample failure and the compliance test results as evidence to determine the compliance or noncompliance status of the affected facility. A blind audit sample is a sample whose value is known only to the sample provider and is not revealed to the tested facility until after they report the measured value of the audit sample. For pollutants that exist in the gas phase at ambient temperature, the audit sample shall consist of an appropriate concentration of the pollutant in air or nitrogen that can be introduced into the sampling system of the test method at or near the same entry point as a sample from the emission source. If no gas phase audit samples are available, an acceptable alternative is a sample of the pollutant in the same matrix that would be produced when the sample is recovered from the sampling system as required by the test method. For samples that exist only in a liquid or solid form at ambient temperature, the audit sample shall consist of an appropriate concentration of the pollutant in the same matrix that would be produced when the sample is recovered from the sampling system as required by the test method. An accredited audit sample provider (AASP) is an organization that has been accredited to prepare audit samples by an independent, third party accrediting body.