Environmental Protection Agency July 21, 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is removing the ``emergency'' affirmative defense provisions from the EPA's title V operating permit program regulations. These provisions established an affirmative defense that sources could have asserted in enforcement cases brought for noncompliance with technology-based emission limitations in operating permits, provided that the exceedances occurred due to qualifying emergency circumstances. These provisions, which have never been required elements of state operating permit programs, are being removed because they are inconsistent with the EPA's interpretation of the enforcement structure of the Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act) in light of prior court decisions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The removal of these provisions is also consistent with other recent EPA actions involving affirmative defenses and would harmonize the EPA's treatment of affirmative defenses across different CAA programs. Through this document, the EPA is also providing guidance on the implementation process resulting from the removal of the emergency affirmative defense provisions from the EPA's regulations, including the need for some state, local, and tribal permitting authorities to submit program revisions to the EPA to remove similar title V affirmative defense provisions from their EPA-approved title V programs, and to remove similar provisions from individual operating permits.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to determine that the West Pinal County, Arizona nonattainment area (``West Pinal County'' or ``area'') did not attain the 1987 24- hour national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS or ``standards'') for particulate matter with a diameter of 10 micrometers or smaller (PM10) by its December 31, 2022 ``Serious'' area attainment date. This action is based on the EPA's calculation of the PM10 design value for the nonattainment area over the 2020- 2022 period, using complete, quality-assured, and certified PM10 monitoring data. With this final determination that West Pinal County has failed to attain the PM10 NAAQS by its attainment date, the State of Arizona is required to submit a revision to the Arizona state implementation plan (SIP) that, among other elements, provides for expeditious attainment of the PM10 standards and for a five percent annual reduction in the emissions of direct PM10 or a PM10 plan precursor pollutant in the nonattainment area.