Environmental Protection Agency November 13, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On December 31, 2002, we (the EPA) issued our final New Source Review (NSR) Improvement Rule which, among other things, requires all sources to include ``fugitive emissions'' in assessing whether a proposed physical or operational change qualifies as a ``major modification'' that is subject to review under major NSR. On July 11, 2003, we received a petition for reconsideration on behalf of Newmont USA Limited, dba Newmont Mining Corporation (``Newmont'') arguing that the December 31, 2002 final rule failed to comply with the Clean Air Act (Act) requirement that EPA conduct a rulemaking to list source categories for which fugitive emissions must be included in computing a source's emissions to determine whether it is a ``major stationary source.'' In January 2004, we agreed to reconsider this issue. In this action, we are proposing to revise the provisions of the December 2002 final rules related to the treatment of fugitive emissions for purposes of determining whether a physical or operational change at an existing major source qualifies as a major modification. We request public comment on the proposed revisions. In this action, we are also providing guidelines for determining when and how emissions are to be considered fugitive for NSR and Title V permitting.