Any trench burner that operates according to the following conditions of this section is permitted by rule.

1. (1) The trench burner shall be operated at least 300 feet from any recreational area, residence, or other structure not occupied or used solely by the owner of the trench burner or the owner of the property upon which the trench burner is located.
2. (2) The trench shall be opened in undisturbed soil not previously excavated, built up, compacted, or used in any type of landfill operation.
3. (3) The trench shall be no wider than 12 feet with a minimum depth of ten feet. The maximum length of the burning area as measured along the bottom of the trench shall not exceed by more than five feet the length of the manifold. The walls of the trench must be maintained such that they remain vertical.
4. (4) Operation of this trench burner is limited to the hours between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., and is limited to a total of eight hours per day and 1,000 hours per year. A written record or log of the hours of operation of this trench burner shall be maintained at the site and made available at the request of personnel from the commission or any local air pollution control program having jurisdiction. This record or log shall be organized such that the compliance status of this special condition can be readily determined.
5. (5) Material shall not be added to the trench such that the material will not be consumed by 6:00 p.m.
6. (6) The blower shall remain on until all material is consumed so that any remaining material in the trench will not smoke when the blower is turned off.
7. (7) This trench burner shall not be operated when an air stagnation advisory is in effect for the area in which the trench burner is located.
8. (8) Opacity of emissions from the trench and from operation of the blower shall not exceed 20% averaged over a five-minute period, except for a start-up period which shall not exceed 20 minutes. Opacity shall be measured as outlined in Chapter 13, "Visible Emissions Evaluation," of the commission's Sampling Procedures Manual, as published in January 1983, and as subsequently revised.
9. (9) Material to be burned in the trench is limited to not more than 7.0 tons per hour of trees, brush, and untreated lumber. Material not being worked and material being stockpiled to be burned at a later date must be kept at least 75 feet from the trench.
10. (10) Material shall not be added to the trench in such a manner as to be stacked above the air curtain at any time.
11. (11) The ash generated by this operation shall be removed from the trench as necessary in order to maintain the minimum trench depth of ten feet. The ash shall be removed in such a manner as to minimize the ash becoming airborne. All material removed from the trench must be completely extinguished before being landfilled or placed in contact with combustible material to prevent combustion outside of the trench or in the landfill.
12. (12) A copy of this section shall be kept at the burn site and made available at the request of personnel from the commission or any local air pollution control program having jurisdiction.
13. (13) Operating instructions shall be posted at the burn site and all operators shall read and have knowledge of these instructions. The operating instructions shall be made available at the request of personnel from the commission or any local air pollution control program having jurisdiction.
14. (14) An operator shall remain with the trench burner at all times when it is operating.
15. (15) Upon notification by a representative of the commission or any local air pollution control program having jurisdiction that the trench burner is not complying with the conditions of this section, no additional material shall be added to the trench until compliance with such conditions has been effected.
16. (16) The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) shall be notified by the owner or operator of the trench burner prior to use of the trench burner at a TNRCC permitted landfill.
17. (17) Upon removal of the trench burner from the burn site, the trench shall be completely filled with uncombustible material.
18. (18) Before operation of the facility begins at any site, written site approval shall be received from the executive director and any local air pollution control program having jurisdiction in the area and the facility shall be registered with the commission's Office of Permitting, Remediation, and Registration in Austin using Form PI-7.

Source Note:The provisions of this §106.496 adopted to be effective March 14, 1997, 22 TexReg 2439; amended to be effective September 4, 2000, 25 TexReg 8653.