Definition

(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requiresCAP. 328. “Act” means the Environmental Protection Act; “air” means the unconfined portion of the atmosphere excluding any structure or underground space; “air contaminants” include smoke, vapours, charred paper, dust, soot, grime, carbon, fumes, gases, sulfuric acid, mist, aerosols, aerosol droplets, odours, particulate matter, windborne matter, radioactive materials, noxious chemicals or any other like materials in the outdoor atmosphere; “air pollution” means the presence in the outdoor atmosphere of one or more air contaminants or a combination thereof in sufficient quantities which either alone or in connection with other substances, by reason of their concentration and duration, are or tend to be injurious to human, plant or animal life or cause damage to property, or unreasonably interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property of a substantial part Environmental Protection 91 of a community or obscures visibility or which in any way reduces the quality of the ambient air below the standards as determined by the Department; “air pollution control equipment” means equipment used to eliminate, reduce or control the discharge of air contaminants into the ambient air; “air pollution source” means any physical facility, arrangement, device, contrivance, condition or structure which may emit “ambient air” means that portion of the atmosphere, external to buildings, to which the public has access; “atmosphere” means the layer of air surrounding the earth; “authorised officer” means a designated officer as defined in section 2 of the Act; “BTU” means British Thermal Unit, which is the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water to 1 degree Fahrenheit; “Chief Environmental Officer” means the Chief Environmental Officer appointed under section 3 (1) of the Act; “CFC” means any chlorofluorocarbons specified in Part II of the Sixth Schedule or any mixture of such chlorofluorocarbons; “combustion” means the burning of matter; “contaminant” means a solid, liquid or gaseous matter, microorganism, odour, radiation or a combination of any of the foregoing that is likely to alter the quality of the environment in any way; “Department” means the Department of the Environment, established under the Act; 92 Environmental Protection “discharge” means the release, escape or emission of a contaminant into the ambient air; “dust” means finely divided solid particulate matter occurring naturally or created by mechanical processing, handling or storage of materials in the solid state; “emission” means any act of passing into the atmosphere an air contaminant or a gas stream, visible or invisible; “end user” means any technician working in the refrigeration and air conditioning sector; “equivalent opacity scale” means a measurement index for ranking plumes in terms of opacities equivalent to opacities on the Ringlemann Scale using per cent opacity as the unit of measurement; “existing source” means any source of pollution which is not a new source; “fuel” means any material which is burned for the purpose of producing energy; “fugitive dust” means uncontrolled dust; “fume” means solid particulate matter resulting from the condensation and subsequent solidification of vapours of melted solid materials; “heat input” means the quantity of heat in terms of BTUs generated by fuels fed into fuel burning equipment under conditions of complete combustion; “importer” includes any individual or company who or which imports, exports, trans–ships or transits any scheduled substance through Belize; Environmental Protection 93 “motor vehicle” means any self–propelled vehicle designed for transporting persons or property on roads and public highways; “new source” means any source of air pollution or potential source of air pollution, the construction or modification of which was commenced after the effective date of these Regulations; and in the context of the foregoing definition “commenced” means that an owner or operator has undertaken a continuous program of construction or modification or that an owner or operator has entered into an agreement that is binding in law to undertake or complete within a reasonable time, a “continuous program of construction or modification, construction” means fabrication, erection or installation of an affected facility, and “modification” means any physical change in, or change in the method of, operation of an effected facility which increases the amount of any air pollutant (to which a standard applies) emitted by such facility which results in the emission of any air pollutant (to which a standard applies) not previously emitted but routine maintenance, and “repair and replacement” shall not be considered physical change; “opacity” means the degree of obscuration of transmitted light; “operation” means any physical or chemical action resulting in the change in location, form, physical properties or chemical character of a material; “particulate matter” means any finely divided liquid or solid material, other than uncombined water; “per cent opacity” means a unit of measurement shown on the equivalent opacity scale; “permanent production curtailment” means the reduction of sulfur input on a continuing basis; “person” includes an individual, any public or private corporation, company, partnership, firm, association or society 94 Environmental Protection of persons, the Government of Belize, and any of its departments or agencies; “plume” means visible effluent; “pollutant” means a contaminant or a mixture of several contaminants present in the environment in a concentration or quantity greater than the permissible level prescribed by these Regulations; “positive control” means permanent production curtailment or the operation of emission control equipment of sulfur removal techniques or any combination thereof; “PPM” means parts per million by volume; “process” means one operation or more, including equipment and technology, used in the production of foods or services or the control of by-products or waste; “process source” means the last operation or process which produces an air contaminant resulting from the separation of the air contaminant from the process material or the conversion of constituents of the process materials into air contaminants and which is not an air pollution abatement operation; “process weight rate” means a rate established as follows– (a) for continuous or long–run, steady–state process source, the total weight for the entire period of continuous operation or for a typical portion thereof, divided by the number of hours of such period or portion thereof; (b) for cyclical or batch process sources, the total process weight for a period which covers a complete operation or an integral number of cycles divided by the hours or actual process operation during such period; Environmental Protection 95 Sixth Schedule. “quota year” means the period specified in Part IV of the Sixth Schedule; “Ringlemann chart” means a standardised device employing a graduated series of opacities according to the Ringlemann scale; “Ringlemann scale” means a standardised rank of opacities using the Ringlemann number as the unit of measurement employed when determining the opacity of a plume; “smoke” means particulate matter resulting from incomplete combustion; “source of contamination” means any activity or condition causing the emission of a contaminant into the environment; “soot” means the carbonaceous particulate product of incomplete combustion which may be a component of smoke; “standard conditions” means the gas temperature of 60 degrees F and gas pressure of 14.7 pounds per square inch absolute; “vapour” means the gaseous form of a substance normally occurring in a liquid or solid state; “vapour pressure” means the pressure exerted by the gaseous form of a substance in equilibrium with its liquid or solid form; “volatility” means the capability of a substance to vaporize or change to vapour form; “water” means surface water, ground water and storm water wherever located including natural and artificial drainage courses. (2) A word or phrase not specifically defined in these Regulations shall have the meaning assigned to it in the Act. 96 Environmental Protection