Rule2025-08087
Air Quality Plans; California; Tehama County Air Pollution Control District; New Source Review
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
May 8, 2025
Effective
June 9, 2025
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to approve a revision to the Tehama County Air Pollution Control District's (TCAPCD or "District") portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). This revision governs the District's issuance of permits for stationary sources and focuses on the preconstruction review and permitting of major sources and major modifications under part D of title I of the Clean Air Act (CAA or "the Act").
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 88 (Thursday, May 8, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 88 (Thursday, May 8, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 19426-19428]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-08087]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R09-OAR-2022-0526; FRL-10286-02-R9]
Air Quality Plans; California; Tehama County Air Pollution
Control District; New Source Review
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final
action to approve a revision to the Tehama
[[Page 19427]]
County Air Pollution Control District's (TCAPCD or ``District'')
portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). This
revision governs the District's issuance of permits for stationary
sources and focuses on the preconstruction review and permitting of
major sources and major modifications under part D of title I of the
Clean Air Act (CAA or ``the Act'').
DATES: This rule is effective June 9, 2025.
ADDRESSES: The EPA has established a docket for this action under
Docket ID No. EPA-R09-OAR-2022-0526. All documents in the docket are
listed on the <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> website. Although listed in
the index, some information is not publicly available, e.g.,
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information the
disclosure of which is restricted by statute. Certain other material,
such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the internet and will be
publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly available docket
materials are available through <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, or please
contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
section for additional availability information. If you need assistance
in a language other than English or if you are a person with a
disability who needs a reasonable accommodation at no cost to you,
please contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Manny Aquitania, EPA Region IX, 75
Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105; phone: (415) 972-3977; email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0b6a7a7e627f6a65626a25666a6565724b6e7b6a256c647d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="204151554954414e49410e4d414e4e59604550410e474f56">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we'' and ``our''
refer to the EPA.
Table of Contents
I. Proposed Action
II. Public Comments and EPA Responses
III. EPA Action
IV. Incorporation by Reference
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Proposed Action
On March 26, 2024 (89 FR 20915), the EPA proposed to approve the
rule listed in Table 1 into the California SIP.
Table 1 Submitted Rule
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Rule or regulation
District # Rule title Adopted Submitted \1\
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Tehama County APCD............... Rule 2:3C.......... New and Modified Major 02/28/23 05/11/23
Sources in the Tuscan
Buttes Nonattainment
Areas.
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For areas designated nonattainment for one or more of the National
Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), the applicable SIP must include
preconstruction review and permitting requirements for new or modified
major stationary sources of such nonattainment pollutant(s) under part
D of title I of the Act, commonly referred to as Nonattainment New
Source Review (NNSR). The rule listed in Table 1 contains the TCAPCD's
NNSR permit program applicable to new and modified major sources
located in the area within the District that is designated
nonattainment for the NAAQS.
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\1\ The submittal was transmitted to the EPA via a letter from
the California Air Resources Board (CARB or ``the State'') dated May
10, 2023. On December 5, 2023, CARB submitted a corrected version of
Rule 2:3C, as the copy of the clean version of the rule that had
been included in the May 11, 2023 SIP submittal did not include its
adoption date and also contained an additional formatting error, and
thus did not reflect the final rule that had been adopted on
February 28, 2023.
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We proposed to approve this rule because we determined that it
complies with the relevant CAA requirements. Rule 2:3C is intended to
address the CAA's statutory and regulatory requirements for NNSR permit
programs for major sources emitting nonattainment air pollutants and
their precursors. Our proposed action contains more information on the
rule and our evaluation.
II. Public Comments and EPA Responses
The 30-day public comment period for the proposed rule closed on
April 25, 2024. During this period, the EPA received two comments. The
first commenter expressed concerns about the environmental effects of
cannabis cultivation, asserting that commercial cannabis cultivation
can produce volatile organic compounds which may lead to ozone
pollution and that cannabis is a water-hungry crop. The second
commenter questioned why the budget does not provide for ozone
monitoring that is more representative of the jurisdiction, noting the
high elevation location of the monitor at the Tuscan Buttes, over 1,800
feet above mean sea level, with meteorological conditions likely
different than in the main part of Tehama County.
After reviewing each comment, the EPA has determined that these
comments fail to raise issues germane to the EPA's proposed approval of
Rule 2:3C into the California SIP, which is based specifically upon the
Clean Air Act's requirements for state NNSR programs. Therefore, we
have determined that these comments do not necessitate a response, and
the EPA will not provide specific responses to the comments in this
notice.
III. EPA Action
No comments were submitted that change our assessment of Rule 2:3C
as described in our proposed action. We continue to find that Rule 2:3C
satisfies the relevant requirements for a CAA NNSR program for
ozone,\2\ as well as the associated visibility requirements for sources
subject to review under such a program in accordance with 40 CFR
51.307. Therefore, as authorized in section 110(k)(3) of the Act, the
EPA is approving this rule into the California SIP.
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\2\ As discussed in our proposed action, we determined that Rule
2:3C satisfies the NNSR program requirements applicable to
nonattainment areas classified as Marginal for ozone, and that the
submittal addressed the NNSR requirements both the 2008 and 2015
ozone NAAQS. 89 FR 20916-17.
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This action incorporates the submitted rule into the California
SIP. In conjunction with the EPA's SIP approval of the District's
visibility program for sources subject to the NNSR program, this action
also revises the scope of the visibility Federal Implementation Plan
(FIP) at 40 CFR 52.281 for California so that this FIP no longer
applies to sources located in the TCAPCD nonattainment area that is
subject to the District's visibility program.
IV. Incorporation by Reference
In this rule, the EPA is finalizing regulatory text that includes
incorporation by reference. In accordance with requirements of 1 CFR
51.5, the EPA is incorporating by reference Rule 2:3C, ``New and
Modified Major Sources in the Tuscan Buttes Nonattainment Areas,''
adopted on February 28, 2023, as described in Section I of this
preamble, which
[[Page 19428]]
regulates the District's issuance of preconstruction permits for major
sources emitting nonattainment air pollutants and their precursors
under part D of title I of the CAA. The EPA has made, and will continue
to make, these materials available <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> and at
the EPA Region IX Office (please contact the person identified in the
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this preamble for more
information).
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
Under the Clean Air Act, the Administrator is required to approve a
SIP submission that complies with the provisions of the Act and
applicable federal regulations. 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a).
Thus, in reviewing SIP submissions, the EPA's role is to approve state
choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the Clean Air Act.
Accordingly, this action merely approves state law as meeting federal
requirements and does not impose additional requirements beyond those
imposed by state law. For that reason, this action:
<bullet> Is not a significant regulatory action subject to review
by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Order 12866 (58
FR 51735, October 4, 1993);
<bullet> Is not subject to Executive Order 14192 (90 FR 9065,
February 6, 2025) because SIP actions are exempt from review under
Executive Order 12866;
<bullet> Does not impose an information collection burden under the
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
<bullet> Is certified as not having a significant economic impact
on a substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
<bullet> Does not contain any unfunded mandate or significantly or
uniquely affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded
Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4);
<bullet> Does not have federalism implications as specified in
Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
<bullet> Is not subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 19885,
April 23, 1997) because it approves a state program;
<bullet> Is not a significant regulatory action subject to
Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001); and
<bullet> Is not subject to requirements of Section 12(d) of the
National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272
note) because application of those requirements would be inconsistent
with the Clean Air Act.
In addition, the SIP is not approved to apply on any Indian
reservation land or in any other area where the EPA or an Indian Tribe
has demonstrated that a Tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of
Indian country, the rule does not have Tribal implications and will not
impose substantial direct costs on Tribal governments or preempt Tribal
law as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9,
2000).
This action is subject to the Congressional Review Act, and the EPA
will submit a rule report to each House of the Congress and to the
Comptroller General of the United States. This action is not a ``major
rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).
Under section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act, petitions for
judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court
of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by July 7, 2025. Filing a
petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule
does not affect the finality of this action for the purposes of
judicial review, nor does it extend the time within which a petition
for judicial review may be filed, and shall not postpone the
effectiveness of such rule or action. This action may not be challenged
later in proceedings to enforce its requirements. (See section
307(b)(2).)
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen oxides, Ozone,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.
Dated: April 25, 2025.
Joshua F.W. Cook,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Environmental
Protection Agency amends part 52, chapter I, title 40 of the Code of
Federal Regulations as follows:
PART 52--APPROVAL AND PROMULGATION OF IMPLEMENTATION PLANS
0
1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Subpart F--California
0
2. Section 52.220 is amended by adding paragraph (c)(610)(i)(F) to read
as follows:
Sec. 52.220 Identification of plan--in part.
* * * * *
(c) * * *
(610) * * *
(i) * * *
(F) Tehama County Air Pollution Control District.
(1) Rule 2:3C, ``New and Modified Major Sources in the Tuscan
Buttes Nonattainment Areas,'' adopted on February 28, 2023.
(2) [Reserved]
* * * * *
0
3. Section 52.281 is amended by adding paragraph (d)(16) to read as
follows:
Sec. 52.281 Visibility protection.
* * * * *
(d) * * *
(16) Tehama County Air Pollution Control District.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2025-08087 Filed 5-7-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on May 8, 2025.
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