SACRAMENTO METROPOLITAN AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT DISTRICT

RULE 401 - RINGELMANN CHART
(Adopted 8-3-77; Amended 4-19-83)

INDEX

100 GENERAL

101 PURPOSE

102 EXEMPTIONS

200 DEFINITIONS (NOT INCLUDED)

300 STANDARDS

301 LIMITATIONS

400 ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS (NOT INCLUDED)

500 MONITORING AND RECORDS (NOT INCLUDED)

100 GENERAL

101 PURPOSE: To limit the discharge of air contaminants into the atmosphere through visible emissions and opacity.

102 EXEMPTIONS: The provisions of this rule shall not apply to:

102.1 Smoke from fires set or permitted by a public officer, if such fire is set by or permission given in the performance of the official duty of such officer and such fire, in the opinion of such officer, is necessary:

a. For the purpose of the prevention of a fire or health hazard which cannot be abated by any other means, or

b. For the instruction of public employees in the methods of fighting fires.

102.2 Smoke from fires set pursuant to permit on property used for industrial purposes for the purpose of instruction of employees in methods of fighting fires;

102.3 Agricultural operations in the growing of crops or raising of fowl or animals:

102.4 The use of an orchard or citrus grove heater which does not produce unconsumed solid carbonaceous matter at a rate in excess of (1) gram per minute;

102.5 The use of other equipment in agricultural operations necessary for the growing of crops or raising of fowl or animals;

102.6 Agricultural burning for which a permit has been granted pursuant to Regulation 5;

102.7 Use of any aircraft to distribute seed, fertilizer, insecticides, or other agricultural aides over lands devoted to the growing of crops or raising of fowl or animals;

102.8 Open outdoor fires used only for cooking of food for human beings or for recreational purposes;

102.9 Devices intended to create smoke for the purpose of training persons in the art of visual opacity determinations.

102.10Diesel pile driving hammers. (This exemption shall remain in effect until December 31, 1986 and as of that date shall be repealed.)

300 STANDARDS

301 LIMITATIONS: A person shall not discharge into the atmosphere from any single source of emission whatsoever any air contaminant, other than uncombined water vapor, for a period or periods aggregating more than three minutes in any one hour which is:

301.1 As dark or darker in shade as that designated No. 1 on the Ringelmann Chart, as published by the United States Bureau of Mines, or

301.2 Of such opacity as to obscure a human observer's view, or a certified calibrated in-stack opacity monitoring system to a degree equal to or greater than does smoke described in Subsection 301.1 of this rule.