Air Plan Revisions; California Air Plan Revisions; San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District; Stationary Source Permits

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 52</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-R09-OAR-2024-0627; FRL-12536-01-R9]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Air Plan Revisions; California Air Plan Revisions; San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District; Stationary Source Permits</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Proposed rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing action on three permitting rules submitted as a revision to the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District (SJVUAPCD or “District”) portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern the District's New Source Review (NSR) permitting program for new and modified sources of air pollution under section 110(a)(2)(C) and part D of title I of the Clean Air Act (CAA or “Act”). This action will update the California SIP with rules that the District has revised to address deficiencies identified in a previous limited disapproval action and to incorporate other revisions related to NSR requirements. We are taking comments on this proposal and plan to follow with a final action. Elsewhere in this <E T="04">Federal Register</E> , we are making an interim final determination that will defer the imposition of CAA sanctions associated with our previous limited disapproval action. This action also proposes to revise regulatory text to clarify that the SJVUAPCD is not subject to the federal implementation plan related to protection of visibility. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> WComments must be received on or before February 20, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-OAR-2024-0627 at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> For comments submitted at <E T="03">Regulations.gov,</E> follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from <E T="03">Regulations.gov.</E> The EPA may publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA will generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of the primary submission ( <E T="03">i.e.,</E> on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional submission methods, please contact the person identified in the <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> section. For the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit <E T="03">https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.</E> If you need assistance in a language other than English or if you are a person with a disability who needs a reasonable accommodation at no cost to you, please contact the person identified in the <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> section. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Doris Lo, EPA Region IX, 75 Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105. By phone: (415) 972-3959, or by email at <E T="03">lo.doris@epa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> Throughout this document, the terms “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to the EPA. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. The State's Submittal</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. What rules did the State submit?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Are there other versions of these rules?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. What is the purpose of the submitted rules?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. How is the EPA evaluating the rules?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. What are the rule deficiencies?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. EPA Recommendations To Further Improve the Rules.</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Proposed Action and Public Comment.</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Incorporation by Reference</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. The State's Submittal</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. What rules did the State submit?</HD> Table 1 lists the rules addressed by this proposal including the date they were adopted by the District and submitted to the EPA by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which is the governor's designee for California SIP submittals. <GPOTABLE COLS="4" OPTS="L2,i1" CDEF="s10,r100,10,10"> <TTITLE>Table 1—Submitted Rules</TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Rule No.</CHED> <CHED H="1">Rule title</CHED> <CHED H="1">Adopted</CHED> <CHED H="1">Submitted</CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">1020</ENT> <ENT>Definitions</ENT> <ENT>4/20/23</ENT> <ENT>10/13/23</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">2020</ENT> <ENT>Exemptions</ENT> <ENT>12/18/14</ENT> <ENT>10/13/23</ENT> <ENT>New and Modified Stationary Source Review Rule</ENT> <ENT>4/20/23</ENT> <ENT>10/13/23</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> On April 13, 2024, the submittal of each rule became complete by operation of law. <HD SOURCE="HD2">B. Are there other versions of these rules?</HD> The SIP-approved versions of the submitted rules are identified below in Table 2. <GPOTABLE COLS="4" OPTS="L2,i1" CDEF="s10,r100,10,r50"> <TTITLE>Table 2—SIP-Approved Rules</TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Rule No.</CHED> <CHED H="1">Rule title</CHED> <ENT>79 FR 59433.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">2020</ENT> <ENT>Exemptions</ENT> <ENT>9/17/14</ENT> <ENT>79 FR 55637.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">2201</ENT> <ENT>New and Modified Stationary Source Review Rule</ENT> <ENT>7/10/23</ENT> <ENT>88 FR 43434.</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> If the EPA finalizes the action proposed herein, these rules will be replaced in the SIP by the submitted set of rules listed in Table 1. Additionally, as described below, the EPA's final approval of these rules will resolve our previous limited disapproval of Rule 2201. <HD SOURCE="HD2">C. What is the purpose of the submitted rules?</HD> The submitted rules constitute part of the District's program for preconstruction review and permitting of new or modified stationary sources under its jurisdiction. The rule revisions that are the subject of this action update the District's preconstruction review and permitting program and are intended to satisfy the NSR program requirements under part D of title I of the Act (“nonattainment NSR” or “NNSR”), the general preconstruction review requirements under section 110(a)(2)(C) of the Act (“minor NSR”), and related EPA regulations. The submitted rules are also intended to resolve deficiencies identified in our July 10, 2023 final action (“2023 NSR Action”), <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> which included a limited disapproval of a prior version of Rule 2201. The rules also include other assorted revisions, including new and revised definitions and applicability and compliance provisions. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  87 FR 45730. </FTNT> The San Joaquin Valley is currently designated attainment for the nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter equal to or less than 10 micrometers (PM <E T="52">10</E> ), sulfur dioxide (SO <E T="52">2</E> ), and lead National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The San Joaquin Valley is currently designated “Extreme” nonattainment for the 1997, 2008, and 2015 ozone NAAQS and “Serious” nonattainment for the 1997, 2006, and 2012 particulate matter equal to or less than 2.5 micrometers (PM <E T="52">2.5</E> ) NAAQS. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> Therefore, the District is required to adopt and implement a SIP-approved NNSR permitting program that applies to new or modified major stationary sources of ozone precursors, PM <E T="52">2.5</E> , and PM <E T="52">2.5</E> precursors within the San Joaquin Valley. <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  See 40 CFR 81.305 (describing geographic extent of San Joaquin Valley nonattainment area for each NAAQS). </FTNT> The SIP submittal evaluated in this action includes revisions to Rule 1020, “Definitions,” Rule 2020, “Exemptions,” and Rule 2201, “New and Modified Stationary Source Review Rule.” Rule 1020 provides definitions for certain key terms used throughout the District's regulations. Rule 2020 specifies types of emissions units that are not required to obtain an Authority to Construct (ATC) or Permit to Operate (PTO). The rule also specifies the recordkeeping requirements to verify a permit exemption and outlines the compliance schedule for existing emissions units that lose their permit exemption. Rule 2201 is intended to satisfy the requirements of the NNSR program under part D of title I of the CAA that are applicable in ozone and PM <E T="52">2.5</E> nonattainment areas and the general NSR program permit requirements. The EPA's technical support document (TSD) for this action, which is included in the docket for our proposed rulemaking, has more information about the purposes of the submitted rules and the District's revisions. <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. How is the EPA evaluating the rules?</HD> The EPA has evaluated the submitted rules to determine whether they address the deficiencies identified in our 2023 NSR Action. We have also evaluated all additional rule revisions for compliance with CAA sections 172(c)(5), 173, 182(e), and 189(b), which establish the requirements for stationary source preconstruction permitting programs, including those specifically applicable for an Extreme ozone nonattainment area and Serious PM < ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 27k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━