Air Plan Revisions; California; Antelope Valley Air Quality Management District; New Source Review; Stationary Source Permits

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 52</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-R09-OAR-2025-0056; FRL-12601-01-R9]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Air Plan Revisions; California; Antelope Valley Air Quality Management District; New Source Review; 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 approval of six permitting rules, and limited approval and limited disapproval for one permitting rule, submitted on January 7, 2025, as a revision to the Antelope Valley Air Quality Management District (AVAQMD 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 part D of title I of the Clean Air Act (CAA or “Act”). The submitted rules address deficiencies identified in a previous limited disapproval action and incorporate other revisions related to NSR requirements. If finalized, this action will update the AVAQMD's current SIP with the revised rules. 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 stay or defer the imposition of CAA sanctions associated with our previous limited disapproval action. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Comments must be received on or before April 25, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-OAR-2025-0056, 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 disabilities 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> Shaheerah Kelly, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX (AIR-3-2), phone: (415) 947-4156, email: <E T="03">kelly.shaheerah@epa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> Throughout this document, “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 are in the current SIP?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. What rules did the State submit?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule revisions?</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. How are the previously identified rule deficiencies resolved?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. What are the new rule deficiencies?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. How were the EPA's recommendations to further improve the rules addressed?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. 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">Definitions</HD> For the purpose of this document, we are giving meaning to certain words or initials as follows: <EXTRACT> (i) The word or initials <E T="03">AVAQMD</E> or <E T="03">District</E> mean or refer to the Antelope Valley Air Quality Management District. (ii) The word or initials <E T="03">CAA</E> or <E T="03">Act</E> mean or refer to the Clean Air Act, unless the context indicates otherwise. (iii) The word or initials <E T="03">CARB</E> mean or refer to the California Air Resources Board. (iv) The initials <E T="03">CFR</E> mean or refer to Code of Federal Regulations. (v) The initials or words <E T="03">EPA, we,</E> <E T="03">us,</E> or <E T="03">our</E> mean or refer to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. (vi) The initials <E T="03">NA</E> mean or refer to nonattainment. (vii) The initials <E T="03">NAAQS</E> mean or refer to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. (viii) The initials <E T="03">NSR</E> mean or refer to New Source Review. (ix) The initials <E T="03">NNSR</E> mean or refer to nonattainment New Source Review. (x) The initials <E T="03">SIP</E> mean or refer to State Implementation Plan. (xi) The word <E T="03">State</E> means or refers to the State of California. (xii) The word <E T="03">TSD</E> means or refers to the Technical Support Document. </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. The State's Submittal</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. What rules are in the current SIP?</HD> Table 1 lists the rules in the current SIP with the dates they were adopted or amended by the AVAQMD, submitted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the governor's designee for California SIP submittals, and approved by the EPA. <GPOTABLE COLS="4" OPTS="L2,nj,i1" CDEF="s50,r50,10,xs104"> <TTITLE>Table 1—Current SIP Rules</TTITLE> <CHED H="1">District rule No.</CHED> <CHED H="1">Title/subject</CHED> <ENT>7/3/2023 (88 FR 42621).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">1301</ENT> <ENT>New Source Review Definitions</ENT> <ENT>7/20/2021</ENT> <ENT>7/3/2023 (88 FR 42621).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">1302 (except 1302(C)(5) and 1302(C)(7)(c))</ENT> <ENT>New Source Review Procedure</ENT> <ENT>7/20/2021</ENT> <ENT>7/3/2023 (88 FR 42621).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">1303</ENT> <ENT>New Source Review Requirements</ENT> <ENT>7/20/2021</ENT> <ENT>7/3/2023 (88 FR 42621).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">1304</ENT> <ENT>New Source Review Emissions Calculations</ENT> <ENT>7/20/2021</ENT> <ENT>7/3/2023 (88 FR 42621).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">1305</ENT> <ENT>New Source Review Emissions Offsets</ENT> <ENT>7/20/2021</ENT> <ENT>7/3/2023 (88 FR 42621).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">1306</ENT> <ENT>New Source Review for Electric Energy Generating Facilities</ENT> <ENT>7/20/2021</ENT> <ENT>7/3/2023 (88 FR 42621).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">1309</ENT> <ENT>Emission Reduction Credit Banking</ENT> <ENT>7/20/2021</ENT> <ENT>7/3/2023 (88 FR 42621).</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> <HD SOURCE="HD2">B. What rules did the State submit?</HD> CARB provided a submittal to the EPA on January 7, 2025 (hereafter referred to as the “2025 Submittal”), for revisions to the AVAQMD's NSR permitting program in the California SIP. CARB's 2025 Submittal provided the amended NSR permitting program rules listed in Table 2 that were adopted by the AVAQMD and submitted by CARB for inclusion in the SIP. If finalized as proposed, the submitted rules listed in Table 2 would replace the current EPA-approved SIP rules that are listed in Table 1. <GPOTABLE COLS="5" OPTS="L2,nj,i1" CDEF="s70,r65,xs80,13,10"> <TTITLE>Table 2—Submitted Rules</TTITLE> <CHED H="1">District rule No.</CHED> <CHED H="1">Title/subject</CHED> <ENT>State New Source Review Requirements</ENT> <ENT>Amended</ENT> <ENT>12/30/2024</ENT> <ENT>1/7/2025</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">1304</ENT> <ENT>State New Source Review Emissions Calculations</ENT> <ENT>Amended</ENT> <ENT>12/30/2024</ENT> <ENT>1/7/2025</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">1305</ENT> <ENT>State New Source Review Emissions Offsets</ENT> <ENT>Amended</ENT> <ENT>12/30/2024</ENT> <ENT>1/7/2025</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">1309</ENT> <ENT>Emission Reduction Credit Banking</ENT> <ENT>Amended</ENT> <ENT>12/30/2024</ENT> <ENT>1/7/2025</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">1314</ENT> <ENT>Federal Nonattainment New Source Review for Ozone Precursors</ENT> <ENT>Adopted (New Rule)</ENT> <ENT>12/30/2024</ENT> <ENT>1/7/2025</ENT> </ROW> <TNOTE> <SU>a</SU>  The submittal for Rules 1301, 1302, 1303, 1304, 1305, 1309, and 1314 was transmitted to the EPA via a letter from CARB dated January 6, 2025. </TNOTE> <TNOTE> <SU>b</SU>  Subsections 1302(C)(5)(d) and 1302(C)(7)(c)(iii) of Rule 1302 specifically state that subsections 1302(C)(5) and 1302(C)(7)(c) are not submitted to the EPA and are not intended to be included as part of the California SIP. </TNOTE> </GPOTABLE> Section 110(k)(1)(B) of the CAA requires the EPA to determine whether a SIP submission is complete within 60 days of receipt. The EPA's SIP completeness criteria are found in 40 CFR part 51, appendix V. Based on our review of the public process documentation for the AVAQMD's 2025 Submittal, we find that the District has provided sufficient evidence of public notice and opportunity for public comment an ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 31k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━