(a) Any person who owns or is in control of any plant, building, structure, process or equipment may apply to the commissioner for a permit granting an exemption or partial exemption from regulations issued pursuant to this chapter governing the quality, nature, duration or extent of discharges of air pollutants. The application shall be accompanied by, or the applicant shall furnish, such information and data as the commissioner may require. The commissioner may grant such permit if he finds that the discharges occurring or proposed to occur do not constitute a danger to public health or safety, and compliance with the regulations from which exemption is sought would produce substantial practical difficulty or hardship without equal or greater benefits to the public.

(b) No permit shall be granted pursuant to this section (1) except after a public hearing held by the commissioner, (2) until the commissioner has considered the relative interests of the applicant, owners of other property likely to be affected by the discharges, and the general public, as specified in section 22a-176, and (3) unless the commissioner has determined whether the source, either alone or in combination with another source, if granted such permit, endangers public health, safety or welfare or the environment.

(c) The exemption or partial exemption granted by any permit pursuant to this section shall be limited in duration to no more than five years. The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection may, upon further application pursuant to this section, grant further exemption or partial exemption from the regulations adopted under this chapter for additional periods of not more than five years' duration.

(d) For any application for a permit under this chapter pending before the commissioner on June 1, 1998, for which the commissioner has not published notice of his tentative determination on the application, if the commissioner determines that compliance by an applicant with the requirements of section 22a-6l is necessary to more adequately apprise the public or abutting landowners of the proposed activity, the commissioner may require compliance with such section.

(1967, P.A. 754, S. 14; 1969, P.A. 758, S. 11; 1971, P.A. 872, S. 27; P.A. 98-216, S. 3, 5; P.A. 11-80, S. 1.)

History: 1969 act substituted Sec. 19-510 for repealed Sec. 19-509 in Subsec. (b); 1971 act replaced “commission”, i.e. clean air commission, with “commissioner”, i.e. commissioner of environmental protection; Sec. 19-519 transferred to Sec. 22a-183 in 1983; P.A. 98-216 added “substantial” in Subsec. (a), divided Subsec. (b) into Subdivs. and added new Subdiv. (3) re consideration of public health, safety or welfare or the environment, amended Subsec. (c) by limiting exemption to no more than five years and authorizing the commissioner to grant further exemption, and added new Subdiv. (d) re pending applications, effective June 1, 1998; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Commissioner of Environmental Protection” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection” in Subsec. (c), effective July 1, 2011.

See Sec. 22a-174d re planting of trees or turf grass as condition of permit.