Proposed Rule2025-15986
Air Plan Approval; GA; Removal of Emissions Statements Requirement and Updates To Permit by Rule
Primary source
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Published
August 21, 2025
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Georgia, through the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA EPD), on June 27, 2024, seeking to revise a source monitoring and reporting regulation by, among other things, removing the requirement for emissions statements in counties formerly designated as nonattainment for ozone and to revise the permit by rule regulation. EPA is proposing to approve these revisions pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act).
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 160 (Thursday, August 21, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 160 (Thursday, August 21, 2025)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 40795-40797]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-15986]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R04-OAR-2025-0045; FRL-12937-01-R4]
Air Plan Approval; GA; Removal of Emissions Statements
Requirement and Updates To Permit by Rule
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to
approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the
State of Georgia, through the Georgia Environmental Protection Division
(GA EPD), on June 27, 2024, seeking to revise a source monitoring and
reporting regulation by, among other things, removing the requirement
for emissions statements in counties formerly designated as
nonattainment for ozone and to revise the permit by rule regulation.
EPA is proposing to approve these revisions pursuant to the Clean Air
Act (CAA or Act).
DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 11, 2025.
[[Page 40796]]
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R04-
OAR-2025-0045 at <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a>. Follow the online instructions for
submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or
removed from Regulations.gov. EPA may publish any comment received to
its public docket. Do not submit electronically any information you
consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia
submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written
comment. The written comment is considered the official comment and
should include discussion of all points you wish to make. EPA will
generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of
the primary submission (i.e., on the web, cloud, or other file sharing
system). For additional submission methods, the full EPA public comment
policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general
guidance on making effective comments, please visit <a href="https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets">https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Weston Freund, Air Regulatory
Management Section, Air Planning and Implementation Branch, Air and
Radiation Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61
Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. The telephone number is
(404) 562-8773. Mr. Freund can also be reached via electronic mail at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f89e8a9d8d969cd68f9d8b8c9796b89d8899d69f978e"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="01677364746f652f766472756e6f416471602f666e77">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
EPA is proposing to approve changes to the Georgia SIP submitted by
the State on June 27, 2024, to revise a source monitoring and reporting
regulation and the permit by rule regulation.\1\ Specifically, the
changes address Rules 391-3-1-.02(6), Source Monitoring, and 391-3-
1-.03(11)(b)7, Coating and/or Gluing Operations.\2\
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\1\ On July 9, 2025, EPA received a letter from GA EPD
clarifying that the changes to 391-3-1-.03(11)(b)7.(i). do not
include the language, ``or enforceable as a practical matter
limiting the source to below Part 70 or Part 63 major source
thresholds.'' This phrase was originally submitted to EPA on
December 15, 2011, and was subsequently included in a partial
withdrawal letter dated January 8, 2019.
\2\ The June 27, 2024, submittal also contains changes to Rules
391-3-1-.02(1), General Requirement; 391-3-1-.02(2)(nnn), NOX
Emissions from Large Stationary Gas Turbines; 391-3-1-.03(1),
Construction (SIP) Permit; 391-3-1-.03(6)(j), Construction Permit
Exemption for Pollution Control Projects; 391-3-1-.03(8), Permit
Requirements; and 391-3-1-.03(13), Emission Reduction Credits. EPA
will address these changes in a separate rulemaking.
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Effective August 3, 2018, EPA designated seven counties in and
around metropolitan Atlanta as nonattainment and classified them as a
``marginal'' nonattainment area for the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS
(hereinafter referred to as the Atlanta 2015 8-hour Ozone Area).\3\ See
83 FR 25776 (June 4, 2018). In 2022, EPA redesignated the Atlanta 2015
8-hour Ozone Area to attainment for the 2015 8-hour ozone standard. See
87 FR 62733 (October 17, 2022).
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\3\ The Atlanta 2015 8-hour Ozone Area consists of the following
counties: Bartow, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, and
Henry. The 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS is set at 0.070 ppm based on an
annual fourth-highest daily maximum 8-hour average concentration
averaged over three years.
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Prior to the redesignation to attainment for the 2015 ozone NAAQS,
Georgia was required to submit SIP revisions to include certain ozone
nonattainment provisions within its SIP, including nonattainment new
source review (NNSR) and emissions statements provisions. See generally
CAA section 172(c)(5) (addressing NNSR); CAA section 173 (same); 40 CFR
51.1314 (addressing NNSR for 2015 ozone NAAQS nonattainment areas); CAA
section 182(a)(3)(b) (addressing emissions statements). In 2022, EPA
approved Georgia's SIP revisions addressing NNSR and emissions
statements requirements for the 2015 ozone NAAQS for the Atlanta 2015
8-hour Ozone Area. See 87 FR 3677 (January 25, 2022), 87 FR 13179
(March 9, 2022). No nonattainment areas now exist for any criteria
pollutant in Georgia. See 40 CFR 81.311.
As a result of the redesignation of the Atlanta 2015 8-hour Ozone
Area to attainment for the 2015 8-hour ozone standard, Georgia's SIP is
not required to contain emissions statements requirements for this
standard within this geographic area. Georgia's June 27, 2024,
revision, as discussed in more detail below, would therefore remove the
emissions statements rules from Georgia's SIP as obsolete. The revision
also seeks to make minor changes to the portion of the permit by rule
regulation for coating and/or gluing operations that applies in certain
counties formerly designated as nonattainment for ozone. Georgia's
submittal includes a demonstration, pursuant to CAA section 110(l),
that the revision would not interfere with any applicable requirement
concerning attainment of the NAAQS and reasonable further progress
(RFP) or any other applicable requirement of the CAA. EPA's analysis of
Georgia's June 27, 2024, SIP revision and the Agency's rationale for
proposing to approve these changes are provided below.
II. EPA's Analysis of the State's Submittal
A. Subparagraph 391-3-1-.02(6)(a), Specific Monitoring and Reporting
Requirements for Particular Sources
CAA section 182(a)(3)(B) requires states with an ozone
nonattainment area to submit a SIP revision requiring stationary
sources in the nonattainment area emitting volatile organic compounds
(VOCs) or oxides of nitrogen (NOX) to provide certified annual
emissions statements to the state showing actual VOC and NOX emissions
from the source, with an exemption for stationary sources that emit
less than 25 tons per year of VOCs or NOX provided that the SIP
revision meets certain requirements. On March 9, 2022, EPA approved
Georgia's SIP revision addressing the emissions statements requirement
for the 2015 ozone NAAQS for the Atlanta Area. See 87 FR 13179. That
requirement exists in the SIP at Rule 391-3-1-.02(6)(a)4., ``Emission
Statements.'' The June 27, 2024, revision requests the removal of Rule
391-3-1-.02(6)(a)4. from the Georgia SIP. Additionally, the submission
replaces ``section'' and ``paragraph'' with ``paragraph'' and
``subparagraph,'' respectively, throughout Rule 391-3-1-.02(6)(a).
Section 110(l) of the CAA prevents EPA from approving a SIP
revision that would interfere with any applicable requirement
concerning attainment and RFP, or any other applicable CAA requirement.
EPA proposes to approve the revisions to Rule 391-3-1-.02(6)(a)
described above because they will not interfere with any CAA
requirement. Georgia has no areas designated by EPA as in nonattainment
of the NAAQS, and therefore, the CAA emissions statements requirements
for nonattainment areas are not applicable at this time. Furthermore,
the revisions will not interfere with attainment of the NAAQS or RFP.
B. Subparagraph 391-3-1-.03(11)(b)7., Coating and/or Gluing Operations
Rule 391-3-1-.03(11), Permit by Rule, sets forth conditions for
permits by rule. Subparagraph (b)7., Coating and/or Gluing Operations,
is a permit by rule regulation with specific conditions for coating
and/or gluing operations, including more stringent conditions for
sources located in the 13 counties previously designated as
nonattainment
[[Page 40797]]
for the 1979 1-hour ozone NAAQS.\4\ Specifically, as approved into the
SIP, coating and/or gluing operations in Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb,
Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry,
Paulding, and Rockdale Counties must utilize coatings with less than 5
tons of any individual hazardous air pollution (HAP), less than 12.5
tons of collective HAPs, and less than 25 tons of VOCs in any rolling
12-month period. Sources seeking coverage under the permit by rule
located outside these specific counties can utilize coatings containing
up to 50 tons of VOCs in a rolling 12-month period.
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\4\ Some of these counties were designated as nonattainment for
the 1997, 2008, and 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS. These counties are
currently designated as attainment for all ozone NAAQS.
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The June 27, 2024, revision modifies Rule 391-3-
1-.03(11)(b)7.(ii)(IV) by removing the first use of the phrase ``ozone
non-attainment counties'' which precedes, and is shorthand for, a list
of the aforementioned 13 counties. The revision retains the list of 13
counties at that location and then removes the remaining use of the
phrase ``ozone non-attainment counties,'' replacing it with the list of
13 counties. Because the changes merely remove the shorthand phrase
``ozone non-attainment counties,'' instead listing all 13 counties
covered by the Rule 391-3-1-.03(11)(b)7.(ii)(IV), they does not relax
or modify any existing requirements in this rule for sources located in
these 13 counties.
Additionally, the submission replaces ``section'' and ``paragraph''
with ``paragraph'' and ``subparagraph'' respectively, throughout the
rule for consistency. EPA is proposing to approve the aforementioned
changes to Rule 391-3-1-.03(11)(b)7. in the Georgia SIP because they
would not interfere with any applicable requirement concerning
attainment and RFP, or any other applicable requirement of the Act.
III. Incorporation by Reference
In this document, EPA is proposing to include in a final EPA rule
regulatory text that includes incorporation by reference. In accordance
with requirements of 1 CFR 51.5, and as discussed in Sections I and II
of this preamble, EPA is proposing to incorporate by reference the
following rules into Georgia's SIP with a state-effective date of June
19, 2023: Rule 391-3-1-.02(6)(a), Specific Monitoring and Reporting
Requirements for Particular Sources and Rule 391-3-1-.03(11)(b)7.,
Coating and/or Gluing Operations.\5\ EPA has made, and will continue to
make, these materials generally available through <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>
and at the EPA Region 4 office (please contact the person identified in
the ``For Further Information Contact'' section of this preamble for
more information).
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\5\ Except that EPA is not proposing to incorporate by reference
into the SIP the phrase ``or enforceable as a practical matter
limiting the source to below Part 70 or Part 63 major source
thresholds'' within Rule 391-3-1-.03(11)(b)7., Coating and/or Gluing
Operations.
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IV. Proposed Action
For the reasons discussed above, EPA is proposing to approve the
June 27, 2024, Georgia SIP revision consisting of the changes to Rule
391-3-1-.02(6), Source Monitoring, and Rule 391-3-1-.03(11)(b)7.,
Permit by Rule, both of which are state effective June 19, 2023.
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
Under the CAA, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP
submission that complies with the provisions of the CAA and applicable
Federal regulations. See 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a). Thus, in
reviewing SIP submissions, EPA's role is to approve state choices,
provided that they meet the criteria of the CAA. Accordingly, this
proposed action merely proposes to approve state law as meeting Federal
requirements and does not impose additional requirements beyond those
imposed by state law. For that reason, this proposed 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 CAA.
In addition, the SIP is not approved to apply on any Indian
reservation land or in any other area where 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).
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Ozone, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: August 11, 2025.
Kevin McOmber,
Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 2025-15986 Filed 8-20-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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