40 CFR Part 51, Subpart P - Protection of Visibility

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is promulgating a rule directing state and tribal air agencies (air agencies) to provide data to characterize current air quality in areas with large sources of sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) emissions to identify maximum 1-hour SO 2 concentrations in ambient air. The final rule establishes minimum criteria for identifying the emissions sources and associated areas for which air agencies are required to characterize SO 2 air quality. Air agencies remain free to also characterize air quality in additional areas beyond those required to be characterized under the rule. The final rule also sets forth a process and timetables by which air agencies must characterize air quality through ambient monitoring and/or air quality modeling techniques and submit such data to the EPA. The EPA has issued separate non-binding draft technical assistance documents recommending how air agencies should conduct such monitoring or modeling. The air quality data developed by air agencies pursuant to this rule may be used by the EPA in future actions to evaluate areas' air quality under the 2010 1-hour SO 2 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS), including area designations and redesignations, as appropriate.

Based on its review of the air quality criteria for ozone (O 3 ) and related photochemical oxidants and national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for O 3, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is revising the primary and secondary NAAQS for O 3 to provide requisite protection of public health and welfare, respectively. The EPA is revising the levels of both standards to 0.070 parts per million (ppm), and retaining their indicators (O 3 ), forms (fourth-highest daily maximum, averaged across three consecutive years) and averaging times (eight hours). The EPA is making corresponding revisions in data handling conventions for O 3 and changes to the Air Quality Index (AQI); revising regulations for the prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) program to add a transition provision for certain applications; and establishing exceptional events schedules and providing information related to implementing the revised standards. The EPA is also revising the O 3 monitoring seasons, the Federal Reference Method (FRM) for monitoring O 3 in the ambient air, Federal Equivalent Method (FEM) analyzer performance requirements, and the Photochemical Assessment Monitoring Stations (PAMS) network. Along with exceptional events schedules related to implementing the revised O 3 standards, the EPA is applying this same schedule approach to other future new or revised NAAQS and removing obsolete regulatory language for expired exceptional events deadlines. The EPA is making minor changes to the procedures and time periods for evaluating potential FRMs and equivalent methods, including making the requirements for nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) consistent with the requirements for O 3, and removing an obsolete requirement for the annual submission of Product Manufacturing Checklists by manufacturers of FRMs and FEMs for monitors of fine and coarse particulate matter. For a more detailed summary, see the Executive Summary below.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is extending the comment period for the proposed rule titled, “Revisions to Test Methods, Performance Specifications, and Testing Regulations for Air Emission Sources,” that was published in the Federal Register on September 8, 2015. The 60-day comment period in the proposed rule is scheduled to end on November 9, 2015. The extended comment period will close on December 9, 2015. The EPA recently added a technical justification to the docket for the revision in the proposed rule regarding Subpart JJJJ of Part 60 (Standards of Performance for Stationary Spark Ignition Internal Combustion Engines). We also added background information to support our reasoning for soliciting comment about Method 7E stratification. Therefore, the EPA is extending the comment period to allow the public additional time to submit comments and supporting information on these and other aspects of the proposed rule.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a public hearing for the proposed rule titled, “Revisions to Test Methods, Performance Specifications, and Testing Regulations for Air Emission Sources,” that was published in the Federal Register on September 8, 2015. The hearing will be held in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The EPA is proposing technical and editorial corrections and revisions to regulations related to source testing of emissions. The EPA is proposing to make corrections and updates to testing provisions that contain inaccuracies and outdated procedures, and to provide alternatives to existing testing regulations. The revisions will improve the quality of data and provide testers flexibility to use recently-approved alternative procedures. Many of the changes were suggested by testers and other end-users and will not impose new substantive requirements on source owners or operators.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to clarify the term “adjacent” in the definitions of: “building, structure, facility or installation” used to determine the “stationary source” for purposes of the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Nonattainment New Source Review (NNSR) programs and “major source” in the title V program as applied to the oil and natural gas sector. The EPA has previously issued guidance on how to assess “adjacency” for this industry, but the use of the guidance has been challenged, resulting in uncertainty for the regulated community and for permitting authorities. The EPA is proposing to clarify how properties in the oil and natural gas sector are determined to be adjacent in order to assist permitting authorities and permit applicants in making consistent source determinations for this sector. In this action, the EPA is proposing two options for determining whether two or more properties in the oil and natural gas sector are “adjacent” for purposes of defining the “stationary source” in the PSD and NNSR programs, and “major source” for the title V program (referred to collectively as “source”). The preferred option would define “adjacent” for the oil and natural gas sector in terms of proximity. The EPA is co-proposing and taking comment on an alternative option to define “adjacent” in terms of proximity or functional interrelatedness.

This action proposes technical and editorial corrections and revisions to regulations related to source testing of emissions. This proposed rule will make corrections and updates to testing provisions that contain inaccuracies and outdated procedures, and provide alternatives to existing testing regulations. These revisions will improve the quality of data and provide testers flexibility to use recently-approved alternative procedures. Many of these changes were suggested by testers and other end-users, and they will not impose new substantive requirements on source owners or operators.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing three public hearings to be held for three proposed rules titled, “Source Determination for Certain Emission Units in the Oil and Natural Gas Sector,” “Oil and Natural Gas Sector: Emission Standards for New and Modified Sources,” and “Review of New Sources and Modifications in Indian Country: Federal Implementation Plan for Managing Air Emissions from True Minor Sources Engaged in Oil and Natural Gas Production in Indian Country.” Two hearings will be held on September 23, 2015, simultaneously—one in Denver, CO, and one in Dallas, TX. One hearing will be on September 29, 2015, in Pittsburgh, PA.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is promulgating a rule directing state and tribal air agencies (air agencies) to provide data to characterize current air quality in areas with large sources of sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) emissions to identify maximum 1-hour SO 2 concentrations in ambient air. The final rule establishes minimum criteria for identifying the emissions sources and associated areas for which air agencies are required to characterize SO 2 air quality. Air agencies remain free to also characterize air quality in additional areas beyond those required to be characterized under the rule. The final rule also sets forth a process and timetables by which air agencies must characterize air quality through ambient monitoring and/or air quality modeling techniques and submit such data to the EPA. The EPA has issued separate non-binding draft technical assistance documents recommending how air agencies should conduct such monitoring or modeling. The air quality data developed by air agencies pursuant to this rule may be used by the EPA in future actions to evaluate areas' air quality under the 2010 1-hour SO 2 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS), including area designations and redesignations, as appropriate.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is amending its Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and title V regulations to remove from the Code of Federal Regulations portions of those regulations that were initially promulgated in 2010 and that the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) specifically identified as vacated in the April 10, 2015, amended judgment, Coalition for Responsible Regulation v. EPA. This action is exempt from notice-and-comment rulemaking because it is ministerial in nature.