Environmental Protection Agency November 6, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On March 2, 2009, the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) submitted a petition for reconsideration (the NRDC Petition) of the rule ``Prevention of Significant Deterioration, Nonattainment New Source Review and Title V: Treatment of Certain Ethanol Production Facilities Under the `Major Emitting Facility' Definition'' (the Ethanol Rule), published in the Federal Register on May 1, 2007. The Ethanol Rule reinterpreted the component term ``chemical process plants'' within the statutory definition of ``major emitting facility'' and regulatory definitions of ``major stationary source'' under the Prevention of Significant Deterioration and Nonattainment New Source Review programs and ``major source'' under title V, to exclude all facilities that produce ethanol through a natural fermentation process. In response to the NRDC Petition, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants the request for reconsideration with regard to NRDC's claim that the Ethanol Rule did not appropriately address the Clean Air Act (CAA) anti-backsliding requirements for nonattainment areas in the Ethanol Rule. Therefore, the EPA is convening a proceeding for reconsideration as provided for under the CAA. In the near future, the EPA will publish a document in the Federal Register establishing a comment period and opportunity for a hearing for this proceeding. With regards to the other three claims raised in the NRDC Petition, the EPA denies the request for reconsideration. For these claims, NRDC has failed to establish that they meet the criteria for reconsideration under the CAA.