(a) No person shall cause or allow to be emitted into the open air any foreign materials such as dust, gases, fumes, mists, vapors, smokes and odors in quantities which, by reason of their objectionable properties, shall be considered a nuisance because they:
(1) Injure or have a harmful effect upon the health or safety of any person or the public;
(2) Create a disagreeable odor in the atmosphere;
(3) Cause damage to property;
(4) Have a deleterious effect upon trees, plants or other forms of vegetation.
(b) No person shall operate or cause to be operated, maintain or cause to be maintained, any equipment or device which, by its operation, will cause the emission of dusts, gases, fumes, mists, vapors, smokes and odors without maintaining and operating efficiently corrective measures while using such equipment or device. “Corrective measures” means a method, device or contrivance to reduce the quantity of dusts, gases, fumes, mists, vapors, smokes and odors emitted into the open air, and which is operated in conjunction with such equipment or device so that the quantity of dusts, gases, fumes, mists, vapors, smokes and odors emitted into the open air shall not violate the above provisions. Application of the provisions of this subsection to specific cases shall take into account the number of boilers and other fuel-burning devices connected to a given stack or chimney, because the emission from a given stack or chimney is a function of the number of units connected to it.
(c) No person shall cause or allow to be discharged from any fuel-burning equipment, internal combustion engine, premises or open fire, smoke the shade or density of which is equal to No. 2 of the Ringelmann Chart for a period aggregating four minutes or more in any thirty minutes, or smoke the shade or density of which is equal to No. 2 but not greater than No. 3 of the Ringelmann Chart except for a period or periods aggregating three minutes in any fifteen minutes when building a new fire, cleaning a fire or when breakdown of equipment occurs such as to make it evident that the emission was reasonably preventable.
(d) For the purpose of grading the shade or density of smoke, the Ringelmann Chart as now published and used by the U.S. Bureau of Mines, which is hereby made a part of this chapter by reference, shall be the standard.
(e) No person shall cause or allow to be discharged from any fuel-burning equipment or premises or pass any convenient measuring point in the stack, dust in the gases to exceed 0.85 of a pound per 1,000 pounds of gases, adjusted to twelve percent CO2 content or the amount of solids in the Apparatus of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, revised and amended to date, which is hereby made a part of this chapter by reference.
(f) All new installations of pulverized fuel-burning equipment, spreader stokers or any similar suspension-burning types shall be provided with dust-separating equipment as approved by the Commissioner of Air and Water Pollution Control.
(g) No person shall cause or allow to be discharged from any fuel-burning equipment, internal combustion engine, railroad locomotive, vehicle, premises, open fire or stack, fumes that are a detriment to the property of others or that are a nuisance to any person not being therein or thereupon engaged.
(h) All newly constructed or reconstructed solid or liquid fuel-burning plants having more than 500 square feet of boiler-heating surface (fifty H.P.), or its equivalent, shall be equipped with smoke indicators, mirrors or similar devices, approved by the Commissioner to enable the firemen to observe the top of his stack or stacks from the boiler room at all times unless the top of the stack is readily visible to the fireman from the boiler room without the use of such devices. In plants where a fireman is not in constant attendance in the boiler room, the smoke indicator shall be of a type which will sound an alarm or flash a signal to attract the attention of the fireman. Any existing plant which emits unlawful smoke may be required to install such indicating devices.
(i) After any person or the owner of any premises has been previously notified of three or more violations of this section within any consecutive twelve month period, in respect to the emission of smoke, dust, gases or fumes, the person or the owner of such premises shall be notified to show cause before the Commissioner on a day certain, not less than ten days from the date of notice, why the equipment causing such violations should not be sealed. The notice herein provided for may be given by mail directed to the last known address of the person to be notified, or if the person or his whereabouts is unknown, then by posting a notice on or near the premises at which violations have occurred. Upon this date the person may appear and be heard. Upon such hearing, if the Commissioner finds that adequate corrective means and methods have not been employed to correct the cause of such conditions, then he shall seal the equipment until such time as the written approval of the Commissioner, as provided for in this chapter, has been applied for and issued for the equipment.
(j) No person shall violate the seal of any equipment that has been sealed at the direction of the Commissioner unless authorized by him in writing to do so.
(k) Each day's violation of this section shall constitute a separate offense.
(Ord. 574. Passed 6-22-64.)